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Exposed
by Les Hunter
Through A Naked Lens reviewed December 17, 2005
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Through a Naked Lens is a fictionalized account of the unrequited gay-love story involving Herbert Howe, an acerbic Hollywood journalist, and Ramon Novarro, a Mexican immigrant who became a successful Hollywood leading man in the waning days of silent film. Herbert, whose gossip columns and brutally honest exposés made him a Hollywood kingmaker, is at the height of his career when he is assigned to do an exclusive interview with rising star Ramon during the production of the film The Arab in Tunisia.
While they are on a ship bound for Europe from America, their interaction progresses from verbal to physical, and lust soon blossoms into love. But Ramon is torn between the adoration of the camera and the demanding devotion of Herbert. Meanwhile, studio executives attempt to wrest Ramon away from Herbert so he doesn't endanger his career.
There are essentially two plots in the play. The first half revolves around producer Rex Ingram trying to get Ramon away from Herbert. The second part is a wearisome repetition of the problems of the first. Instead of Rex trying to take Ramon away, it is now a team of Hollywood producers. And for all the action that occurs, very little happens.
As for the leading man, he is treated by nearly everyone like a child. Producers and directors schedule every minute of Ramon's day. Herbert condescendingly insists he knows what is best for him. Even the script itself supplies Ramon with immature responses, juvenile outbreaks, and flaccid Spanish clichés. He is apt to react to both a desperate situation—or a problem with a ruffle in his costuming—with "Dios mio."
This is not necessarily the fault of JoHary Ramos, who plays Ramon, as it is obviously an element of the script. Ramos, supplied with nothing better than a tired gay stereotype—the effeminate prima donna—has little choice but to add to it. Novarro himself was a victim of circumstance. With his exotic good looks, he could rise to the top of the silent film world, but, as was the case with many foreign actors in the early 30's, he could not make the transition to talkies. The handsome Ramos is also featured for his looks, as this production takes ample opportunity to display him sans clothing.
Stephen Smith plays Herbert as a tough-minded, gritty journalist, and early on he succeeds in doing so with honest wit. He seems almost like a fast-talking PI out of some film noir, making one wonder if he is deliberately evoking the wrong era. But as the production wears on—which it does, clocking in at a long two hours and 10 minutes—his abrupt transition from tough guy to a lovestruck, sensitive man is not convincing. As a result, Smith loses what initially made him interesting—his jaded humor.
Scenes are distinguished by the elaborate Eastern costuming, Bedouin-style tents, and heavy, 20's-era film equipment. The use of back-screen projections with silent film-style plot explainers and quotes from Herbert's travel memoirs, though clever at first, becomes tiresome through overuse. It seems evident that the script is the product of ideas, but they're not well translated into words. The dialogue, at some points pithy and smart, is often tedious and in desperate need of revision. Entire scenes could be cut.
The playwright, George Barthel, gamely notes in the playbill that he has written numerous historical, gay-themed plays. In itself, there is nothing wrong with that. Angels in America is a masterpiece with elements that are both gay and historical. The problem is when a playwright who proudly purports to create "themed" plays ends up creating ideas separate from the events he's trying to dramatize.
This is the trouble with Through a Naked Lens. It is so concerned with the fictional re-creation of a time period, and so consumed with the idea of unrequited gay love in an unaccepting society, that it fails to create an engaging story, one with characters that break out of tired, pre-established behaviors and actions. Through a Naked Lens presents itself earnestly as a play about film, but it is more interested in image than content.
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Wings Theatre
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Category: Drama
Written by: George Barthel
Directed by: Richard Bacon & L. J. Kleeman
Produced by: Wings Theatre
Opened: December 16, 2005
Closed: January 21, 2006
Running Time: 2: hours, 10 minutes
Theater: Wings Theatre
Address: 154 Christopher Street
New York, NY 10014
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Tickets: $19.00
TDF Vouchers Accepted
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Cast
Stephen Smith as Herbert Howe
JoHary Ramos as Ramon Novorro
Richard Bacon as Rex Ingram
Shay Coleman as Jim Quirk
Tracy M. Gaillard as Tracy
Heather Murdock as Alice Terry
Tom Patterson as Irving Thalberg
Joe Pepe as Eason/Lon
Sheila Shaigany as Reba/Sally
Raymond O. Wagner as Lous B. Mayer/Old Man
Laura Beth Wells as Adela Rogers St. Johns
Crew
Written by George Barthel
Directed by Richard Bacon and L.J.Kleeman
Fight Choreographer: Kymberli E. Morris
Sets: Ray Wagner and L.J. Kleeman
Costumes: L.J. Kleeman
Lighting: Sean Linehan
Multimedia: Jas McDonald and Richard Bacon
Stage: Parys LeBron
Photography: Martha Holmes
Publicist: Max Eisen
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