![\"Superior](\"https:\/\/sduptownnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/01\/hurly.jpg\" "\\"hurly\\"")
<\/a>\u201cThe American Dictionary of the English Language\u201d defines the hyphenated word \u201churly-burly\u201d as \u201ctumult, bustle, confusion.\u201d David Rabe\u2019s unhyphenated 1984 black comedy, \u201cHurlyburly,\u201d currently produced by ion theatre company at Diversionary Theatre, is all of that and more.<\/p>\nSet in the Hollywood Hills in the early 1980s, the play\u2019s action, which might be termed \u201cmuch ado about everything,\u201d concerns four drug- and alcohol-fueled bachelors who live on the fringes of the motion picture industry. Eddie (Fran Gercke), the protagonist, is a cocaine-addicted casting director whose mind is unraveling. Phil (Tom Hall), a terrifyingly violent aspiring actor, is Eddie\u2019s best friend. Artie (Walter Ritter), a screenwriter always close to a deal, proves the most humane scumbag of the lot. He would like to be close to Eddie again, but Phil is in his way. The fourth is the nattily dressed Mickey, Eddie\u2019s casting-agent roommate. Perhaps the least crazed of the lot, he delights in stealing and then discarding Eddie\u2019s current flame, Darlene (Sara Beth Morgan).<\/p>\n
All four men use women and drugs as their birthright. For instance, Artie rescues a homeless teen named Donna (Morgan Trant) and after using her for a while, brings her to Eddie and Phil as a gift. She settles in for a bit, and then wisely departs. Bonnie (gorgeous Karson St. John) is a woman of easy virtue whom Eddie calls in to snap Phil out of depression following his divorce. The results are disastrous. Though \u201cHurlyburly\u201d has been termed misogynistic, the women here are savvy survivors. At the 11th hour Bonnie is an unwitting savior.<\/p>\n
Though there are some touching scenes (for instance, the four guys cooing over Phil\u2019s newborn baby), this is not a play for the feint of heart. The dialogue, though terse and spewed, and the thought processes, though skewed and, in Eddie\u2019s case, rife with paranoia, have an odd, wondrous poetry. These guys are losers, endlessly spinning like gerbils in a wheel, but they are fascinating. There\u2019s not a dull moment in the entire three hours. It\u2019s like watching a train wreck in slow motion.<\/p>\n
Glenn Paris never flags in meticulous direction of his magnificently cast show. The play is orchestrated like a string quartet. The assembled players act as if they\u2019d played together for many years. The four characters each possesses a unique voice and the actors prove themselves \u2013 once again for many viewers \u2013 San Diego\u2019s strongest and most riveting.<\/p>\n
Endlessly fascinating is the choreography of stage manager Diego San Miguel, who cleans up the mess after each scene. Among the best ever seen at Diversionary, Claudio Raygoza and Matt Scott\u2019s scenic design is sleek, detailed (down to the dust on top of the little television set), fitting and comprehensive without clutter. Add to these the fabulous array of costumes designed by Raygoza and Chris Renda\u2019s lighting design, and you\u2019ve got a theatrical winner.<\/p>\n
\u201cHurlyburly\u201d continues through Jan. 30 at 7:30 p.m. Wednesdays and Thursdays; 8 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays and 2 p.m. Sun., Jan. 24, at Diversionary Theatre, 4545 Park Blvd., San Diego, $10-$29, www.iontheatre.com or (619) 600-5020.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Superior cast causes a commotion in \u2018Hurlyburly\u2019 By Charlene Baldridge SDUN Theater Critic \u201cThe American Dictionary of the English Language\u201d defines the hyphenated word \u201churly-burly\u201d as \u201ctumult, bustle, confusion.\u201d David Rabe\u2019s unhyphenated 1984 black comedy, \u201cHurlyburly,\u201d currently produced by ion theatre company at Diversionary Theatre, is all of that and more. Set in the Hollywood […]<\/p>","protected":false},"author":726,"featured_media":243148,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"11555","_seopress_titles_title":"Superior cast causes a commotion in \u2018Hurlyburly\u2019","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"jnews_override_counter":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[11549,11551,11555],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-243147","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-arts-entertainment","category-news","category-uptown-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/243147","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/726"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=243147"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/243147\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/243148"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=243147"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=243147"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=243147"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}