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MICHAEL BIAS, ARTISTIC/PRODUCING DIRECTOR
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Bergen theater probes criminal mind in 'Porcelain'
Wednesday,
May 02, 2007
NEW JERSEY STAGE Once again, Michael Bias, artistic director of the Garage Theatre Group, has found a way to startle and challenge his Teaneck audience: His production of "Porcelain" is hardly delicate. Bias' staging of Chay Yew's 1992 play is easily the toughest of the season. There aren't many scripts like this, about a gay Asian who shoots six bullets into his Caucasian lover while the latter seeks sex in a London rest room. Yew opted for an expressionistic approach. He envisioned no set -- just an eerie, dim atmosphere. Niklas Anderson comes through here with brooding lighting, which creates evocative cones and triangles of illumination. Four actors occasionally sit on five stools. The one who occupies the center stool, though, rarely moves; he takes one piece of red construction paper after another, and fashions each into a paper crane. As the Japanese legend goes, make a thousand of them and your wish will come true. That won't happen. He's John Lee, the killer who's keeping his hands and mind busy so he won't have to think about his crime. But Detective Worthing insists that he does. Much of the play involves the tug-of-war between the two, as Worthing plays good cop, bad cop, then good one again, looking for the magic combination to prompt John into confessing his motive. Yew doesn't try to sway the audience into condoning the crime, but gives John a platform so he can detail the difficulties of belonging to an ethnic, and sexual, minority. Johnny Lin beautifully calibrates his performance as John. He starts with a supercilious attitude, sneering at the detective's every at tempt. Little by little, he opens up. Lin shows a man who really wants the opportunity to explain. Thom Molyneaux is extraordinary as Worthing, in an accomplished exhibit of underplaying. Molyneaux's detective has been around the cell block and has played this jail room many times. That experience lets him see it will be a relatively short time before he gets John to think of him as a friend. That's one of the play's great ironies. Just as John's lover dumped him after he got what he wanted, so will Worthing. Jerry Lazar plays William Hope, John's lover, in flashback scenes. Hope rationalizes that he's not gay -- if he just closes his eyes, he could be a woman performing oral sex. Lazar conveys Hope's staunch ability to believe he can't be classified as homosexual. Osborn Focht shrewdly por trays a double-dealing television host who loves this sordid story for the ratings, while Bill Mootos competently plays a number of different roles, from undercover cop to Lee's father. While Bias' direction could be more super-charged, the 90 intermissionless minutes make enough of an impact. And the title? After rough clay endures 1,400-degree temperatures, it comes out as fragile porcelain. John spent his life suffering the heat of social disapproval, and as a result, emerged as someone who could be too easily broken. Peter Filichia may be reached at pfilichia@starledger.com or (973) 392-5995. |