Community Corner
Theater Review: 'No Way Around But Through' at the Falcon Theatre
This existential and philosophical gem asks all the right questions and doesn't always provide the answers.
If you are in the mood for a quirky and dark romantic comedy, the World Premiere of No Way Around But Through presented by Falcon Theatre and The Mineral Theater Company and playing at Falcon Theatre in Burbank through July 8 is the answer.
This existential and philosophical gem asks all the right questions and doesn’t always provide the answers.
Though it is somewhat forced and self-indulgent at times and the second act goes on too long, it dares to do what so few other plays do not: Go out on a limb and use the mind as well as the emotions.
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There is a humanity and feeling here that supercedes any practical or theoretical misdiagnosis or failing. The play works.
When Jacob (Scott Caan) discovers that his girlfriend Holly (Robyn Cohen) may be pregnant, he drags his friend Frank (Val Lauren) into the maddening wormhole that is his psyche, a venture that lands them on the doorstep of Lulu (Melanie Griffith): Jacob’s mother and the matriarch of madness herself. However, Holly and her friend Rachel (Bre Blair) are one step ahead of them.
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Caan’s writing and acting are sincere, direct and genuine. There does not seem to be a dishonest bone in his body. He is not afraid of asking why and exploring the fallout. Nor does he stray from the meaningful questions of existence and love.
Lauren, who also directs, is a revelation as an 80s-era hipster trying to find his soul, or what’s left of it, through therapy and a deep friendship with Jacob.
The direction is crisp, strong and true to the script, if sometimes lacking a through-line.
Cohen’s vulnerability and passion in many ways make the play what it is.
Blair is confident, convincing and graceful.
Griffith proves quite free-spirited and open to her character if hard to hear at times.
In the end, the power to just be as a human being without a past or a future comes shining through here.
This is not a piece about the way life should or could be, but the way it is, and how the act of believing affects it for better or worse.
Lighting Designer Nick McCord, Sound Designer Robert Arturo Ramirez and Costume Designer Kim DeShazo help get the play’s message across.
