On An Average Day
By P. Ryan Baber • Posted: March 4th, 2008
Stef Tovar and Johnny Clark in “On An Average Day.” Photo by Tommy Dunn.
While some have used the term “dramedy” to define playwright John Klovenbach’s tense and moody depiction of two estranged brothers wrestling with the ghosts of their mutual past, such a description is inadequate. Not to say there isn’t humor in the play – there’s a great deal of it. But there is humor in even the darkest situations, and it’s tough to get much darker than this piece. Ron Klier directs with taut restraint, even managing to pull off an expertly staged fight scene in a very narrow space. Stef Tovar plays a dangerously distant Jack to Johnny Clark’s endearingly psychotic Bobby. As the brothers approach each other from opposite ends across the desert of their 18 year estrangement, Klovenbach employs Pinter-esque dialogue and Palahniuk-like aggressive realism to depict this fraternal rapprochement. Set in the squalid family home, now inhabited only by Bobby who, along with the house, is moldering as a result of increasing madness, the play opens with Jack finding Bobby mulling his inevitable conviction of assault on an unsuspecting man looking to hire him for “odd jobs.” Jack, however, is not there to save Bobby from his certain incarceration, but rather seeks refuge from a family life he has no template for living. As the brothers talk and reminisce, it is revealed that their mother died early and their emotionally absent father left them not too long after. Still haunted by the past, the characters navigate the troubled waters of recollection as they search desperately to understand themselves through each other. With an excellently designed set, strong performances, and sure-footed direction, this play grips as well as it surprises. The only drawback is a rather patronizing lighting design, that seems to indicate that the designer didn’t believe the audience would recognize significant dialogue when they heard it. Other than that, this is modern drama that, like any situation, has a few laughs.
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“On An Average Day” by John Klovenbach plays at The Elephant Theater Lab, 6324 Santa Monica Boulevard in Hollywood until March 22nd. For tickets call 232-860-3283.
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P. Ryan Baber is a television writer and Los Angeles theatre critic.
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