Washington, D.C.-based actress Holly Twyford makes her Milwaukee debut in Lee Blessing's Chesapeake, the fall season opener for Renaissance Theaterworks. Her performance is absolutely outstanding. Since she's the entire show in this one-actor production, it puts Chesapeake at the top of the "don't miss" category for the current season. Director Joe Banno also directed Twyford in the Washington production of this play, and he works his magic to excellent effect at the Off-Broadway Theater.
Renaissance Theaterworks excels in presenting offbeat and darkly funny plays, in which gender-bending and relationships typically take center stage. Chesapeake fits this description to a T. Miraculously, Twyford is able to pull off her tour-de-force equipped with nothing more than a chair, a small table and a glass of water. She is a master storyteller who artfully conjures a variety of characters. The main character is Kerr, a bisexual performance artist with an axe to grind against her southern senator, Therm Pooley. At times, she is also the senator's chilly wife and his adoring young assistant, Stacy. Sometimes, she is also the senator's dog -- that's right, the dog -- and this is where all the fun takes place.
The first act is a mere warm-up to the spunky second, in which Twyford becomes the senator's pooch yet retains her human characteristics as Kerr. (Describing how this is done would give away too much of the plot.) Twyford creates this illogical person-dog combination so well that we are confronted with the many sides of relationships between humans and their pets. Playwright Lee Blessing has a great time poking fun at us with the question, Who is really the master of whom?
If there are any quibbles about the play, it's that it contains too much carping about federal funding for the National Endowment for the Arts. This is an important issue, to be sure, but in this case it's little more than preaching to the choir. We are more interested in Kerr's passion for her art, and how she manages when she's eventually trapped in a canine's body. Also, the play's pacing in the first act could be more brisk.
The play's title refers both to the location, Chesapeake Bay, and to the senator's breed of dog. In sum, Chesapeake is more than a fun romp. It entertains while examining some very serious issues and introduces Milwaukeeans to a superb performer. Hopefully, Twyford will receive such a grand welcome here that she'll be encouraged to return soon.
