LAURA AND THE SEA with Rivendell Theatre Ensemble

Currently playing with Rivendell Theatre Ensemble, Laura and the Sea opened on November 4th and is a perfect palate cleanser for all of the saccharine and synthetic sentimental tripe that we are going to be inundated with over the approaching holiday season. For the world premiere of Kate Tarker’s play, it was placed with utter confidence and trust into director Devon de Mayo’s accomplished hands. This comedic tragedy asked us how well do we know and understand the people that we see everyday. Do you know someone at their core, or do you only know them by how they fit into your life? 

Laura (played by Tara Mallen) was one of the best of the best in her field (travel agency). Her relationship with her job overshadowed the platonic and romantic relationships in her life, and one day, she commited suicide during a company outing on a boat. Insightfully costumed in a clownish outfit of a yellow dress and red heels by kClare McKellaston, Mallen enthralled the audience. Mallen had the challenge of playing the coworkers’ recollection of Laura, only existing in memories, and showing how memories can lie. But Mallen was more than up to the challenge, reenacting the scenes as the Laura that the coworkers knew and had chosen to see: the detached Laura who laughed to signal that she was carefree. And then Mallen would return again as the Laura that they had chosen to ignore: the lonely Laura who laughed as a cry to conceal her tears. 

To pay homage, her coworkers created a memorial blog, and we can all imagine how well that turned out. Thus began the walk down memory lane as the coworkers tried to piece together the life of someone that they only saw passing glimpses of. We found that they initially only remembered what they wanted to remember, because they had heard only what they wanted to hear, a fact illuminated by extended moments in which the characters silently communicated without the audience being privy to the words. Adithi Chandrashekar opened the evening as Annie, the creator of the blog who claimed to be Laura’s best friend. But this friendship and her attempts to honor Laura’s life unraveled to show Annie’s own need for permanence and control. It takes a skilled artist to make balance look unbalanced, and Chandrashekar adeptly portrayed Annie’s pendulum swing of emotions, from poised and confident to hectic and anxious.

Also in the ensemble of the show and the team in the office was Mark Ulrich as CEO Jack. Ulrich employed his hypnotic voice to the man-child who’s quest for progress and future always left people in the lurch behind him. Paula Ramirez played Mary, another travel agent branded as the hot young thing of the office. Ramirez’s honest approach to the character illustrated that sometimes a person’s admittance to indifference can be more respectful than another person’s plastic grief. Jordan Arredondo was endearing as Joe, Laura’s assistant whose lost-boy puppy-dog eyes revealed the danger of using a routine as an identity. Alex Gillmor was sympathetic and relatable as Stan, Laura’s competition in the office who worried that he was over the hill in all aspects of his life. 

Courtney O’Neill created an adaptable set of office desks, a back wall that illuminated shadow puppet conversations, and wooden panels that ran up and over the set. Plopped right in the middle of the stage was a ship mast with a white flag which was used to reenact that fateful company outing on the boat. It also served the purpose of creating the physical barriers of doors and hallways in the office, and the emotional and mental barriers of grief and rumination. 

This unsatisfying tale was satisfyingly directed by Devon de Mayo, who also lent their expertise as the movement director. de Mayo’s precise guidance was able to highlight the barriers that we put up between one another and how the line between protecting and hiding oneself is very thin. The blog that started as a way to ask why someone would commit suicide unraveled into an investigation without placing blame or coming to a definitive answer. Are you affected by someone’s death because you miss them or are you so affected by someone’s death because, in actuality, you are unaffected and you fear that your own death will be met with the same apathy from those around you?

Laura and the Sea closes on December 8th, and plays at Rivendell Theatre Ensemble, 5779 N. Ridge Avenue in Chicago. Performances are on Thursdays, Fridays, and Saturdays at 8 pm, and Matinees at 4 pm on Saturdays. Tickets range from $28-$38 (Student, Senior, Active Military, and Veteran discounts), and seating is general admission. The run time is about an hour and forty five minutes long with no intermission. 

Highly Recommended 

Sophie Vitello 

Additional information about this and other area productions can be found at www.theatreinchicago.com.