“She has to come out sometime. Her percocets are here.”
The Bryn Mawr Historical Society, or so they call themselves, meets to play croquette. The only history that is ever discussed is the aristocracy of their Main Line families – the business, the money and sometimes, even, the scandal. Throughout Concrete Dinosaur, written by Nicholas Wardigo and directed by Carol Laratonda, the boundaries of friendship are tested, along with the ties that hold a family together.
“Marta, precious, are you on drugs? Would you like to be?”
Angelica Busso (Peggy Smith) is conniving, cruel and a bit cold hearted. Her daughter, Marta (Aileen Goldberg), is brilliant, but has no social skills whatsoever – she’s more at home with science and things that are concrete, much like the dinosaur in her family garden. We learned over the course of the play what exactly has Angelica in such a guarded state, something that she doesn’t want to admit, not to anyone, including her daughter. And with the sudden departure of Dennis (Armando Batista), the ‘help’ in the Busso home, both mother and daughter are left distraught and distant, but both for completely different reasons.
“I will send your dog to hell in a very special way.”
Plays and Players definitely found a cast that understood the characters they were cast to play. Each character was extremely real and each had their own, unique personality, even in portraying characters who are all guarded, and to an extent, fake. Peggy Smith (Angelica) had the audience wrapped around her finger from the moment she opened her mouth to speak. Sincere and a bit scary, she knew what she wanted and wasn’t at all afraid to say it.
“Perfection demands precision.”
Enter a mansion garden. The set, which winds around the seats that are on various sites of the stage, is made to feel as if you are sitting in the garden of a Main Line home. Exquisite in everyway and complete with trees, plants and dirt, everything about the garden felt real and there was no doubt in the audience’s mind that they were part of the environment and seeing the events that unfolded first hand.
“It’s like there’s an ocean of jibberish around you.”
Although this piece may not make sense to anyone who doesn’t know the Main Line bureaucracy, it was still a touching piece, with its fair share of deep laden humor.
Plays and Players presents Concrete Dinosaur, written by Nicholas Wardigo and directed by Carol Laratonda. January 7th to January 24th. Plays and Players Theatre, 1714 Delancey Street. www.playsandplayers.org, 215-735-0630.
