The Receptionist

Gratuitous Violins rating: ** out of ****

In Trinity Repertory Company's production of The Receptionist, we get an idea of just how mundane and routine that job can be: answering the phone, zealously guarding office supplies, gossiping with coworkers.

But things aren't what they seem at the drab and dreary Northeast Office of an unnamed concern. (Pay close attention to the prologue by Timothy Crowe, who plays the boss, Edward Raymond, and you'll get some idea.) Adam Bock's dark comedy is an attempt show what nefarious goings on can lie beneath the most ordinary settings.

This is my second time around with The Receptionist, so it's difficult for me to review the play as if I'd never seen it before. And it was a mixed bag - some things I liked better this time around, some things didn't work as well for me.

Seeing the show for a second time definitely helped make the plot more understandable. But it still seems to me like there's too much small talk in The Receptionist, too much waiting around for something to happen. When the tone switches from comedy to something more ominous, it comes kind of abruptly. In the end, the play remains kind of unsatisfying.

Also, honestly, I preferred the cast and some of the costume and set design choices in the production I saw last fall, at the Manhattan Theatre Club.

Okay, I know I'm starting to sound like a theatre snob - well, you know, when I saw it in New York. I know I'm supposed to judge each production on its own merits and really, I did go in with an open mind. The problem is, and I know this is unfair, I've already got a picture in my mind of what these characters should look like and sound like.

In the Trinity Rep production, Janice Duclos plays the title role of receptionist Beverly Wilkins and she's got her hands full. There's Lorraine, the flighty and flirtatious coworker, played by Angela Brazil; Martin Dart, a rather mysterious stranger from the Central Office, played by Timothy John Smith; and her mostly absent boss, Mr. Raymond, who seems to be harboring some qualms about his job.

Bock, who used to work in the theatre's marketing department, wrote the part with Duclos in mind, and it's a great comic role. Duclos is very funny - she's got the office banter down pat, she's overly protective of pens and pencils as if the money for them came out of her own pocket and she's constantly dispensing advice, all the while coping with her own problems at home via a steady stream of personal phone calls.

But while everyone else around me was laughing and nodding their heads in recognition with Duclos' performance, I was thinking about Jayne Houdyshell, who played the role off-Broadway. She was truly inspired, more witty and satirical and totally spot-on. For me, she was the best part of the play. Duclos is very good but she simply couldn't make me forget what Houdyshell did with the role.

And something about Brazil just grated on me although, again, the audience seemed to love her. Brazil's Lorraine is excessively emotional and loud and over the top - a little too theatrical for me. I've seen Brazil give some fine performances but this one just rang false. Plus, William Lane's costume design - short, tight-fitting black skirt, lots of jewelry and a shimmery purple blouse - seemed wrong for this kind of office. (Although it did fit with Brazil's character.)

And in my humble opinion, set designer Eugene Lee has made Beverly's desk too high, so the audience can't see over it. Part of the fun off-Broadway was watching Beverly wipe down her workspace with disinfectant, seeing the pens and pencils and stapler and pads of Post-It notes. When you saw that desk, it really set the scene.

Except for me, director Curt Columbus (who's also Trinity Rep's artistic director) and the playwright, I doubt anyone who goes to see The Receptionist will have seen the New York production. So I realize that a lot of my criticism is moot.

There is a lot of humor and the subject is thought provoking. Someone seeing The Receptionist for the first time may enjoy it more than I did. I just wish Bock had given us a little more to chew on in terms of what this office really was all about.

A new season

I couldn't believe it when I read about next season's lineup at Trinity Repertory Company, which was announced this week by artistic director Curt Columbus, pictured above.

On the schedule for Dec. 5 to Jan. 11 is a play by Adam Bock, The Receptionist. Given that I haven't been a regular theatergoer for very long, what are the chances that they'd pick a play I've seen? I took in The Receptionist last fall at the Manhattan Theatre Club. I didn't realize this, but Bock has an MFA from Brown University and worked for Trinity for awhile, so I guess it makes sense.

I have to admit I didn't absolutely love The Receptionist. It was good, but it just seemed somewhat underdeveloped. The story of the mysterious goings on at the Northeast office of an unnamed company was a little vague. I got impatient with all the small talk. The resolution wasn't quite satisfying, and I left the theater a bit confused about what it all meant.

But Bock has written some great characters and injected lots of humor. It'll probably remind you of some offices you've worked in. I loved Jayne Houdyshell's wonderfully funny yet spot-on performance in the title role. I said in my review: "She's efficient, overprotective of office supplies, motherly, humorous and has plenty of advice to dispense, whether you want it or not."

I'm looking forward to giving The Receptionist a second chance. Hopefully, I'll gain a deeper appreciation for the play. I'll be able to pick up on all the little clues I missed the first time around. And the best thing about Trinity's staging is I'll be able to go to the talkback afterward and say in by best theater-snob voice: "Well, when I saw it in New York ...."

