Date: Fri 14-May-1999

Publication: Bee

Author: SARAH

Quick Words:

Sylvia-Town-Players-Gurney

Full Text:

THEATRE REVIEW: Even On Stage, It's Good To Be A Dog

By Julie Stern

If you've ever loved a dog or wanted a dog or hated a dog or wished your

significant other would get rid of the dog, then you'll get a kick out of A.R.

Gurney's comedy, Sylvia. It doesn't matter whether you are the kind of person

who shares your bed or your ice cream cone with your pet, or the kind who

keeps a roll of sticky tape handy to brush the couch of a dog lover before you

sit down on it, you will recognize in this play the hand of man who knows

dogs. And people.

The season opener at The Little Theatre in Newtown, Sylvia is about a man

whose wife's career is taking off just as their nest empties out, while his

boss is ordering him to get used to money markets and currency speculation as

his new speciality, even though he hates that kind of work. In short, it is

about a man in the prime of his mid-life crisis.

Into this volatile mix comes Sylvia (that's what it says on her name tag,

anyway), the large stray dog of indeterminate mix who follows him home and

precipitates domestic turmoil.

From the moment she follows Greg home, Sylvia adores him and the feeling is

mutual. Wife Kate, however, is much less sympathetic. They have moved from the

suburbs to the city in order to have freedom to go places and do things. They

both have full-time jobs; it is hardly the time and place to take on a dog. As

Greg becomes increasingly involved with his new pet, the strain begins to show

on their marriage.

Gurney's gimmick is to have Sylvia played by an actress who moves, acts and

clearly thinks like a dog, but speaks in language that human audiences can

follow:

" OUT? OUT? Did I hear you say OUT? That's my favorite word!" cries Sylvia

happily, or, "I love you, I love you, I think you are GOD ," she sighs gazing

dreamily into her new hero's eyes as she rests her chin in his lap. And when

Greg leaves to drive Kate to the airport Sylvia lounges on the couch crooning

"Every time we say good-bye I die a little..." with an expression any dog

owner will immediately recognize.

The Town Players have had the happy fortune to come up with Becky Rodia

Sanzeni, who makes her Newtown debut in the title role. Ms Sanzeni is so

charmingly doggy I almost felt like it was our own pet, Lobotomy, up there on

stage.

As Greg and Sylvia's involvement becomes deeper, Gurney brings in four

delightful minor characters as a way of commenting on it: Randy Read, a fellow

dog-owner; Tom, whose studly golden retriever Bowser is the temporary object

of Sylvia's lust; and Kate's elegant and socially connected friend Phyllis,

whose husband Hamilton has developed an unhealthy interest in goldfish

(sometimes he takes them into the bathtub with him); and Aswini Anburajan, who

plays a therapist driven to rage by Greg's unwillingness to acknowledge that

his relationship with Sylvia is growing unhealthy.

Philip Cook and Suzanne Kinnear have fun as the central couple, but they are

clearly overshadowed by Sylvia herself, because it is always the dog who has

the best lines. Single-minded, manipulative, amoral, randy, and on occasion, a

barker, Sylvia is the essence of dogginess. If you don't mind a bit of

schoolbus language, it's a great play to take the kids to.

(Town Players will continue to present Sylvia on Friday and Saturdays at 8 pm

through May 29. The theatre is on Orchard Hill Road in Newtown. Reservations

[$10 per seat] or details, call 270-9144.)