Imperfect Love
by Brandon Cole
directed by David Elliott (uncredited)
presented by Cold Productions, Andrew McTiernan, and Beth Schacter
with Peter Dinklage, Ed Hodson, Leslie Lyles, Christopher McCann and John Gould Rubin
at New York Performance Works, the Ryan Stage, NYC
The play is conceived as une tranche de vie, or “a day in the life” of Italian actress Eleanora Duse and playwright Gabriele D'Annunzio. It is Rome, 1899. Gabriele's play has just opened to bad reviews, and the theater owner wants to close it down. Eleanor, her co-star Domenica and the two clowns, Marco and Beppo, frantically try to help the strident and frenetic playwright fix the show. The play was the basis of the movie "Illuminata” directed by John Turturo.
I took over directing the show after the producers decided that the playwright, Brandon, a superb writer, was not up to the task of directing the piece. I agreed to helm the show uncredited. While Brandon and I got along splendidly, it was a difficult rehearsal process for the actors, and coupled with a mere 10 days before previews, the show ultimately opened unbalanced.
It was a pleasure to work again with John Gould Rubin, who had played Faustus, in the liminal stage production, and whom I had first met at The Long Wharf, in New Haven. This is another play I would love to get another crack at directing… this time from day one.
Please see a review here from TheaterMania.