Congress has cut federal funding for public media — a $3.4 million loss for LAist. We count on readers like you to protect our nonprofit newsroom. Become a monthly member and sustain local journalism.
This is an archival story that predates current editorial management.
This archival content was written, edited, and published prior to LAist's acquisition by its current owner, Southern California Public Radio ("SCPR"). Content, such as language choice and subject matter, in archival articles therefore may not align with SCPR's current editorial standards. To learn more about those standards and why we make this distinction, please click here.
Theater Review: 'Hermetically Sealed' Serves Up Tasty If Slightly Overcooked Drama
Julia Prud'homme, Gigi Bermingham and Nicholas Podany in "Hermetically Sealed" at the Skylight Theatre. Photo courtesy of Ed Krieger
()
The latest production by the Katselas Theatre Company, Kathryn Graf's Hermetically Sealed, benefits from nuanced performances and detailed direction. The writing is generally smart and acerbic, and overall I enjoyed the show. However, I could never entirely believe the main premise of the story, and as it went along I found it progressively more unbelievable and overwrought.
Tessie (Gigi Bermingham), who cooks at home for a catering business, humorously berates her son Jimmy (Wolfie Trausch) in the morning for staying out all night "joyriding" with a gay friend she doesn't approve of. Jimmy goes to bed and Tessie goes about her work of baking. Later in the day her teenage son Conor (Nicholas Podany) loudly plays video games and orders food from his mother as if she's a laggard waitress, but she doesn't seem to mind. Things come to a head in the early evening, though, when her catering boss Dale Jr. (Julia Prud'homme) and Dale's husband Dale Sr. (Brendan Patrick Connor) show up with a life-changing agenda to implement.
Bermingham is fantastic as Tessie, chipper on the surface but gradually beginning to run down, like a machine that's finally about to break after long overuse. This is the deliberate opposite of a flashy, "look at me" performance, but Bermingham serves the play perfectly as you slowly realize what you've been seeing is only the tip of the iceberg, and the massive weight of the character's pain has been there all along. Podany is clearly talented, and the scenes where he confronts the Dales or where he has his final pleading conversation with his mother are expertly done. One small critique, however, is that he starts the show with full-blast intensity and then keeps it going at that level throughout, and his performance might be more credible if it was more emotionally varied.
Prud'homme is excellent as the overbearing Dale Jr., bullying the increasingly distant Tessie until the audience is hoping for justifiable homicide, and her delivery of a series of rants about the inherent virtues of women's lit and Nancy Meyers films is darkly hilarious. Connor is equally terrific as the creepy Dale Sr., particularly fine in a scene where he's trying to win over Conor ("I'm, like, a cool adult guy.") and failing miserably. Trausch exudes a loving calm as Jimmy, listening patiently to Tessie's teasing because he knows she means well.
Support for LAist comes from
Director Joel Polis has Bermingham doing so much cooking business during the show — icing, peeling, cutting — that one almost expects to be handed out fresh pastries at the conclusion, but this builds the reality of Tessie's life in a thoroughly believable way. Whether that was written in the play or not, Polis' attention to detail in all aspects of the production pays off dividends of quality. Graf's writing is undeniably clever and funny, and her command of gamer trash talk is impressive, but the premise of the story seems contrived, an example of realistic drama hermetically sealed and boiled over into hothouse melodrama. Jeff McLaughlin's superb kitchen and den set looks like something out of Architectural Digest, grounding the reality of this tragic family.
"Hermetically Sealed" runs through December 18, 2011 at the Skylight Theatre. Tickets are available online.
As Editor-in-Chief of our newsroom, I’m extremely proud of the work our top-notch journalists are doing here at LAist. We’re doing more hard-hitting watchdog journalism than ever before — powerful reporting on the economy, elections, climate and the homelessness crisis that is making a difference in your lives. At the same time, it’s never been more difficult to maintain a paywall-free, independent news source that informs, inspires, and engages everyone.
Simply put, we cannot do this essential work without your help. Federal funding for public media has been clawed back by Congress and that means LAist has lost $3.4 million in federal funding over the next two years. So we’re asking for your help. LAist has been there for you and we’re asking you to be here for us.
We rely on donations from readers like you to stay independent, which keeps our nonprofit newsroom strong and accountable to you.
No matter where you stand on the political spectrum, press freedom is at the core of keeping our nation free and fair. And as the landscape of free press changes, LAist will remain a voice you know and trust, but the amount of reader support we receive will help determine how strong of a newsroom we are going forward to cover the important news from our community.
Please take action today to support your trusted source for local news with a donation that makes sense for your budget.
Thank you for your generous support and believing in independent news.
Chip in now to fund your local journalism
(
LAist
)
Trending on LAist
-
Censorship has long been controversial. But lately, the issue of who does and doesn’t have the right to restrict kids’ access to books has been heating up across the country in the so-called culture wars. -
With less to prove than LA, the city is becoming a center of impressive culinary creativity.
-
Nearly 470 sections of guardrailing were stolen in the last fiscal year in L.A. and Ventura counties.
-
Monarch butterflies are on a path to extinction, but there is a way to support them — and maybe see them in your own yard — by planting milkweed.
-
With California voters facing a decision on redistricting this November, Surf City is poised to join the brewing battle over Congressional voting districts.
-
The drug dealer, the last of five defendants to plead guilty to federal charges linked to the 'Friends' actor’s death, will face a maximum sentence of 65 years in prison.
Best of LAist