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Saturday, February 01, 2003

By John Hayes, Post-Gazette Staff Writer

There's a moment in Edward Albee's "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?" when the escalating bickering and psychological torment inflicted at a late-night cocktail party grow so grotesque and pathetic that it explodes in one of the most poignant scenes in theater and film. Albee digs deep for a humiliating revelation that is both profound and, in a literary sense, perfect.

	Joe Pauley and Adriana Babinski star in "Pistachio" at Gemini Theatre. (Leah Klocko) Pittsburgh New Play Festival WHERE: Gemini Theatre at The Factory, 7501 Penn Ave., Point Breeze WHEN: 8 p.m. tonight TICKETS: $8, 412-243-6464 Next week in the festival: "Champagne Sundays" by Tom Stephens.

Pittsburgh playwright James McManus has earned the attention of the local theater crowd with the strong character development and interesting story lines of his previous works. In "Pistachio," however, a new full-length drama premiered as part of the Pittsburgh New Play Festival, McManus tries to out-Albee Albee with a faint reflection of the famous drama.

The story is set at an upscale cocktail party where the parlor game of choice is exposing embarrassing details and rubbing them in each other's faces. Despite some fine acting and an edgy tempo enforced by director Dennis Palko, McManus doesn't twist the dagger quite enough to strike a tender nerve, and the prolonged arguing just gets annoying.

There's nothing wrong with retooling an existing story into a new fiction. It's done every day. Albee himself loosely based "Virginia Woolf" on Strindberg's "Dance of Death." McManus' past works prove that he's talented enough to revisit "Pistachio" and make it his own.

At the core of the story is a smug, arrogant, alcoholic novelist who fills his emotional emptiness by robbing the privacy of those around him. It's a difficult role requiring simultaneous displays of sharp intellect, social aggressiveness, overwhelming cruelty and thinly veiled vulnerability. On opening night, Joe Pauley needed more time with the character, time to smooth out separated sections of a dysfunctional personality and blend them into something more convincing.

Gemini newcomer Tressa Glover is completely believable as his tormented wife, and Gabrielle Bonesson came in with a solid grip on the story having previously performed in "Virginia Woolf." Jason Kirsch brings out the most in his character, and while Brazilian actress Adriana Babinski struggles a bit to be understood through her lush accent, she revels in the role of seductress and manipulator.