Well-done study in contrast offers grist for discussion

The Spokane Civic Theatre paired two one-act plays, “Graceland” by Ellen Byron and “Never Swim Alone” by Daniel MacIvor, mostly for purposes of contrast.

One’s about two women; the other’s about two men. One’s about cooperation; the other’s about competition. One’s about the power of empathy; the other’s about the tragic consequences of selfishness.

On opening night in the Studio Theatre, those of us in the audience discovered yet another contrast. One, “Graceland,” is clichéd and predictable. The other, “Never Swim Alone,” is experimental, provocative and full of original ideas that ricochet off the walls for 45 minutes.

It certainly doesn’t hurt that “Never Swim Alone” is brilliantly staged by director Yvonne A.K. Johnson, and brought to life in tour de force performances by George Green and Luke Barats.

The setup is anything but conventional. A woman in a red bathing suit, played with grace and good comic timing by Lauren Waterbury, leaps up from under a towel and proceeds to tell a story about how she once challenged two boys to a swimming race across the bay and to “the point.” She doesn’t so much tell the story as chant it, Greek-chorus style.

Then on come the two boys – now men in gray business suits – who proceed to tell the story of their friendship. They grew up together and were best friends for most of their lives. MacIvor has them proclaim much of it in unison, with occasional individual flourishes, almost like a musical duet without the music.

And then things turn even more comically bizarre. The bathing-suit woman takes a seat in a lifeguard’s perch, blows her whistle and announces, “Round One: Stature.” The men proceed to argue, in a stylized comic way, about who is taller. The woman blows her whistle, walks over and raises the hand of the winner, A. Francis DeLorenzo (Barats), who is, by the way, taller. Then she gets back on her perch and flips a scorecard.

This goes on, in roughly the same manner, for 12 more rounds. The men compete, with increasing heat and antagonism over issues that are sometimes silly (Who falls dead the best?) and sometimes fraught with nastiness (Whose dad was more worthless?).

This all leads up to a devastating revelation, which I won’t disclose. Suffice to say that MacIvor makes a point about how some men can’t relate to each other except through selfish, pointless and, in the end, destructive competition.

Both Green and Barats are machine-gun fast, delivering MacIvor’s dialogue in David-Mamet-like staccato bursts. Their mastery of precision unison-speak is not only impressive from a strictly technical standpoint, but also vital to making the play comprehensible. Director Johnson deserves enormous credit for imposing discipline and structure on what could have been free-form chaos.

Green’s character, Bill Wade, and Barats’ DeLorenzo are so tightly bound together in this script, I almost think of them as one character. Both Green and Barats have exactly what the roles require: wise-guy sarcastic timing, exceptional physical comedy skills, and the depth to display undertones of pure selfishness.

I know other actors could have done a decent job with these roles, but this is one of those times when I find it hard to fathom anyone doing it better.

The two actresses in “Graceland,” Kathie Doyle-Lipe as Bev and Ashley Cooper as Rootie, are also well-cast and loaded with talent.

Doyle-Lipe is funny and fitting as a middle-age Elvis fan, camping outside the gates of Graceland in hopes of being the first-ever visitor. Cooper is also funny and believable as a younger, more down-market Elvis fan with the same goal.

They and director George Green (yes, the same George Green) are, however, saddled with a script that never veers from its cliché of low-class women with no-good husbands and boxes of Mallomars who seek romance in the form of Elvis.

The dramatic trajectory also contains zero originality. They start out as rivals, but gradually grow to understand each other. It’s especially difficult to work up enthusiasm for “Graceland” after the prodigious energy of “Never Swim Alone.”

Yet I wonder: Might “Graceland” be more realistic? Are humans truly as selfish and nasty as they are in “Never Swim Alone”? Or is the more maudlin view the more accurate one? Discuss among yourselves after the show.