Say “Six Degrees of Separation” and most people remember the 1993 film starring Will Smith, with no prior knowledge that it was a play penned by John Guare– let alone a play based on real events. In the early 1980s, a young black man by the name of David Hampton began a long career as a confidence man, posing as Sidney Poitier’s son in order to gain entrance to upscale venues and the homes of several well-to-do New York City residents.
Wasatch Theater Company’s production of “Six Degrees of Separation” is a look into the heart of the con. At its opening, we are introduced to Flan Kittredge (JC Carter), an art dealer, and his wife Ouisa (Mary Lee Anderton). They are social climbers, as evidenced by the rapid-fire dialogue, and they are consumed with their latest dinner guest, a rich friend from Africa (George Plautz). A young man named Paul (Trevor Jerome) stumbles in, wounded from a mugging in the street below, and claims to be a Harvard friend of Flan and Ouisa’s children… and also claims to be Sidney Poitier’s son. So begins the unspooling of the next 90 minutes.
The play lags slightly for the first half an hour. The energy seems scattershot and somewhat low; the dialogue is sophisticated and funny, but is delivered rapid-fire and becomes difficult to understand. There were several volume issues in the small blackbox theater; dialogue was often saved by Carter’s booming voice. Paul’s entrance happened quickly– perhaps too quickly, and it was not easy to follow what was going on, as the characters’ concern for his wounds and his own pain seemed shallow and somewhat false.
The show picks itself up, however, with the appearance of Flan and Ouisa’s children and the introduction of several more people that Paul has swindled. The college-aged children are an injection of energy and hilarity, bringing to light the eternal conflicts and misunderstandings between parents and children. The true soul of the show, however, seems to lie with a struggling young couple (Rick, played by Jesse Peery, and Elizabeth, played by Alice Gonzalez) that Paul wins over and then leaves broke and destitute. Peery’s portrayal of Rick is boundless in its enthusiasm and its heartfelt conviction; he is truly one of the highlights of the show, engaging the audience in a short amount of time with his genuine exuberance. His heartbreak, when it comes, is played to the hilt. Peery is a talented actor and I hope to see more of him locally.
Carter as Flan offers an anchoring pillar of calculation and sensibility in the play’s whirlwind of emotion; to see him arrive onstage is to know that there is a dose of humor coming, though his quieter moments are carried with just as much sensitivity. Jerome as Paul makes a convincing confidence man, a charming and erudite fellow with a certain appealing innocence that later casts his character in an unsettling, twisted light– it is a beautiful bit of acting from a local favorite. Though Ouisa initially comes off as conniving, hollow, and self-centered, Anderton slowly reels the audience in; her delivery of the speech that contains the play’s title is convincing and absorbing. The chemistry between Jerome and Anderton is unmistakeable, though occasionally mystifying; though it is played powerfully, sometimes the relationship seems to lack foundation and development. The final question left hanging in the air as the play closes seems definite: how well do we ever know each other? And more accurately, how well can we ever know ourselves?
“Six Degrees of Separation”, Wasatch Theater Company. Rose Wagner Performing Arts Center (138 West 300 South, Salt Lake City). Nightly curtain at 8:00 PM through Jan. 30; matinees on Jan. 28 & 30 at 2:00 PM. For tickets call (801) 355-ARTS or visit www.arttix.org.
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