Thriller to creep into town

For cute and safe, go see the new VeggieTales movie. For an unsettling and ultimately shocking psychological challenge, try Veronica's Room.

By BARBARA L. FREDRICKSEN, Arts & Entertainment
Published January 25, 2008

ADVERTISEMENT [Mike Carlson] Jessica Virginia, in the role of "Girl," rehearses with her real-life mother, Jeanine Martin, portraying the "Woman," for Veronica's Room at Stage West. The Ira Levin story allows the cast to stretch, the director says.

Fans of playwright Ira Levin (Rosemary's Baby, The Stepford Wives) don't expect happily-ever-after endings, so they won't be surprised by the dark and creepy conclusion of Veronica's Room, the psychological thriller playing weekends Feb. 1-10 at the Forum at Stage West Community Playhouse.

"It's an interesting night of theater, something different for all of us," including actors and the audience, said Peter Clapsis, who was more or less drafted to direct the play.

"It's very adult, with adult themes" as well as incest, necrophilia, insanity, murder, profane language and partial nudity by the performers, he said. "But the play is well-written for the topics it covers."

In it, a young woman only identified as "Girl" (Jessica Virginia, You Can't Take It With You; Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat), is on a first date with a nice Young Man (Leslie Richards, Miles in Funny/Forum) when the pair meet a friendly older couple.

The Woman (Jeanine Martin, Master Class, Noises Off) and Man (Paul Wade, Charley's Aunt, Run for Your Wife) persuade Girl to come to the home of their employers, the wealthy Brabissants, and impersonate their long-dead daughter, Veronica, whom she strongly resembles.

The purpose, the couple say, is to console Veronica's distraught and ailing sister, who believes that Veronica is alive and angry with her.

But once Girl is dressed in Veronica's clothes, the kindly old couple tell her she really is Veronica and is living in 1935, not 1973. The Girl soon becomes confused and wonders if perhaps she really is Veronica and that her other life is simply her imagination.

From there, the plot twists and turns.

"Everybody becomes someone different," Clapsis said. "They are supposed to be someone different at different times."

The first act is rather innocuous, Clapsis said. The shockers come in the second act, as the motives behind the actions begin to emerge.

"Everything happens fast and really explodes, but you're pulled along until the end, and then it is all so clear," he said.

The end, like that of other Levin tales, is shocking and completely unexpected.

"We're handling it gingerly, as gingerly as possible," Clapsis said. It is so disturbing that he recommends the play for patrons 18 and older.

Clapsis admits he has never been a fan of the thriller genre or playwright Levin. Nor, for that matter, has he been eager to break new ground at the community theater.

He has made his acting reputation in comedy roles like the conniving leprechaun Og in Finian's Rainbow and the wisecracking slave in the musical comedy A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum and his directing in musicals, comedies and light mysteries.

"Such material (as Veronica's Room) isn't actually my cup of tea," he said. "Actually, it's outside of everybody's personality and normal character range."

But the stretch has been exciting, challenging and "a bit intimidating," he said. "The cast is dedicated to it; it's an opportunity to actually act. Some of us get pigeonholed, and this is the opportunity to step out of that and show some chops.

"As a director, I like to see my actors grow, and they are really growing."

Check it out:

'Veronica's Room'

Where: The Forum at Stage West Community Playhouse, 8390 Forest Oaks Blvd., Spring Hill.

When: Feb. 1-3 and 8-10. Shows are at 8 p.m., except Sundays at 2 p.m.

Tickets: $10. Box office is open 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays and one hour before each show. Call (352) 683-5113.

[Last modified January 24, 2008, 20:42:52]