How the fur flies in Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company's reprise of Nick Darke's The Dead Monkey. Belligerent, lumbering Hank (David Marks) and wiry, talkative Dolores (Sarah Marshall) live in an idyllic California beach shack, envisioned by English playwright Darke years before he visited America in 1989 to attend the American premiere at Woolly Mammoth. (David Soul starred in the 1986 London premiere by the Royal Shakespeare Company, directed by Brennan Street.) Darke's views of American life, as obtained through the media help create a skewed reality for the aging surfers. Set designer James Kronzer captures Darke's vision with an oversized picture postcard of a tropical beach, emblazoned, "Wish you were here," as artificial backdrop to their slovenly home with thatched roof.
But it is Marshall, eyes blazing as she reprises her role from a decade ago, as again directed by artistic director Howard Shalwitz, whose frenetic energy drives the show. Spitting fury at or seductively imploring her husband to "monkey around" with her, she is mesmerizing as Dolores, who despairs she has always taken second place in Hank's affections to the monkey, whose shit she cleans off the floor by dropping magazines (glossy works best) on the offending lumps and removing when dry. At curtain's rise, the monkey, partner in their marriage for 15 years is dead, a Mexican blanket covering his body on the kitchen table.
The Vet (a gentle, quirky performance by Bruce Nelson, dressed by costume designer Lynn Steinmetz in beige safari hat and shorts) officially pronounces his demise. When Hank - an ineffective breadwinner - returns from his job as traveling salesman, Dolores informs him that the monkey died of old age. Not quite true...her intimacy would not have been sanctioned by the SPCA. Strapped for cash to cover household expenses, she indulged in intimacies with the monkey in the backseat of a limo, for the amusement of the owner. (Unfortunately, the monkey's last meal was the $150 in wages.) Left to interact without the diversion of their surrogate child, the marriage rapidly deteriorates. Bickering turns temporarily to cooing when the Vet offers for adoption a pet pig, eventually eaten by Spotty, a neighbor's dalmatian. Hank's tattling backfires when his report to the Vet that Delores "monkeyed around" with primates results in an unexpected job offer "in six figures" for her to use her exceptional rapport with animals to work at the zoo on special projects. Although this opportunity dooms the marriage, it also opens the door to hilarious role reversal.
The evening's lightest moment is the scene with Marks as the macho Hank playing house husband, indulging in a little "table surfing" before he sets the table for dinner and injuring his foot on a fork as he clumsily disembarks. (Sound design including Beach Boys melodies and pounding surf provided by Neil McFadden, who created sound for the 1989 production.) Marshall's Dolores gains confidence along with power, when she trades her halter tops and patched cutoff jeans for a red business suit. She preens on the sofa as Hank prepares dinner, her feet propped up on the coffee table, eating the grapes he provides. But the marriage cannot survive this turnabout. Hank turns evil, Delores threatens to leave, and the Vet is again called in. "You did this with your bare hands?" he asks Hank. "I'm not a doctor, but if she were an elephant, she would be dead." Not so this production, which blazes with the intelligence of the passionate, darkly funny script in the hands of superior actors - a fitting opening to Woolly's 20th season.
