Two's company

Jennifer Holmes Arizona Daily Wildcat Pompey the pimp (Tate Allen) and Mistress Overdone (Linda Bukata) frolic during a rehearsal for the Arizona Repertory Theater's ongoing production of Measure for Measure. The show will perform and March 23-28 at the lab theater.

The UA is fortunate to have two theaters within walking distance that are now doing some good dramatic work. The first, and closest, is right on campus. Playing at the fine arts complex's Laboratory Theatre, on the corner of Speedway Boulevard and Park Avenue, is Shakespeare's Measure for Measure, acted flawlessly by an all-UA student cast.

Because Shakespeare tried his hand at pretty much everything that had to do with drama (comedy, tragedy, etc.), he also made an attempt at problem plays like Measure for Measure. It is like an expertly-written "Three's Company" episode, filled with puns and mistaken identities. And, in its way, it is just as bawdy. The Duke, who is a gentle ruler of Vienna, leaves town for awhile to see if the laws that have been scanted during his 14 years in office can be enforced better by his substitute Angelo (a man whose affections are as impenetrable as ice).

During the Duke's absence, Angelo has a melt-down for Isabella, a prospective nun. Isabella happens to have a brother, Claudio, who is condemned to death for having sex out of wedlock. So Angelo uses his power as arbiter of justice to force her acquiescence to get naughty. He has hell to pay when the Duke returns.

Aaron Hartzler plays the Duke in a studied minor key until the part calls upon him to step up again as the returned sovereign. Ralph Valencia, Jr., who plays Angelo, believably gives into lust when his vulgar humors are drawn out by the chaste Isabella. And Isabella is assertively, yet demurely played by Michelle Lane. Hats off also to Dean Nigro, who plays the comic relief Lucio as if he himself is surprised by the humor of his low wit.

The second is Neil Simon's Broadway Bound, playing at The Invisible Theatre on First Avenue and Drachman Street, four or five blocks north of campus. It's one of those loveable and quirky dramatic comedies that, because of the timing of The Invisible Theatre's professional cast, consistently provides an outlet for laughter.

Broadway Bound is a comedy about family, starring the family's young, precocious duo of comedy writing sons, Eugene and Stan. Eugene serves as an urbane liaison between the audience and the story of the play, giving us an ongoing demonstration of how he might, if he were writing the story of his life, create something for the popular imagination.

The Tucson Weekly's review of this play gave it a thumbs up on entertainment and a thumbs down on its treatment of enduring themes. It's really a play about a specific family life and how all its pressures and foibles factor into creative genius. If it's not something enduring, the play at least captures the post-WWII restructuring of family life, where the kids leave home when they've learned enough material and the husband feels less committed to marriage.

Nathaniel Johnston plays Eugene, our faithful narrator, with a playful and magnetic innocence that reminds one of Ferris Bueller. His brother, Stan, played by Ryan C. Hunter, plays an off-the-wall, impulsive Cameron to Johnston's Ferris. Donna Davis plays his mother with a self-control that makes her moments of candor welcome and charming. And the rest of the cast, because we don't want to go on and on about this, is sterling.

These two plays are performing one last weekend, so I recommend making a Friday and Saturday jaunt of it. It's one of those rare times when two good performances are happening very close to campus at the same time.