In “Ruth Draper’s Monologues,” now at the Geffen Playhouse, Annette Bening peers above the Forth Wall and sees only empty seats. Portraying a real actress and writer playing fictional characters, Bening in this solo show displays a kind of friendly indifference to the presence of an actual audience. It’s her single-minded focus on faces and words that the rest of us don’t see or hear that gives the film star’s performance an eerie and riveting beauty.
During the entire 80-minute, one-act production, Bening does not utter a word about the life of Ruth Draper, who wrote and performed her own monologues from the end of World War I to the mid-1950s. No asides about love affairs, professional frustrations, personal triumphs and tragedies, or the obstacles an ambitious woman of the theater faced during the unenlightened first half of the 20th century.
Any audience member who wishes to know about the “real” Ruth Draper will need to go to the local library or consult Wikipedia. In broad terms, this is a public performance about public performances— nothing more or less.
But on closer view, “Ruth Draper’s Monologues” is also an extraordinary meditation on the meaning and science of acting. It’s not simply that Bening adopts a new persona each time she goes behind the transparent screen planted on the Geffen stage and emerges a few minutes later wearing a new costume. After all, young girls routinely do that when they get into their mothers’ jewelry, makeup, and heels.
Rather, it’s the continuity of the performances, across disparate characters and situations, that offers fresh insight into what it means to act on the stage. Whether playing an exuberant teenage flapper at her society debut or a stuffy woman sporting an absurd plumed-feather hat, Bening displays the same exquisite sense of timing between spoken dialogue and unspoken response. Credit for the marvelously consistent pace and rhythm of the evening must also go to the director, who happens to be named Annette Bening.
Of the four monologues, I preferred the first. Clad in a tunic the color of angel-white, Bening walks to the center of the stage and for the next 20 minutes plays the role of a new-age guru, circa the 1930s.
In a tone both encouraging and patronizing, the character works to build the self-esteem and confidence of a quartet of large women. Circling the stage in light, nimble steps, she instructs the group about proper breathing and exercise, eating right, the importance of self-expression and something called “Greek poise,” which is a way of sitting that apparently does wonders for a woman’s body and disposition. Adding physical comedy to Draper’s witty words, Bening creates a package that is unmatched by her other characters, who are for the most part sedentary.
At the end of an evening in which she has probably spoken thousands of words, Bening sounds as strong as she did when she uttered her first line. Whether her preparation involved herbal tea, silence, or lots of both, the actress has expertly prepared for the ordeal of this show.
Compliments are also due Takeshi Kata, whose simple set design neatly evokes the period, and costume designer, Catherine Zuber, who gives us the tunic, the crazy hat, and other clothing wonders.
“Ruth Draper’s Monologues” runs Tuesday through Friday at 8 p.m., Saturdays at 3 p.m. and 8 p.m., and Sundays at 2 p.m. and 7 p.m. through May 18. Tickets are priced from $37 to $77 and may be purchased at the Geffen box office, via phone at 310-208-5454 or online at www.geffenplayhouse.com. The Geffen Playhouse is located at 10866 Le Conte Avenue, Los Angeles, CA 90024.