LA Downtown News, 7 November 2011 — Page 17
A : I think a lot of baby boomers are dealing with elderly and even dying family members, and so I think it will have that resonance for people. Morris tells a story about the spark for this play: He and his husband were visiting somebody dy-
Q : Given the themes, how do you think the show will resonate with baby boomers?
Q : Vigil has been translated into 19 languages. What do you think accounts for its universal success?
A : There are a lot of people dealing with aging and dying family members. I think that is universal. These two lonely people, disenfranchised people, that’s not an uncommon phenomenon. Building a relationship, building a friendship — which is really what this play is about — that’s a universal theme.
Vigil runs through Dec. 18 at the Mark Taper Forum, 135 N. Grand Ave., ( 213) 628-2772 or centertheatregroup. org.
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November 7, 2011
Downtown News 17
Dying for Comedy
ing in the hospital, and there was a curtain divider, and they could hear in the next bed a nurse speaking to the elderly woman next to her. And the nurse said,“ Well, we’ve just gotten word that your family can’t come out and be with you.” Then there was a pause. Then the nurse said,“ What do you want me to do? Would you like me to wipe your tears, dear?” That story started the idea for this play.
‘ Vigil’ Star Marco Barricelli Talks About Taper Production and Co-star Olympia Dukakis
The show, which runs through Dec. 18, is about more than morbid humor. Barricelli — who spent time growing up in Riverside and who has performed on and off Broadway —
spoke with Los Angeles Downtown News about the play’s universal themes and working alongside Dukakis.
by Ryan E. Smith
P eople often refer to dark comedies. Vigil , which recently opened at the Mark Taper Forum, adds its own twist to the genre — it’s a death comedy.
In the two-person play, written and directed by Morris Panych, Marco Barricelli is a self-involved, middle-aged man who rushes off to care for an aunt that he hasn’t seen in years ( Academy Award-winner Olympia Dukakis). Then he eagerly waits for her to die.
Q : Your co-star, Olympia Dukakis, doesn’t speak until near the end of the first act. How did she get off so easy?
A : Just because you don’t speak doesn’t mean the job is easy. It’s actually in many ways more difficult for her because she doesn’t have the language to express what’s going on inside. Of course, she’s brilliant at it. The audience is locked on to her. Even though she has no language necessarily, it’s very much a dialogue between the two.
Q : You’ve performed with Dukakis before. A : Many, many times.
Marco Barricelli : This play is, for me, more than that. It’s about the building of a friendship between these two people and everything that happens. The stories that are revealed about somebody’s life can sometimes be amusing, sometimes funny, sometimes sad or pathetic. It runs the whole gamut.
Los Angeles Downtown News : What’s so funny about death, dying and eldercare?
Q : What kind of rapport have you two developed?
A : It’s a very deep connection personally, I feel. We sort of met each other and worked together through some very interesting times in both our lives and that kind of brings you closer together. Every time I walk into a rehearsal room on the first day and she’s there, I look into her eyes when we’re working and I’m right at home. I know these eyes. I know this energy. I know this person. It’s very comforting, actually.
A : I don’t think of him that way. He’s not harsh. He’s a person that doesn’t have any sort of developed social skills. He’s a person who is disenfranchised, alone. He has no friends, and so some of the things he says, he says very sort of purely and simply. It just comes out from him. It’s certainly not out of maliciousness.
Q : Your character can be kind of harsh. What keeps the dark humor from crossing the line?
Marco Barricelli is a self-involved man waiting for his aunt ( Olympia Dukakis) to die in the Mark Taper Forum’s Vigil .
A : When I originally read the script, I chuckled at it a lot, and I was just blown away by the quality of the writing. I read so many scripts in my life, and so many of them seem to be glorified television dramas.
Q : When you originally read the script, did you want to laugh first or cry?
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