Everybody loves Moxie, this season’s theater in residence at La Jolla Playhouse. They are beloved for many reasons, and topping most anyone’s list are pluck and determination. They — founders Jo Anne Glover, Liv Kellgren, Delicia Turner Sonnenberg and Jennifer Eve Thorn — are devoted to works by/for/about women and, in a creative factory dominated by men, that is a refreshing and marvelous thing. As Moxie champions the work of certain women playwrights, many just starting a career or at the least whose plays are under-produced, they give courage to feminine individuality, and yes, the moxie to continue playwriting their way despite the odds. A Moxie play usually gives audiences something to chew on, attitudes and points of view one seldom finds in more mainstream theaters. Looking back on Moxie’s four seasons, one finds some of the best, most innovative and provocative work produced in San Diego; for instance, their recent staging of “Sugar Syndrome,” the inaugural “Kimberly Akimbo”; Liz Duffy Adams’ “Dog Act,” soon to be remounted at Moxie’s new, permanent venue, the Rolando Theatre; and Mary Fengar Gail’s hilarious “Devil Dog Six,” produced in 2007 at 10th Avenue Theatre. For their Playhouse residency, Moxie chose another play by Gail. “Drink Me, or The Strange Case of Alice Times Three” is a fascinating, complicated exploration of the female psyche and historic fear of females’ occult power, mixed with serial murder and elements of “Alice in Wonderland.” Because the titular Alices speak Elizabethan English, the sensibility is Elizabethan even though costume designer Jennifer Brawn Gittings places us firmly in London, circa 1950. The piece is staged by Sonnenberg and Thorn with scenic design by David F. Weiner, lighting by Mia Bane Jacobs, sound by Rachel Le Vine, and wig and makeup design by Missy Bradstreet. This strange tale was set in motion by Lady Fossmire (Rhona Gold), a renowned advocate of zero population growth, who invented three imaginary confidants named Alice during her disturbed childhood. When Lady Fossmire turned 12, she abandoned her playmates in the forest, fulfillment of the old adage about putting away childish things. Lady Fossmire’s son (Stephen Elton), whom everyone calls Foss, is a detective investigating the disappearance of London’s homeless men. Through an ad he places in the newspaper, he learns of the existence of Emmaline (Glover), Urseline (Morgan Trant) and Valentine (Melissa Fernandes) Rime, triplet witches who are systematically removing men, whom they first feed at their Victorian Belgrave mansion. All that remains after their disappearance are the men’s buttons, and indeed a button brought to Foss by the triplets’ mother (Laurie Lehmann-Gray) is the initial clue. Meanwhile, Foss falls for psychologist Flora Whetstone (Kristianne Kurner), who specializes in female neuroses. Mark C. Petrich portrays the triplets’ father and another detective. Confused yet? “Drink Me” is much more complicated than that, much darker, sexier and more strange, but the ideas — to anyone who’s studied feminist history and cultural attitudes — are squarely and soundly based on Victorian and present-day thinking about the “weaker” sex, stratified society, the defense of elitism, over-population, homelessness and society’s role in feeding, or not, the homeless and the disadvantaged. There are some devastatingly funny lines. Interestingly, though Foss represents reason and sanity, he is not maligned, either by the others or in our concept of the playwright’s intent. He is the true north in this fraught evening, which is like taking all society’s attitudes plus the homeless men of London, trying to fit them into one play and in the end stuffing them down the rabbit hole, and thereby hangs another tale. Historians, “Alice” devotees and cultural anthropologists will dig this play. So will actors because it is character-laden. “Drink Me, or The Strange Case of Alice Times Three” continues at 7 p.m. Thursdays through Saturdays and 3 p.m. Sundays through Sept. 27 at the Studio Forum Theatre, La Jolla Playhouse. General admission is $25. For tickets or information, visit www.moxietheatre.com or call (858) 598-7620.
