Sordid Lives: Bay Street Theatre

“Ain’t it a bitch, sorting out our sordid lives?”

Well, it most certainly is. The Bay Street Theatre's latest offering of Del Shores' Sordid Lives manages to make the best of a difficult situation and show forth a production of this "black comedy about white trash" with charm and care.

This selection is by far one of Mr. Shores' weaker offerings. Following on the heels of the far stronger (yet less critically acclaimed) Daddy's Dyin' (Who's Got the Will?), Sordid Lives gives us a series of scenes poorly sutured together with monologues from Ty Williamson (Chris Stanley) and songs from Bitsy Mae Harling (Kimmi Sampieri). Mr. Stanley offers us a moving story of a homosexual actor trying to come to terms with his identity and Texas upbringing from within the monologues, and Ms. Sampieri sings ably... but the whole thing really does not hang together well.

The problem is essentially one of dramatic efficiency and construction. Mr. Shores' script (which won awards in LA for the playwriting, somehow) relies far too heavily on an episodic vignette format where angry women burst into bars (with guns, of course) for no discernible reason. Though each bit is funny in and of itself, the overall arch is akin to a badly directed mashup between Rowan & Martin's Laugh In and The Redneck Rampage. One can sense a real disdain for his characters, and at the end of the day... (particularly if one has even glanced at Jim Gode's Redneck Manifesto) even white trash characters deserve to be treated kindly.

Despite all of this, The Bay Street Theatre's production shines with tongue-in-cheek jokes and careful understanding. The cast, under the direction of Kimmi Sampieri (making her directorial debut), manages problematic material well. Sissy Hickey (Kathy Alderman) is a delightfully focused bundle of neuroses trying to quit smoking in the aftermath of her sister's death and ensuing family drama. Ms. Alderman plays with heart and excellent comic timing. Also reliably delightful is the drunken barfly Juanita (Genie Brazzeal), who manages to portray inveterate drunkenness without becoming simply obnoxious (a more difficult task than one would actually imagine). Also of note are Odell Owens (Logan Padilla), a Baby Hueyesque redneck with a penchant for cat's cradle and boundless enthusiasm; Earl "Brother Boy" Ingram (Neal Scott), a transvestite homosexual who has resisted almost 23 years and 68 "dehomosexualization" treatments at the hands of a vampish and oversexed Dr. Eve Bollinger (Khara-Beth Chandler); and Mr. Stanley as a touching and heartfelt Ty Williamson.

The cast is rounded out by Bay Street stalwarts Valerie Macaluso and Travis Harold Coles with Gwyn Yarbrough and Peter Grffin also making appearances.