THREE VIEWINGS

730om, Saturday, June 21
3pm, Sunday, June 22

The Curtainbox Theatre Company
in the St. Ambrose Studio Theater

563-650-8121

Tickets $12
Running time: 1 hour and 25 minutes, with no intermission


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Jeffrey Hatcher’s THREE VIEWINGS is actually a series of three monologues, and all are set in the same parlor on the same weekend. And, no, it is not a "beauty parlor" – though the town where it is located probably has something called that – but rather a funeral parlor.

Not the usual setting for a comedy, but that doesn’t keep this show from earning its laughs just the same.

THREE VIEWINGS starts out with "Tell-Tale," the story of an undertaker who has a secret crush on a frequent visitor who attends most of the wakes. David Bonde is Emil, the self-effacing, borderline-creepy narrator here, and he gives a fine performance. Just hesitant enough, and just particular enough, Bonde brings the character to life effectively, if slightly more carefully than I would have liked.

Emil, however, doesn’t have the most interesting story to tell – or perhaps I simply had difficulty relating to the character – so the actor’s very nice work does seem a bit long. The full story, however, does have an (at least until it nearly arrives) unexpected ending, so the patience with Emil’s story does have a properly funereal payoff.

Kimberly Furness blasts onto the stage in "The Thief of Tears," kinetic enough to make you think she is pacing and cracking her knuckles even though she isn’t. As Mac, a much-changed young woman returning home for a family gathering, Furness is pure excellence. Mac is angry and aggressive and has a major score (or two) to settle, and this performance gives us all of that emotion in such deeply authentic ways. It is a

Furness, one of the founding members of Curtainbox (which got its start in L.A. and now has relocated to the Quad-City are), goes for broke in this fine performance, and her work alone is enough to make real theater fans pretty happy about whatever Curtainbox project is next.

Corinne Johnson rounds out THREE VIEWINGS with "Thirteen Things about Ed Carpolotti," where she narrates a tale that has so many funny lines in it. Her thoroughly enjoyable turn as Virginia, a recent widow who is somewhat dim, is a real stitch. Only an actor as gifted and as bright as Johnson could play such a total dingbat with exactly the right self-conscious tone that is required to make this monologue work. Furthermore, she even makes it feel like a conversation, which is an incredibly difficult thing for most actors to do when alone on a stage. It is an exhilarating performance that is the best in the (all-around quite good) bunch.

Hatcher is obviously an actor’s playwright, with juicy material and multi-layered situations. I’ve deliberately written very little about each story in THREE VIEWINGS, so that you can experience the joy of these quirky stories unfolding in their own time.

With very few performances remaining – and very few seats available in any case – I’d suggest showing up a little early to see these THREE VIEWINGS, or you might miss them altogether.

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