Irritable sticks-in-the-mud can scoff all they want
at the idea of adults sitting down to story time, but there's really nothing
quite like being read to. It's a timeless, ageless comfort that stirs up the
imagination and soothes the soul. At least I've always thought so. And
apparently so did the rest of the crowd that packed the Lobero last week at
the season finale of Speaking of Stories, simply titled, Fine Actors
Performing Great Short Stories."
Actors took to the small podium set center-stage, framed
by marbled-blue lighting (presumably to lull the audience into a dreamy,
story-ready stupor) and dished out seven tasty stories from some of the
finest wordsmiths around: namely the late, great Virginia Woolf, and the
ever-tongue-in-cheek (and arguably, ever-pretentious) John Updike.
But let's face it, delivery is everything. Think of all
the really bad, I mean really bad, performances of, say, A
Midsummer Night's Dream, or A Streetcar Named Desire, where
finely crafted drama goes up in a smoldering mess of over-articulation, a
failure to savor critical dialogue, or in needless shouting. What I mean is,
people can and do take great material and flatten it out completely.
And this is exactly what didn't
happen on Monday night. With little more than pure talent and a
genuine feel for the material, the seven storytellers whipped up two hours of genuine magic. Most memorable were Karin
delaPeņa's reading of The Astronomer's Wife, by Kay Boyle; and
George Backman's rendition of Moonlight by Guy de Maupassant. Both
managed to tease out the comic irony from tales that could all-too-easily be
considered rather bleak. The especially depressing Moonlight
chronicled the subtle transformation of a bitter, misogynistic priest into a
reluctant admirer of young love. Backman's imperious command of the text,
rich voice, and well-cadenced delivery made the story surprisingly funny and
deeply moving. But, as my friend pointed out as we left the theater,
"Any one of those performers could read the telephone book and make it
sound good."
