String of Pearls at North Coast Rep
Reviewed by The Blogster
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Publication: Solana Beach Scuttlebutt, © 2009
Date published: March 30, 2009
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It’s been a few years since I’ve gone to the North Coast Rep, and although the last performance was far better, String of Pearls was both enjoyable and memorable.
The play opens with Beth, a 74-year-old widow who’s reminiscing about the strand of pearls she received from her husband 38 years earlier. The unlikely story unfolds through a cast of four actresses playing 27 different characters. Through a long chain of events, the pearls are given to Beth’s daughter, bequeathed to a kind landlady, stolen by an ex-husband, broken by another husband who’s cheating on his wife, recovered by a hotel room maid, rethreaded and resold, cast into a river, eaten by a fish, recovered by a woman who catches the fish, placed into a coffin, stolen again by a mortician’s assistant and ultimately, given back to Beth 38 years later.
Although the play was hampered by a rather awkward self-narrative style (with the actresses speaking in first person and gazing out into the audience as if looking into a wall of fog), the plot kept things alive, and the performances were solid. Watching these actresses transform themselves into so many different roles (including a few 15-second costume changes) was interesting in itself. And some of the characters were quite engaging -- especially those played by Crystal Sershen, who first plays a young, single mother dying of cancer and, later, a judgmental old mother whose death bring no tears.
I look forward to checking out the Rep again this year, especially if/when they have a comedy onstage. |
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