THEATRE REVIEW
“Mama Metal” at Atwater Village Theater (Photo – Dean Cechvala)
Another winner from Iama Theatre Company at nearby Atwater Village Theatre.
By Carol Edger Germain
Sigrid Gilmer’s play, directed by Deena Selenow, is allegedly a “mama drama” set at the moment in a tumultuous mother-daughter relationship when Mama (Lee Sherman) is dying and the roles are reversed, but as soon as daughter Sterling Milburn (Courtney Sauls) opens her mouth to give us the set-up, we know it’s not going to be tender, touching, uplifting or relatable.
You won’t leave with a resolve to nurture and repair your own family relationships. In fact, you might wish your own family relationships were a little more crazily dramatic, with visits from Tennessee Williams and Eugene O’Neill (Christian Telesmar and Cesar Cipriano, usually attired in just their tank tees and underwear, with absolutely no complaints from the audience) and the world’s greatest heavy metal band. Sterling lets us know from the get-go that “There will be no takeaways. There will be no catharsis. It will be messy, complicated, flawed, and always beautiful. Just like life.” And, by the way, “You are all going to die. Most of the sh** you do in your lives won’t matter.” She emerges with this confrontationally presented info, arms crossed, in your face, then breaks the spell with a big grin and “Hey, I’m just an actor.” And the visual and auditory emotional joy ride begins! Although daughter is now the parent, she has no warm fuzzy memories of strong nurturing skills to draw on. Her mother’s chaotic lifestyle and inconsistent parenting style have left her with some painful, heartbreaking situations that contribute to her rage and insecurity. So she decides to try to rewrite the past, but Mama keeps knocking her off her mission. Sterling keeps at it, though, and we are privileged to be allowed to peek through the window of this intimate scenario and enjoy the time travel, the chaos, clever illusions, and oh yes! – there is a heavy metal “band” – a good heavy metal soundtrack and a band of four playing not just “air guitar” but “air” everything.
Lee Sherman and Courtney Sauls in Mama Metal (Photo – Dean Cechvala)
Mama Metal play (Photo – Dean Cechvala)
The actors playing the band (Chris Gardner, Graham Sibley, Rodney To, Jamie Wollrab) not only represented a heavy metal band convincingly, but cohesively and seamlessly slid into various other roles throughout the play. The lack of interruption as the interchanges occurred was impressive and effectively gave the story more depth and more visual entertainment for the audience. It plays for the next three weekends, and I am hoping to be able to fit in another viewing, as I am wanting to see it again as I write this.
Just two weekends left of #IAMAMetal. You know what to do.
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