Sirens don’t always precede fire engines. Once upon a time, according to Greek and Roman story-tellers, they were seductive damsels whose singing was more magnetic than that of Justin Bieber and Frank Sinatra combined. Their songs caused ships to crash into islands, dooming sailors to drown in the azure blue waters of the Mediterranean Sea. (I know the program says Caribbean, but what’s a few thousand miles of azure water between friends.)
“Sirens,” the play, by Debrah Zoe Laufer which treats ancient history as only a few years earlier than modern history, opened at the New Jewish Theatre last night, with a sparkling performance from Leah Berry in three separate, disconnected roles, and the fine, nuanced work we’ve come to expect from Kari Ely and Bobby Miller. And don’t forget John Kinney as Richard, brilliant casting by an uncredited person (NJT’s artistic director Kathleen Sitzer? Director Tom Martin?) that creates one person in Ely’s eyes and another in the audiences’.
Miller, as Sam, and Ely, as Rose Adelle, have been married for 25 years, and the magic that once fueled the marriage is long past its expiration date. Many years ago, he wrote a song about her that became such a hit that both Sinatra and Bieber must have recorded it. It has supported them through all the years while they lost the ability to support one another. When Rose discovers that Sam has discovered Facebook, and what look like snake skin boots, and is playing Scrabble and drinking coffee with many young women, a crisis is reached. Miller and Ely are excellent as two people who do love each other, but have become lazy about it. They bicker so well they might be married to one another.
“We’ll go on a cruise,” she decides, which introduces Berry as a new travel agent.
On the ship, they continue bickering about everything, but as they stand at the rail one night, Sam hears music and dives overboard, to awaken on a teeny-tiny island populated by Berry, a nameless but buxom young woman playing with a hand-held solitaire game. She shamelessly gloats about winning, and just as shamelessly lures people to their death, and she makes it funny. Some of Laufer’s wittiest writing comes through as Miller and Berry hold the play’s middle section together.
But Laufer loses some of her wit and some of her timing in the final third. The first couple of times Kinney stretches “Long Island,” it’s pretty funny, but repetition dulls it. At 90 minutes, “Siren” is too long to go without intermission, but not long enough to deliver two normal acts around one. The decision to stage it in the round works almost satisfactorily, but it means than an actor’s back is always to a quarter of the audience, Set changes either take too long or actors are returning to the stage too soon, leaving some awkward moments. Teresa Doggett’s costumes are good, except for Ely’s red dress. The fact that it’s ugly, and is a tight fit, brings humor, but the exposed black underwear distracts and spoils the effect.
There are good lines, if not quite enough of them. There’s good acting from all hands, but the pacing is a little choppy.
Sirens, a production by the New Jewish Theatre, will be on stage through March 6
—Joe