It’s a crazy, mixed up afterlife in San Diego Repertory Theatre’s “Miss Witherspoon,” continuing through Oct. 29 in the Lyceum Space, Horton Plaza (79 Horton Plaza, downtown, 619.544-1000 or www.sandiegorep.com).
And why not? The playwright is Christopher Durang, who’s brought zaniness and irreverence to audiences everywhere with “Sister Mary Ignatius Explains It All for You” and “Beyond Therapy,” in which he lampooned the Catholic Church and psychotherapy, respectively.
With Melinda Gilb in the title role, “Miss Witherspoon” concerns Veronica, a woman who hated life and the people in it so much that despite therapy and Zoloft she committed suicide. She’s in a place called Bardo, a kind of stopping place in the afterlife where one awaits reincarnation and where she is counseled by an East Indian mystic named Maryamma (Jo Anne Glover, luscious and funny). The two accomplished actors are absolutely perfect, playing off one another; Veronica stubborn and Maryamma, determined.
Each time the recalcitrant Veronica’s chair gets sucked through the funhouse doors into another life, it’s to yet another existence she is determined to foul up. Her initial reincarnation is as a baby who makes a rapid exit by persuading the family dog she is there to usurp all affection. Deanna Driscoll and Steve Gunderson, masters of comic timing, portray all Veronica’s Mothers and Fathers and various others. Sylvia M’Lafi Thompson plays the Wise Ones, among them a Teacher, a Woman in a Hat and Gandalf. Yes, he of “Lord of the Rings” is there, too; wherever “there” is, that is.
If one were to count on both hands the belief systems, non-belief systems and other sacred cows that Durang sends up, one would run out of fingers. Everyone has an equal opportunity to be offended. It’s absolutely first-rate comedy and a better, tighter ensemble cannot be imagined. Director Delicia Turner Sonnenberg makes it move, makes it work, and draws well-calibrated performances from her company, a feat not many are able to pull off in this type of comedy.
Other examples of such feats on local stages right now are Matt August’s staging of “Pig Farm” through Oct. 29 at the Old Globe (1363 Old Globe Way, Balboa Park, www.theoldglobe.org or 619-23-GLOBE) and Tony Taccone’s staging of “Culture Clash’s Zorro in Hell” through Oct. 29 at La Jolla Playhouse (2910 La Jolla Village Dr. www.lajollaplayhouse.com or 858-550-1010). Such a confluence of excellence is rare. Those with a funny bone should shop and compare before the merriment dies.
Also worth checking out, and an excellent example of wondrous literate comedy, is local playwright Matt Thompson’s short play “Hemingway’s Rose,” playing at 10:30 p.m. Fridays, and 4 and 10:30 p.m. Saturdays, through Oct. 28 at 6th at Penn Theatre, (3704 6th Ave. www.plutoniumtheatre.com, www.sixthatpenn.com or 619-688-9210). Hemingway is merely a literary reference and actors Ted Reis, Jonathan Sachs and Julie Sachs are folks to be watched.