‘Spain’

Playwrights Theatre of New Jersey stages a new comedy by Jim Knable.

By: Stuart Duncan
   Sometime, probably around fifth or sixth grade, you undoubtedly ran into an English teacher who argued against fanciful tales that ended: "and then I woke up." One who would warn: "If you get so involved with plot that you can’t find your way out — start over and write it simpler."
   Fledgling playwright Jim Knable apparently never had such a teacher. He has written a play titled Spain, already workshopped at a festival at New York University and staged at New Jersey Rep in Long Branch, among other places. The play is presently in the middle of a run at Playwrights Theatre in Madison and then heads for Atlanta. The sad thing is that it is one of those "and then I woke up" efforts that really needs to be dumped and started again.
   We begin with our heroine, Barbara, arriving home to her apartment in Washington, D.C. She is in a foul mood, having just lost her husband to "a slut with a boob job." And who does she find in her apartment, in full armor, helmeted, with his boots on the coffee table but a 16th-century Conquistador. Now Barbara comes with a "best friend" named Diversion, and the Conquistador comes with "an ancient" who insists on dragging around a soap box and dropping wisdom like confetti, without much regard for either depth or timing.
   We whip from past to present with much guitar strumming and flashes of light. The Conquistador brags of raping and pillaging, and that excites Barbara into planning to skewer her husband with the ancient’s sword (already bloodied). Meanwhile, Diversion dreams of donning a red dress and dancing Spanish tangos. The ancient dons whatever costume is waiting in the wings and reappears as a psychologist, a military officer and a trial lawyer (all played by Angela Della Ventura, who so impressed at the Brook Arts Center in Spinning Into Butter when she had a decent role to play.)
   The work is described as "metaphysical." Well, the first act may be meta, but the second is decidedly physical. Barbara gets arrested for killing her husband but runs away with the Conquistador to his hometown, somewhere on a small isle where he admits his real name is Pepe and he knows nothing about raping and pillaging. Being a well-trained city girl (or at least from Washington), Barbara proceeds to teach him the finer points of both techniques.
   There’s plenty of fun, and Knable really can write, so the two-act, two-hour journey passes easily enough. Chris Tomaino works hard in a mostly one-dimensional role; Kristin Johansen works even harder as Barbara. But neither character is real, so it’s pretty much a losing battle.
   By the final moments when we, and Barbara, realize the whole thing is but a dream, you wish that playwright Knable had listened to that grammar school teacher.
Spain continues at Playwrights Theatre of New Jersey, 33 Green Village Road, Madison, through Oct. 5. Performances: Thurs. 3, 8 p.m.; Fri.-Sat. 8 p.m.; Sun. 3 p.m. Tickets cost $25-$27.50. For information, call (973) 514-1787, ext. 30. On the Web: www.ptnj.org