Transference

By Lee Scheier

One Way Out Productions       

http://www.quietagent.com

 

On the surface, Lee Scheier does not seem to be cut from the same mold as many Chicago playwrights.  Being that she specializes in medical and legal writing, who knew that she would possess such a gift in creating zany characters with dialogue ripe for insane embellishments?  The talented director, Jeff Lee, throws his hat into the ring, corralling the spastic script into a herdable endeavor.  Add into the mix one of the most talented ensembles to grace the Chicago stage in recent memory, and Transference is one heck of a show.  The actors are so energetic, and possess such a sublime sense of timing, that the audience is easily sucked into this comedic romp.

 

Transference tells the collective story of a seemingly nut-job psychiatrist, Dr. Sidney Levine, and his dealings with two of his patients.  The play opens with a hilarious presentation given by Dr. Levine to the New York Psychiatric Society, explaining his new high-speed psychoanalytic technique called Transference where, with the aid of puppets representing the parents of the patients, he can cure even the craziest patient in a single 45-minute session.  Veteran Chicago actor Frederic Stone really sinks his theatrical chops into the part of this whacky doctor with great success.

 

Patient One is the pitifully shy Jack Schwartz, deftly played by Ed Kross, who endlessly laments about the fact that he’s never had a girlfriend, and ends the session telling the doctor about Annie O’Reilly (Bethany Caputo), a girl he recently met at a party that he would like to date but is too scared to call.  Bethany Caputo pulls off the best performance of the evening, milking every one of her lines for all its worth.

 

Patient Two is Harold Feldman (Dev Kennedy), a recently-nominated federal judge who suddenly confesses to his wife Miriam (Diane Dorsey) that, instead of being a judge, he’d rather be a dog, a pedigreed whippet to be exact, a smaller version of a greyhound.  Dev Kennedy takes on this craziest of scenarios with perfect gusto, complete with yappy barking and the eager fetching of a chew toy.  Wife Miriam desperately drags husband Harold (literally, with a leash) to Dr. Levine, in hopes that the psychiatrist can cure him of his whippet-envy before he is called into his interview for the approval of his judgeship. 

 

The sound and light design, created by Caryn Weglarz-Klein, Richard Morwood, Rob Milburn and Michael Bodeen, are stellar, especially the cumulative use of a wonderful swooshing noise mixed with lighting cues used at the beginning of each scene. 

 

There are a few glitches in Transference, that hopefully can be ironed out during this world premiere run.  The ending of the first act is shaky, with Patient One, Jack Schwartz, fainting on a table in a restaurant.  Even in such a farcical script, this seems to come out of no where, as we are not told that Schwartz suffers from this fainting malady when experiencing great anxiousness.  Along with this, the set changes, though acceptably carried out by a 4-member crew cleverly dressed in white psyche-ward lab coats, are way too long and clunky, deflating the script’s forward-moving energy as the audience is too-often forced to impatiently wait for the next scene. 

 

Altogether, though, Transference promises a great night out, filled with tons of laughter and fun for all. 

 

 

Rating: Highly Recommended (4 stars)