WATCH YOUR BACK: Nun too soon |
The catechism that tortures and eludes 12-year-old Rudy Pazinski (Peter Bailinson) was named after the Greek, katechismos, which translates to “to speak so as to be heard” or “to echo.” But Rudy certainly has no problem being heard. It’s what he speaks and echoes — he announces that God put us here “to have fun,” and does the meanest Ed Sullivan impression in school — that earns him raps on the knuckles, and that keeps his Polish-Catholic household in reliable uproar. As Rudy attempts to understand faith in 1959 Buffalo, he energetically screws with everyone’s received Catholic wisdom, in the charmingly irreverent comedy Over the Tavern, by Tom Dudzick, ably directed by Lisa DiFranza as the season opener of Portland Stage Company.As America coasts between two eras, Rudy’s family goes about its daily antics in a small apartment above Chet’s Bar and Grill (the set, beautifully designed by Anita Stewart, cuts the stage into the boys’ room stage right, kitchen center, and TV-dominated living room left). Dad Chet (Paul Coufos) runs the bar downstairs, forgets about his few promises to the family, and is generally made miserable and hot-tempered by his work. The formidable Mom Ellen (Patricia Randell) does everything else — tends bar a few shifts a week, shops/cooks/cleans, and generally keeps her four adolescent offspring from self-combusting. In addition to Rudy, these are: Eddie (Chaney Burlin), surly and James Deanish; Annie (Dierdre Friel), who struggles with her weight, self-image, and just what balance of disdain and encouragement snags a boy; and Georgie (August Halm-Perazone), mentally retarded with the bird-like, mostly non-verbal serenity of Harpo Marx.
Then there’s Sister Clarissa (Celia Howard). While she’s not a biological part of the family, she’s certainly embedded. Sister Clarissa taught Chet his own catechism, years ago, and might as well still wield a ruler at him. This makes Rudy’s religious rebelliousness is all the more aggravating, and threatening, in the eyes of his father, and Over the Tavern should strike a chord with anyone who either grew up either Catholic or is frequently privy to parents’ horror stories about it.
PSC’s excellent cast is all-Equity as far as the adults and Annie are concerned, but draws on ace local talent for the three boys. Bailinson’s spring-loaded Rudy has timing in spades and an appealing snappy glibness. In measured contrast, Burlin’s Eddie sustains a charged but controlled intensity in angst and comedy alike — he’s like a string wound extra tight, but which nevertheless produces, when plucked, pitch-perfect tone. Halm-Perazone gives Georgie a glee and abandon that the rest of the household clearly envies at times.
As for the Equity actors, each one’s range and rapport with the youngsters is impressive and great fun to watch. Friel’s Annie is sobbing and awkward one instant and resolved the next, comically devastating with the self-awareness in her eyes. Coufos handles Chet’s spectrum — rage, bemusement, kindness — with sensitivity and humor, and both Sister Clarissa and Ellen are mighty roles in the hands of mighty actors. Howard makes Sister Clarissa both an epic nemesis and a thoughtful, evolved human being, and her rendering reflects the intelligence and love behind the nun’s rigidity. And Randell’s Ellen is simply magnificent as the eye at the center of the Pazinski storm — savvy and vibrant, with knock-out timing and eyes that often roll in irony and affection alike.
