Robin Williams would be proud.
Twin Cities actors Tom Reed and Reed Sigmund are showing shades of the late actor, who switched characters like an Olympian.
The "double Reeds," as they're called, are not trying to make a fuss with their dramatic character changes in "Stones in his Pockets" in Marcela Lorca's deft production that opened Saturday at the Ritz.
Instead, the two actors use cadence, tics, gestures, costumes and props to transport us into the hurts, hearts and thoughts of some 15 characters in the drama staged by Theater Latté Da. It's fun to watch as an exercise but it's even more rewarding because, under Lorca's guidance, the comedy gives way to true pathos.
Written by Marie Jones, who wrote the play based on her experience as an extra in films, "Stones" is set in Ireland. Set designer Benjamin Olsen represents that by enclosing the whole audience in painted pastoral scenery that carries through from both sides of the house to all around the stage.
There, two down-on-their-luck local blokes, Charlie Conlon (Reed) and Jake Quinn (Sigmund), have been cast as extras in a big-budget Hollywood film that has rolled into town. When we first meet Charlie, he's in line to get a second helping of pudding for a friend on the set and is being interrogated about it. The questions and his answers put his dignity and sense of self-worth up for scrutiny.
Reed and Sigmund have a lot of fun in their Gaelic sandbox, playing all the other roles, including a disdainful director, his caustic assistant, the film's star and an extra who has been extra-ing for decades. The actors change characters simply by turning around or putting on a cap, throwing on eyeglasses or by adjusting their posture.
They sometimes go at such a pace that you might miss a change if you blink. But you can quickly catch up. Some of the figures they evoke have signature features: The star, Caroline Giovanni (Reed), for example, flings a scarf around her neck and speaks with a breathiness that would make Mae West proud.
And the director's assistant (Sigmund), can be so contemptuous that she seems loud even when she's not speaking.
The production also has musicians onstage — pianist and composer Jason Hansen, and violinists Susan Crawford and Theresa Elliott. They score the action throughout, which is both a gift and, occasionally, too much. Sometimes we need a breath to let the words sink in and to feel our own emotions without prompts.
For all its fun, "Stones" speaks to empowerment in a surprising way.
The two fellas at the center of the action are not Hollywood hipsters but ordinary young men sprung from the soil they till and attached to the husbandry they keep. When Reed and Sigmund get into a celebration of cows, their exhilaration is palpable. For as much as the bovines represent an earthy connection, they also are permission to be true to thine own self.
And if that means a crescendo of moos, well, friends, rear your head and moo on.
'Stones in His Pockets'
Who: Written by Marie Jones. Directed by Marcela Lorca for Theater Latté Da.
When: 7:30 p.m. Wed.-Fri., 2 & 7:30 p.m. Sat., 2 p.m. Sun. Ends Feb. 25.
Where: Ritz Theater, 345 13th Av. NE., Mpls.
Protocol: Masks required for select Sunday matinee performances.
Tickets: $35-$71, 612-339-3003 or latteda.org.
