Recommended: A "Must See" Show

CENTERSTAGE: "MUST SEE"
Steep Theatre rolls a romantic comedy and free physics lesson into one show.

Those close-shouldered, ensemble-minded bruisers at the Steep Theatre take on a play about four singular stars. Marilyn Monroe, Jospeh McCarthy, Joe Dimaggio and Albert Einstein, trapped in some sort of metaphysical hotel room, debate reality, relativity and relationships. Reviews of past production have tagged Terry Johnson's 1982 script as either clever or pointless, but director Brad Akin did an excellent job with Steep Theatre's "Book of Days" in 2005, making this "Insignificance" worth checking out.


The Centerstage Review, by Elisabeth Kilpatrick.
Tuesday Jul 31, 2007

Who knew that science could be so romantic?
Apparently scrappy storefront Steep Theatre did. The ensemble caps off its 2006-2007 season with "Insignificance," an elegant dark comedy that meshes physics and intimacy in a 1950s New York hotel room.
Ensemble member Brad Akin directs British playwright Terry Johnson's 1982 work, which asks an off-the-wall question: What if the lives of Marilyn Monroe, Joe DiMaggio, Albert Einstein and Joseph McCarthy collided one evening? Johnson boldly places the American-as-apple-pie celebrities in fact-based fictional situations, challenging our perceptions of who these stars really were and letting their personalities shine through.
On the eve of Einstein's trial for suspected communism, his attempts to work keep getting interrupted, first by pushy McCarthy and, much later, by the disheveled but glamorous Monroe. A kooky, charming explanation from the starlet on Einstein's theory of relativity helps to forge a sweet bond between the duo, at least until Monroe's mad-as-hell husband, DiMaggio, shows up.
Ensemble member Julia Siple plays Monroe as a breathy confection dying to be taken seriously. She's a wonderful complement to ensemble member Alex Gillmor's meathead DiMaggio, whose character Gillmor seems to have seasoned liberally with the guy from SNL's "2 A-Holes" sketches. Their snippy banter carries large chunks of the play, as do DiMaggio's conversations with Einstein, played with understated aplomb by Toby Nicholson.
Vince Teninty's McCarthy simply doesn't get as much stage time as the others, and his character is less layered and engaging. Still, while the performances lack a little polish (tripping over lines was a regular occurrence at Thursday's premiere), they all showcase real talent through the crackling onstage chemistry. Akin has scaled "Insignificance" nicely for Steep's 40-seat space, and each audience member straining forward to see what happens next is rewarded with a close glimpse of the action.
In the long stretch of night before dawn, the celebrities’ edges soften, and we see them as people, not stars. A few overly melodramatic moments do sneak in, but for the most part the ensemble uses a deft touch, and the intimate conversations that take place are as mesmerizing as the dozens of prisms of light floating onstage at the end of the show.