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The Receptionist

6663 El Cajon Boulevard, Suite N, San Diego, 92115

Adam Bock's Kafkaesque comedy is tricky to talk about, since everything depends on what you don't know. It takes place in the reception room of the "northeast office" of some sort of company (what kind is the tricky part; let's just say they don't make widgets). We witness daily office life. Edward Raymond, the boss, talks about letting healthy fish go and eating only the damaged ones (who receive a painless bleed-out in his loving hands) and how "everything out there is eating something." His second-in-command, Lorraine, complains about her ex, a narcissist from whose ardent self-regard she can't quite disconnect. And poor, harried Beverly, the receptionist, carries on several conversations, and handles several crises, at once, while rarely completing a sentence. Bock's sharp dialogue combines crisp patter with steep nonverbal gulfs, which the Cygnet Theatre production always stresses to good effect. Wearing Jeannie Reith's somber charcoal business attire (which gains meaning as the 80-minute show evolves), and ably directed by Sean Murray, the cast catches the play's contrary tones with precision. Melinda Gilb's a hoot as Beverly, chameleon of various attitudes, depending on the moment. Jo Anne Glover turns Lorraine (played as a dumb blonde in the original) into an amazingly dimensional creation. Excellent work. Sean Cox is appropriately slick as the aptly named Mr. Dart, and Dale Morris expertly makes Edward Raymond seem one of the world's kindliest bosses. Sean Fanning's photorealistic office has such a lived-in quality it must have been there before they built the theater. And Eric Lotze's lighting shifts from institutional neon to bold, expressionist Axis of Evil effects.


Worth a try.

When

Ongoing until Sunday, August 31, 2008

Hours

Sundays, 2pm & 7pm
Wednesdays, 7:30pm
Thursdays, 8pm
Fridays, 8pm
Saturdays, 8pm
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4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs
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