Alaska News

Theater review: In '4000 Miles,' it's a long road to grandma's house

In her program notes for "4000 Miles," director Krista M. Schwarting says the play has "no dramatic shifts in character." But shifts are there, though they come about incrementally over the course of the low-key but engrossing story.

"4000 Miles" is a sad and poignant piece convincingly dressed as comedy. The central character is a self-absorbed and pampered young man whose conflict with his family -- notably his mother -- has manifested in a lust for adventure and physical action. Leo hits climbing walls, lives on sailboats and rides a bike from Seattle to New York, where he finds that his girlfriend Bec doesn't want him any more. So he crashes at his grandmother's apartment.

Grandma Vera has outlived two husbands and all of her friends and is as disappointed with Leo's mother as he is. She's grateful for his company, though the arrangement is not without friction.

For one thing, Leo is so wrapped up in himself that he can barely communicate with anyone. "'We?'" he says at one point. "I don't even know what that means." For another, he's just lost his best friend during the course of the cross-country trek. As long as he kept riding, the emotions could stay stuffed in the back pannier, so to speak, due to the physical demands of the trip. But now that it's over, the emotions pour forth and uncertainly reigns.

It's up to the old lady to turn him into a man. How that happens is beautifully crafted by playwright Amy Herzog with remarkably believable dialogue and splendid timing. At the end of the longest monologue in the play, a tear-inducing revelation of pain and loss, comes a laugh line that nearly stops the show.

Herzog's accurate use of how people speak becomes a key ingredient. Leo's girlfriend can't communicate any better than he does. They avoid talking directly about things they most want to express. Their sentences end uncompleted.

But despite the fact that Vera often has trouble finding the right word (or remembering where she left her dentures), she's able to blurt out what's happening, forcing Leo to confront his demons bit by bit. Similarly Amanda, a shallow, brash, urban girl Leo picks up and brings back to the apartment, flings out direct, if woozy, statements, perhaps thanks to a high level of intoxication.

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This quirky yet realistic play requires razor-sharp acting, which the performers in the current production at Cyrano's deliver. Taylor Campbell's cold and closed Bec and Lisa Marie Castro's boisterous Amanda are impressive and on target. Linda Benson is equally touching and hilarious as Vera. Jacob Carlson's Leo has a nuanced balance that makes both his initial solipsism and eventual growth seem natural. It's the best ensemble acting I've seen in Anchorage since Perseverance Theatre's "God of Carnage" last fall.

4000 Miles

When: 7 p.m. Thursdays-Saturdays and 3 p.m. Sundays through Sept. 28

Where: Cyrano's, 413 D St.

Tickets: $23-$25 at centertix.net

Mike Dunham

Mike Dunham has been a reporter and editor at the ADN since 1994, mainly writing about culture, arts and Alaska history. He worked in radio for 20 years before switching to print.

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