From what I've seen, Columbus puts together a good mixture of classics and new works. And Trinity always manages to put its own spin on the classics. Our Town, from a couple seasons back, is a great example. While it was pretty traditional, there was also a little something that made it unique: in this case, a two-level stage that allowed the audience to watch the actors get ready for the performance.

This is Columbus' third season at the helm. He came to Providence from Chicago's esteemed Steppenwolf Theatre Company. My regular trips to Trinity coincided with his arrival, so I feel like there's a special connection between the two of us. He hosted the talkback held after the first show I saw at Trinity in decades: Hamlet. (And yes, someone at the session did preface their comments by saying, "When I saw it in New York.")

Columbus likes to arrange his lineup around a theme. Next season, it's personal change. Associate Director Craig Watson says: "We wanted to look at plays that spoke about hope, and all the possibilities hope can bring."

One of the shows I'm most looking forward to seeing in the new season is A Raisin in the Sun, which runs from Jan. 30 to March 8. I just watched it on ABC last month, with Phylicia Rashad and Audra McDonald reprising their Tony-winning roles from the Broadway revival. They were just terrific, so compelling and believable. I think the play, about an African-American family in Chicago in the 1950s and their dreams of a better life, has great resonance today.

Raisin will be the centerpiece of Trinity's Project Discovery Plus program, which brings students to the theater and cast members to schools for workshops with students. "These themes of race and class really resonate with students who live in our cities," Watson said. "They’re dealing with these issues on a daily basis."

The Receptionist

I don't know whether Jayne Houdyshell ever worked as a receptionist in an office, but she certainly is terrific portraying one in Adam Bock's short one-act play "The Receptionist" at the Manhattan Theatre Club.

Houdyshell's portrait of Beverly Wilkins still makes me smile whenever I think about it. Almost everyone has worked in an office or been in an office with people like Wilkins. She's efficient, overprotective of office supplies, motherly, humorous and has plenty of advice to dispense, whether you want it or not.

I can just picture her sitting at her circular desk answering the phone at the Northeast office of some unnamed concern, transferring callers to voice mail, wiping down her workspace with disinfectant and keeping track of wayward pens. David Korins' excellent production design gives Houdyshell plenty of props to work with.

At first, Bock's play appears to be a celebration of the mundane. It didn't surprise me that he told Playbill he once worked as an office receptionist. He has a good ear and a good eye for what the work is like: "The thing that was so interesting is you have a lot of power, because you know everything that's going on, yet you have no power, because you're not allowed to leave your desk."

Houdyshell's Wilkins advises her young coworker Lorraine, played by a delightfully flirtatious Kendra Kassebaum, on her love life. She orders a birthday cake. She makes personal phone calls. She offers a parenting tip to Mr. Dart, played by Josh Charles, who comes calling from the central office. (Don't worry if your 4-year-old eats paste, she advises. He'll get over it.)

As the day wears on, everyone waits for the boss, Mr. Raymond, played by Robert Foxworth, to make an appearance. When he finally shows up, it becomes apparent that there's something unsettling going on in this office. That's when "The Receptionist" takes a turn from the mundane to the sinister.

Bock's point, about how horrific things can take place amid the most ordinary circumstances, about how far people are willing to "look the other way" in the course of doing their jobs, isn't original, but it is thought-provoking.

I did get a little impatient with all the small talk, and about halfway through the play, wondered when something momentous was going to happen. When it finally does occur, I didn't find the resolution completely satisfying. I ended up with more questions. For example, how much did Houdyshell's character know about what kind of work was being done there? Was she an accomplice or a bystander?

Perhaps those are the questions Bock wants the audience to answer. Although he does offer a hint in the Playbill interview: "It's easy to forget what kind of living you're making. I think it's the fear of money. In The Receptionist, the receptionist Beverly has a vested interest in keeping her safety net at work strong. She's willing to look the other way at what happens."

Bock never spells out in so many words exactly what's going on in the Northeast office, or back at the Central Office, although he does drop a clue early on, during Foxworth's short prologue. (I admit I didn't pay attention to it as closely as I should have. It's the first thing we hear, and I just wasn't attuned to its significance. I remember wondering what it had to do with the play. I must make a mental note that at the theater, I can't just press rewind and listen again.)

I have to admit that my guess about what was going on in that office turned out to be wrong. Luckily, my theatergoing companions spelled it out for me and it made perfect sense. (Which is why, whenever possible, you should have theatergoing companions).

Now that I know what's at the heart of "The Receptionist," it would be great to see it a second time, to look for all the clues I may have missed, and to once again enjoy Houdyshell's witty, endearing performance.

Pictured above are, from left, Josh Charles, Kendra Kassebaum, Jayne Houdyshell and Robert Foxworth.