SOUTH PATHETIC AT NCTC AN UNEXPECTED HILARIOUS ROMP

SOUTH PATHETIC written and performed by Jim David. Directed by Peter Smith. New Conservatory Theatre Center (NTCT) (Decker Theatre) located at 25 Van Ness Ave. at Market St. in San Francisco, 94102. (415) 861 8972, or online at www.nctcsf.org. August 5 – 23, 2009.

SOUTH PATHETIC AT NCTC AN UNEXPECTED HILARIOUS ROMP

Ed Decker has done it again. This time he booked a New York stand-up comedian with extended and laudatory TV Comedy Central credentials who captivated the opening night audience leaving them in hysterics and receiving a semi-standing ovation. Be assured that Jim David in this 80-minute (no intermission) one-man show, playing about a dozen different characters will keep the Decker Theatre filled during his short three-week run. Grab your best friend(s) and order your tickets now.

Be advised that South Pathetic is not a take-off on the musical South Pacific. Jim David, a native from North Carolina, with his fertile/inventive and slightly perverted mind has created pathetic Southern characters that need a director for their production of A Streetcar Named Desire being sponsored by Mothers of Morality “MOM”. Being available betweens gigs, Jim is conned by his mother into returning to Thermal City, the home town of Thomas Wolff the author of “You Can’t Go Home Again.” With a cryptic, “After 2000 years, Jesus has not come back but Carol Channing has. . . again and again and again!” he launches an introductory personal explanatory history of why he went home again. From this point, there is non-stop fun beginning with WQOK radio announcer and Bob Smith, salesman for The Home of Fumigated Used Cars. Think Tuna Texas without costume changes.

Although his changes from one character to another need better definition making it difficult to identify each specifically, they do have individual characteristics. He relies on disappearing behind a stage flat for many of his changes, occasionally losing continuity. But hey, Ethelene McGraw, recording secretary for MOM assigned to play Blanche is a kick and a holler. Drug user Stanley Cappobianco, mentor to Little Dickey and given the part of Stanley, has a great story to tell. Then there is a former porn star shockingly recounting his halcyon days in a drool manner, which is the epitome of understatement. Less successful is his turn as Foxy Lady star of the adult entertainment parlor “ladies welcome.”

All is not fluff as Jim David mingles pathos with humor, first with Slovan Swientowowisze Custodian of Thermal City Little Theatre, (serving the artistic needs of the community), a refugee from the turmoil in Slovakia and, in a beautiful scene with Bob Smith, a gay failed actor who has returned to care for an off stage invalid mother. Other denizens of the town slip on and off stage with ease. However, it is the high spot of the evening to see Jim David perform ALL the roles in the opening night of the show. It is a memorable performance. I quote, “It the only time the rape scene is performed with Blanche on top.”

The evening could well end when the curtain comes down on Streetcar, but Jim David has added a perfect epilog with a follow up of the fate of each of his characters. From this day forward Jim David will be a household name for audiences at the NCTC.

Kedar K. Adour, MD

Courtesy of www.theatreworldinternetmagazine.com