By Trish Ostroski
Playwright Sam Shepard’s A Lie of the Mind, currently playing in Toluca Lake, offers strong writing, a great ensemble cast, inventive casting and effective blocking that uses the whole theatre to deliver a solid show to the audience. Director David Jay Barry gets strong performances from this interesting and seasoned cast.
A compelling and emotional story often displaying some passionate performances, this is the story of two families. The play begins in the aftermath of a brutal beating of Beth at the hands of her jealous husband, Jake. Her subsequent recovery and his desperate attempt to repair this wreckage provides the driving force that leads all the characters to realize what is a lie and what is truth. The action is split between scenes in Southern California and an isolated ranch outside Billings, Montana as we go back and forth between the two families.
The cast includes Scott Brady as the obsessed Jake and husband of Beth played by Sabrina Addams who suffers at the hands of his rage, thus making her mentally unstable. Other cast members include Daniel Tamm as a gruff rancher, Ernestine Phillips as his wife and Stephen Ferguson as Jake’s brother. Christina Diaz is Jake’s sister; Cordell Pace is Beth’s brother and Patti Tierce rounds out the cast as Jake’s oddly eccentric military mother.
A Lie of the Mind is currently being staged at the Sidewalk Studio Theatre, 4150 Riverside Drive in Burbank. It runs Fridays and Saturdays at 8 p.m. until February 28. Tickets are $15 and reservations can be made at (818) 629-2342. |