LET THE DOLLY DO THE WORK
You sip your San Pellegrino and try to maintain a neutral expression. “And what do these movers do?”
“Floor to ceiling.”
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Thankfully O’Reilly has never had to pitch his inexplicable Let the Dolly Do the Work to anyone except his colleagues at Curious Theatre Branch. Yet he’s taken this seemingly insipid premise and constructed an adventure of giddy theatrical heights. Though Dolly is a bit unbalanced–the first act is much stronger than the second–the extraordinary cast deliver virtuoso performances start to finish.
What drives the play is not the story but the unexpected collisions between all these mismatched sensibilities. Wood, Dude, and John move at completely different paces and concern themselves with everything but their jobs, causing minor explosions every few minutes. Through it all, Dwight (renamed “Ike” by his coworkers) attempts to negotiate a course that will prevent him from offending anyone: he tries never to take sides in any dispute, a hilariously impossible task.
But throughout, O’Reilly’s cast brings as much to this play as any playwright could want. Every actor understands that his or her character must take a backseat to the overall movement of the drama–these generous performers serve the text, not their egos. Of particular note are the members of the moving company–Rayner, Tamney, Martin, and Hanks–who have such well refined technique that they hardly seem to be acting at all. Yet each finds great theatricality in seemingly unimportant moments. In a city often smothered under the excesses of big, loud, “Chicago-style” theater, the spare, economical acting of these performers is a breath of fresh air.
