PROVIDENCE -- Perception's a problem. That's the premise of 36 Views.
The two-act, two-hour play by Naomi Iizuka opened Thursday at Brown University's Leeds Theatre, exploring the world of forged art and sometimes phony people. Neither notion is hard to accept, unlike the pivotal point in its plot.
An accomplished Asian art dealer with a knack for spotting a forgery falls for one -- without actually seeing it. He just needs to hear some far-fetched story about it to go ga-ga over it, jeopardizing his fame and fortune.
The play's not convincing; but the performances among the six-person cast are.
Jon Magaziner, who plays the central character, Darius Wheeler, the art dealer (as in a wheeler dealer), is particularly strong. He's very comfortable in his suave character, coming across in voice and manner as composed and borderline slick, and with plausible moments of humor and outrage.
Zoë Chao plays Setsuko Hearn, a doctoral art student, innocent and trusting -- so naturally she ends up getting hurt. She becomes Wheeler's love interest, which she portrays demurely and pleasantly.
Personal perception is the subplot. The main plot is forgeries.
Wheeler spots them instantly. When Owen Matthiassen, a slightly pompous but hard-to-take seriously art professor played by Dan Hernandez, presents a work of art, Wheeler dismisses it in seconds.
He does the same with a painting presented to him by Elizabeth Newman-Orr, best characterized as a woman of mystery (to save viewers a plot twist). She's played by Alexandra Panzer, who initially seems a little too controlled, but you later realize that was an act, when she becomes distressed after she has been discovered to be something she's not.
Everything revolves around Wheeler, this art-savvy guy, who comes upon some writing that he's led to believe is translated from a newly discovered ancient original. And he believes it.
The basis for his belief is the word of his nervous assistant, John Bell, played by Steven Levenson, who extemporaneously creates a ridiculous lineage for the alleged "pillow book" of an 11th century Japanese court lady, that he says he translated into English.
Alert the media, which goes into a frenzy. And commission an artist, who goes to work.
Claire Tsong, played playfully by Mikiko Akemi Thelwell, is a friend of Bell's, and an artist, who creates an "original" forgery on which Bell can base his translated forgery.
This play isn't a comedy, though there are some amusing moments. Nor is it exactly dynamic. But again, that's a function of the play's material, not its treatment.
The play, which was first produced in 2002, is directed here by Lowry Marshall, who creates nice staging and lighting. A particularly interesting example involves all the characters coming on the stage from different directions. Everyone freezes. Time stops. The lights go dark, except for one side spotlight that connects the glances of two characters. Then it's on with the play.
Michael McGarty, the set designer, created a convincing environment, making much with 2-by-4's, plywood and polyurethane, creating a glossy floor and simple slotted-wood Japanese style walls that roll and can connect or divide the stage front and back. McGarty and Henry Clarendon also created effective lighting design, projecting behind opaque Japanese screens.
36 Views, presented by Brown Theatre and Sock & Buskin, has some nice touches, but a flawed plot.
36 Views runs at Brown University's Leeds Theatre, 77 Waterman St., Providence, through next Sunday. Shows are Thursday, Friday and Saturday at 8 p.m. and Sunday at 2 p.m. For tickets, which are $15, $10 for seniors and Brown employees, and $5 for students, call (401) 863-2838 or visit www.brown.edu/tickets .
