The Video Fireplace
Achy Obejas and Carmela Rago
Chicago-based monologuist Frank Melcori invites similar musings. In his current show, The Video Fireplace, Melcori “plays” four characters–a man named Frank, Frank’s therapist, Frank’s best friend, and Frank’s girlfriend. Unlike Bogosian, however, Melcori is not known for his mimicry. In fact, Melcori plays all four in the same flat, matter-of-fact tone of voice. In theater, such lackluster acting would be a sign of weakness, but here it’s actually a strength: his strikingly unflamboyant style both disarms the audience–we feel we’re watching a somewhat gifted friend in his living room, and so have lower expectations–and disguises the true depth of this unassuming piece.
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In The Video Fireplace Melcori plays a kind of passive-aggressive game, daring people to take his message literally–“Hey, I’m just a nice guy with troubles”–even as he supplies lots of evidence that there’s more going on than this. Whether you buy into this game depends a lot on whether you find it amusing or annoying. I find it a wonderful antidote to all those puffed-up, superslick “artists” currently clotting up the performing-arts scene with their self-conscious, arty work–Robert Wilson, Laurie Anderson, Stephen Sondheim–who don’t really have a lot to say but say it so flamboyantly it passes for a lot.
The evening began with a performance by Rago, “The Return,” in which she reminisced about the gallery scene in the early 80s and her dysfunctional relationship with a sick but charismatic artist. As in most of Rago’s performances, a mostly unstated sorrow suffuses the work, giving even Rago’s more humorous moments–like her self-deprecating description of her postadolescent narcissism–a wonderful poignancy.
