| . | 03/04/2010
Fearless Moral Inventory
By: Eugene Paul
Frank Blocker as Frank Blocker Remember Cornelia Otis Skinner? Daughter, of course, of even more remembered Otis Skinner, Thespian? Cornelia, also, was thus of Thespian lineage; her renown was, however, developed as a monologist. Cornelia worked alone. She took the stage, costumed, coiffed, almost never less than grandly in any of her monologues she wrote and acted and reacted, always as a woman, to invisible partners, but never directly to her audiences. She was an actress and a monologist, terms sliding into the sunset. Even performers who created – or recreated – characters that addressed the audience directly were not called solo performers. But then, that was before a lone actor on stage addressed not only himself, his invisible partners but us in the audience all in the same performance, his range of possibilities multiplied, magnified.
Today, the economy has forced show business into more and more stringencies, to the point of solo performances becoming a growth industry, spawning new ventures such as specialists in coaching and training actors to become solo performers, as if this niche of the acting profession were new, noble and remunerative. Solo performances have been around for centuries, so that takes care of “new”. “Noble? Depends on the performer, his goals, her ideals, their attributes, choice of material. Are you Mark Twain again? Thomas Edison? FDR? Eleanor? A cockroach? A lion, a wall, a doormat, Aeschylus? Clothed or unclothed? How many layers? As for “remunerative” one wonders if any monetary return can compensate for the hours, days, weeks, years spent in creating, developing, rehearsing, honing the work being presented? The props, the costumes, the set pieces, the lights, the sound, music, tickets, press releases, staging, the very space, the rent? The endurance?
Frank Blocker, creator, writer, star of Fearless Moral Inventory is not presenting himself as Gandhi, De Gaulle, Sitting Bull. He is presenting Frank Blocker, himself, warts and all as the saying goes, and, in actuality, more than he probably intends, but maybe not, because he is fearless. Oh, it’s not the taken for granted gayness, that’s already old hat, overdone as a gimmick or supposed incitement to attention; everybody seems to be channeling homosexuality as an audience hook. It’s not the parade of characters, Sue Daniels, JP Georges, Joe Tennent, Nurse Finkle, Rev. Smythe – 64 characters are claimed to be Blockered – that parade, cavort, squat, jiggle, stride, mince, twitch. It’s not the amazing gamut of vocal acrobatics from booming to croaking. It’s not the clothes, god knows or any of the spare clutter he employs. It’s what he feels. And thinks. Underneath.
Because he’s working – and there’s no denying he’s working hard – as well as enjoying his self-revelation. At the same time he’s hating doing so. There’s a half fearful building of suspense that sooner or later something awful is going to happen. And that is fascinating in the same way one might be mesmerized by a cobra. Despite the fact that Frank Blocker, actor, appears to be a charming, facile man, tall, pleasant, curly hair, dimples, smile, twinkly eyes. But all of that becomes unstuck in scary, little moments and you see something murderous in the briefest of glimpses. Sure, he’s doing it in among the 64 characters but – he’s not. It’s doing him, whatever it is and you don’t want any more of it and yet, you do, because we’re safe here in a tiny theater and there are friendly folk around and what could happen, what could possibly happen it’s only a 75 minute show, only on Mondays, dark night Mondays. But I’m glad none of the props have sharp edges.
Stage Left Theater, 438 West 37th Street, (5A). Mondays, 8 pm. Tickets: $20. Smarttix.com. 212-868-4444.
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