An Austin, Tex.-based theater company called the Rude Mechs has brought The Method Gun to the Kirk Douglas stage. The play is a fictional biography of Stella Burden, an obscure acting guru who developed the idea of method acting. However, the audience never meets Stella because she has long-since disappeared. Instead, the five actors of her acting company toil away, going through the odd acting exercises – kissing practice, for example – and rehearsing the same play for nine years. The play isn’t the day-long Tantalus or even one of Eugene O’Neill’s tomes. It is Tennessee Williams’ A Streetcar Named Desire, and their production excludes the four main characters – Stella, Blanche, Stanley and Mitch.
The ensemble does a fabulous job switching from their Rude Mechs company member personas to their Stella Burden company member personas to their Streetcar characters. The audience also switches roles from active participants interacting with the Rude Mechs ensemble to a fly on the wall of the rehearsal space, watching what could only be described as bad method-acting classes.
However, throughout this improbable story and satirical look at method acting, there are some brilliant performances. Thomas Graves as Carl Reyholt is repressed and awkward until he breaks out of his shell and performs an interpretive dance, complete with the use of a roll of packing tape to let his true self out. Shawn Sides as Elizabeth Johns is distinguishable as the only Stella Burden company member to stand up and say enough is enough.
However, the most remarkable part of this play is the payoff at the end – the performance of A Streetcar Named Desire. Not only is the performance breathtakingly beautiful while walking a tightrope of danger, but it serves to pull together everything that has come before. The repetitive and odd rehearsals come to fruition in such a simple yet unique manner that it leaves one wondering how it wasn’t seen coming all along.
For those who are not fans of audience participation and broken fourth walls, this is one play that is worth the intrusion. But a word to the wise: brush up on Streetcar before going or miss some of the humor.