During the performance, “Spike Heels” seemed very dramatic and intense. In retrospect, it was darkly humorous.
The play, directed by Jeff Croff, opened last weekend, and continues Friday and Saturday at the Creole Gallery, 1218 Turner St. in Old Town Lansing.
What caught my attention (besides the scene with Georgie in her underwear) was the reality of the script. None of the characters stood on stage and soliloquized or made profound, meaningful statements.
Author Theresa Rebeck really hit the mark with her depiction of awkward relationships.
Georgie is rough around the edges and has just recently moved into a more civilized circle. Her friend Andrew, a professor, set her up with a secretarial job for his lawyer friend Edward.
Andrew suggests Edward ask Georgie out, and Edward ends up threatening to rape Georgie. When Georgie finds out about this set up, she blows up.
All of this is very difficult for Andrew, who has a crush on Georgie. In the first scene, Georgie announces she’s in love with him, and he obviously doesn’t know how to handle it.
Throw Andrew’s fiancee Lydia into the mix, and you’ve really got a tangle.
Bobbi Burns, who plays Georgie, didn’t make a convincing rough rider, but that’s not to say she can’t act. When she wasn’t trying to be a punk, she delivered her lines very well, and did a decent job showing her emotions.
Why Georgie is attracted to Andrew is a mystery to me. He’s pathetic.
Andrew, played by Andy Houghton, has high moral standards and romantic ideals about love and sex. He’s immature, and unsure about himself - the kind of guy who says things that make everybody around him feel embarrassed.
Georgie, who’s smarter than she acts, knows what the other characters are up to most of the time and compares her relationship with Andrew to Pygmalion. It’s hard to watch because you can tell that through all Andrew’s ideals, he really wants to get with Georgie.
Kevin Knights, in the role of Edward, probably made the most believable and amusing character. His personality and manner of speech is perfect for the part.
The final character, Lydia, played by Sara Frank, isn’t introduced until the second act, but like the others, Rebeck is able to mold Lydia into a complex, emotional human.
The development of these characters in a four-act play is impressive. While Georgie seems like a strong person, she breaks down during the second act, telling Andrew “I don’t want him, I don’t want this if you don’t want me to.”
The play has to be funny because we’ve all been in situations that resemble it in one form or another. We’ve been in relationships and friendships where we don’t know what the other person is thinking.
Watching the characters argue can get drab at times, but in the end, “Spike Heels” makes the audience care about the outcome.
Shows are at 8 p.m. Friday and Saturday. Tickets are $10 at the door.
