‘Psychopathia Sexualis’ examines sock fetish

    The lights rose in Russell Auditorium last Thursday to reveal Ellie, a hip young housewife, played by veteran GCSU actor Lauren Boyd, in a pink robe humming along to “Love is a Battlefield,” while she jotted things in her notebook. She was an obvious product of the ’80s, with loud outfits and a beat in her step. A moment later her husband, Howard entered. He was a dignified Englishman with a cane and a beard, played by Charles Bender. He promptly shut off the music. This dynamic clash of lovers is introduced from the outset of John Patrick Shanley’s “Psychopathia Sexualis”, performed in Russell Auditorium Sept. 27 – 30, with a matinee on Sunday.
“It’s all in the details,” said Brian Jones, who played the role of Dr. Block, an eccentric psychologist bent on curing his patient of a sexual fetish before it encroaches on his patient’s wedding night. “It’s really about men and their inability to be men, or what society says that men should be.”
    After Howard has a brief spat with his wife, he tells her about his curious meeting with Arnold, a painter from New York played by first-time GCSU actor Nick Mason. Arnold is set to be married soon, but confesses a strange fetish involving his dead father’s pair of argyle socks. Without having them on or near him at the “crucial moment” during intercourse, he cannot perform. His psychologist, Dr. Block, has stolen them in a desperate last effort to cure him of the fetish before his wedding. Now the race is on for Arnold to get the socks back before the wedding night without letting the women know.    
    The contrast between screwball comedies of the 1930s and the ’80s era set design is part of Director Melissa Foulger’s ability to illustrate the differences in men in women in every detail of design, staging and performance.
 “When two people fell in love, they did not simply surrender to their feelings, they battled it out,” Foulger said in her Directing Notes for the play. “What John Patrick Shanley has allowed us to do is to take this genre to a heightened stage. The story centers on deception – and the lengths Arthur is willing to go to keep his secrets from his bride-to-be, Lucille.” 
    All of the males are dressed in Depression Era clothing. There is a record player in Howard’s kitchen where Ellie would most likely be listening to a cassette tape.
    The furniture that Howard and his friend, Arthur, use while discussing their relationship problems are dark brown leather. They are dull and dignified, stoic and classic. The women, on the other hand, are radiant and full of life. Their movements are more emboldened and this is shown in the direction of their scenes by outrageous outfits, puffy white and gold wedding dresses and bright yellow one piece suits. The conflict seems integrated in the characters’ surroundings, as much as it is within the characters themselves.
    As each attempt to retrieve the socks fails, (Howard is reduced to a whimpering puddle of tears by the keen intellect and foresight of Dr. Block) the responsibility of saving the wedding falls on the women, namely Lucille, played by GCSU veteran actor Erin Burnett. Lucille is a strong Texas woman who becomes the life of the play from her introduction in the second act. She is the direct opposite of Dr. Block – a doer, not a thinker. She is pompous and domineering. The final confrontation between them is the exclamation point to the brooding battle of the sexes which builds from the opening scene.
“Gender roles collide,” Foulger said, “men are emasculated and women dominate.”
  
           

Posted by Colonnade Archives on Oct 6 2006. Filed under Features. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry