The play two-steps away from the melodrama but only with a creepier plot device.
It’s likely many people will be familiar with the 1902 short story on which it is it based or its overt moral of “be careful what you wish for.” This could have presented an opportunity to play against the convention or give the audience something they didn’t expect.
No such luck.
“The Monkey’s Paw” couldn’t have been played more straight, from the rustic set design to the stuffy Victorian dress to the dramatic thunder and lightning stings that are presented with no sense of irony.
In fact, the script and production are so standard it is a bit baffling why it was chosen in the first place.
The opening scene struggles to get off its feet, and it is full of stiffly feigned glee and forced laughter. There is further confusion about who is related to whom with the vaguely creepy convention of a married couple (Gino Gonzales and Sophie Earle) calling each other “mother” and “father” amidst the presence of their adult son (Clay Space), and the sort of nebulous physical affection passed between everyone.
Then a man pregnant with his own arm (Miles Avery) enters to dutifully carry out the plot.
The lazy old person make-up is simply easy to see as nothing more than weird lines drawn on people’s faces, and there is no real indication in the physical performances from one actor to another than there is any generational difference between the characters at all.
Mostly, it is remarkably difficult to understand much of the dialogue due to the musical and shapeless English accents employed by most of the cast.
Earle is the most believable and not simply due to her actual Englishness. Earle fully commits to her role of degrading sanity, wailing and screaming away with her emotions fully turned up to 11.
While Avery does a bit of yelling, the abrupt transitions seem out of place.
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Blackouts between the play’s three scenes are particularly long, adding odd, interest-damaging respites between to build tension. The set is busy with numerous and fairly inconsequential props that need to be meticulously placed about the set. Largely, most of these props seem like they could be forgotten about entirely for the sake of efficiency or could be hidden around the set for actors to be played in-scene during the plodding dialogue. Or, at the very least, more of the delightfully unsettling house music could have been played while the audience patiently waited.
Lovely attention was absolutely given to the special effects through prop and lighting in the production, from the awesome held moment with the monkey’s paw itself twitching away autonomously on a darkened stage or the blasts of green light in the play’s climax, to the adorable little robot with glowing red eyes that pokes its face through a mail slot.
Most surprisingly of all is the piece’s incredibly short length. Hardly running 45 minutes, it’s difficult to be terribly upset by anything since you’ll be out the door before you know it.
In this case, however, it’s a bit of a double-edged sword. Despite a remarkably slow start, the rising action suddenly takes a breakneck speed, making it difficult to fully invest in the characters or their personal horror. Take a particularly slow blink, and suddenly the actors are psychotically more upset than they were a moment ago. Blink again, and suddenly the play is over. The audience even sat confused in their seats for long moments after the lights came up, uncertain if they were allowed to leave quite yet.
The production is remarkably inoffensive and certainly does its best not to overstay its welcome, like a self-conscious Victorian house guest. While “The Monkey’s Paw” doesn’t do anything new, it is hardly a clunky yawn.
The Monkey’s Paw
by W. W. Jacobs
Adapted by Louis N. Parker
Directed
by Caedmon Holland
UNM’s Experimental Theatre (Theatre X)
Thursdays through Saturdays, 7:30 p.m. and 9 p.m.
Sundays, 2 p.m. and 3:30 p.m.
Runs through Nov. 2
$10 General
$7 Faculty, Seniors, Staff, and Students
For more information: 925-5858 or visit unmtickets.com
