What's going on with the stagehands at Williamstown Theatre Festival? At both True West and What Is the Cause of Thunder?, the stagehands, who are dressed like bellhops at chic boutique hotels, take a bow at the curtain call. The sets, lighting and sound for both productions are exquisite with WTF taking full advantage of the state-of-the-facilities at Williams College '62 Center for Theater and Dance. At the revival of Sam Shepard's True West on the Main Stage (which closed on July 26), the set and effects threatened to overshadow the play itself. But the world premiere of What Is the Cause of Thunder? on the smaller Nikos Stage has production values that are perfectly in sync with this thoughtful, quirky and clever play. Playwright Noah Haidle has a dangerous and delightful mind. The title of his play suggests that he wants to play with our heads. The cause of thunder is no mystery—it's the shock wave created when a lightning bolt superheats air along its path—but still when we hear a clap of thunder many of us feel that God must be angry and that the heavens are in turmoil. We choose fiction over fact, and so does Haidle's Ada, the veteran soap opera actress in Thunder who can no longer distinguish between the melodrama of her day job and her real life. (Though, one might ask, isn't one's day job real life?) Thunder is a multilayered satire that affectionately pokes fun at daytime serials, while also raising more profound questions about the nature of selling out to the entertainment industrial complex (just as True West did next door) and the narrow line many of us walk between our true and imagined selves. Haidle could not hope for better casting. Wendie Malick, who starred on the TV sitcom Just Shoot Me, is a gifted comedian and she plays Ada with subtle irony so that you believe that she is a great soap opera actress (and that the concept is not an oxymoron.) She is the diva of daytime and you respect her on one level even though she is so ridiculous on another. Malik pulls off this balancing act by commanding the stage and owning the role. (I hope when this is produced in New York that she is not passed over for an actress with a bigger name.) Happily, she is matched in talent by the ambidextrous Betty Gilpin, who plays mutliple roles—Ada's real life daughter, Ophelia, and various characters on the soap opera, including her twin daughter. Director Justin Waldman never lets the women over act, ensuring that this smart satire never crosses over into puerile parody. One of the most gratifying aspects of this production is that it is clearly a work of theater (hence the bow for the stagehands who are always visible when the scenery designed by Alexander Dodge is being moved.) It's hard to imagine this play being adapted for TV or the movies—it feels essential that the actors feed off the audience's laughter. What Is the Cause of Thunder? brings together all the considerable resources of the historic Williamstown Theatre Festival in a way that makes you think that maybe the thunder overhead is really God's applause. What Is the Cause of Thunder? Through August 2 Williamstown Theatre Festival Williamstown, MA
