The “fourth wall” is a theatrical convention that goes back to ancient times. Like other illusions, it amounts to an agreement between audience and players: a wall between that (for all intents and purposes) functions as a window to the characters’ lives. I couldn’t tell you who first speculated that being observed changes the behavior of those being observed. Only that A. R. Gurney has taken this trope and run with it. No stranger to innovation, one of Gurney’s most noteworthy pieces (The Dining Room) features characters that change with the evolving milieu of a dining room in the same home that changes with shifting cultural mores, over time.
At the beginning of The Fourth Wall, Roger has solicited Julia (a family friend) to offer an opinion on his wife Peggy’s unorthodox design choices. In their otherwise posh living room, she has left one wall completely bare. No paintings, no decor, no furniture, no shelves. To make matters worse, everything focuses attention on this blank wall. To what end? Has Peggy lost her mind? Julia vehemently agrees that a serious problem exists. When confronted, Peggy nonchalantly acknowledges that yes, it was intentional. In the current vernacular, this admission is the triggering event.
I don’t mean to sound so grim, though the characters certainly make quite an issue over poorly conceived aesthetic. Now Peggy begins to toy with the conjecture that a theoretical audience exists, watching (and therefore tacitly) and participating in their lives. Upheaval ensues. The characters (performers?) consider decisions in the abstract. Peggy’s dialogue takes on a rhetorical tone. Her marriage to Roger is in jeopardy. Julia connives to exploit this by seducing Roger. Are these turn of events happening because they might, or they must? Are they shaped by a strategy of the playwright, or contemporary standards? A Professor of Dramatic Theory (as I recall?) is enlisted to clarify and hopefully, resolve this quandary that threatens their very existence.
Under the sharp and intuitive direction of Eddy Herring: Kenneth Fulenwider (Roger) Sheila Rose (Julia) Janette Oswald (Peggy) and Kelton Neals (Floyd) navigate this delightfully absurd premise with flexibility and panache. Are they acting on the playwright’s imperative or his whims? Oswald’s very satisfying as the pioneer, who embraces the intrepid with relaxed eclat. Rose is charming and amusing, mixing sophistication with thirsty cunning. Fulenwider is hilarious as the beleaguered, flustered husband, torn between integrity and infidelity. Neals brings zany erudition to Floyd, who juggles between the conceptual and practical. Should he venture into the abstract or the comfortable familiar?
Allen’s Community Theatre presents: The Fourth Wall, playing from September 17th through October 9th, 2021. 1210 East Main Street # 300, Allen, Texas, 75002. 844-822-8849. www.AllensCommunityTheatre.net