There's so much to admire about Bash Halow's Cooper Savage, it takes a slight trepidation to report that the play never quite works. Halow is obviously going for a hailstorm of themes: Southern family dysfunction, budding sexuality, self-image issues, the appeal of a possibly dangerous drifter. But all these tantalizing ideas never coalesce into one solid production. Only in the fragments can an audience see the possibility of what could have been.
Blake Lawrence, who did such stellar work on Shopping and Fucking last winter, tries hard to breathe extra life into this languid tale of a sweet, gay-leaning college student (Luis Villabon) who lives with an angry, often brittle mother (Susan Finch, who plays the woman of the title) and his pain-in-the-ass, 97-year old grandmother (Rebecca Hoodwin), all of whom are thrown for a loop when a grungily handsome drifter (Jeff Branson) waltzes into town. The latter also attends school with Cooper's son and his admirer, a portly young girl named Theresa Tiths (Amy Bizjak), whose last name is often confused with -- well, I'm sure you can guess. Also present is a pregnant local (Shay Gines) who agrees to care for Cooper's cantankerous mama, and ends up, like everyone else, under the drifter's spell. But nobody is quite sure what he's up to, and one can guess it's probably no good.
At 80 minutes, the play still feels padded, with maybe a character that could have been excised without much effort (despite Bizjak's sharp portrayal, Tiths seems the most extraneous). Too bad, because the cast could hardly be more up to the challenges they are presented. All are first-rate, especially Villabon's endearing, lovestruck late bloomer and Branson, who never fails to convince as the swarthy man who inspires lust in them all. But they're trapped in a story that unfolds slowly and unsurprisingly. A dash of genuine mischief might've been the ticket.
