Juergen K. Tossmann, Bunbury Theater's producing/artistic director, has become quite the accomplished playwright in recent years with his string of blue-collar-milieu comedy/dramas that include Salvage Yard, Garage Sale, Salvage Yard Revisited and Uncle Smiley's Comin' Home. With his latest effort, another world-premiere comedy, the cleverly written and delightfully performed Living With Klaus, he has taken a giant step forward in subject matter and character development. In his program notes, Tossmann points out that "thoughts about aging, relationships, bigotry, prejudice, social awareness are thematic elements in all of my works." Here they are seamlessly woven into a poignant, funny, and insightful study of an untypical family wondering what to do about the onset of dementia in their patriarch, a feisty old Jewish film actor who does not wish to go gentle into that good night.
Matt Orme as the elderly Klaus is exceptional in a performance that draws forth a gamut of emotions, mood changes, facial expressions, blurted epithets, and recollections both real (including his most famous movie, "Hitler Does the Tango") and imagined (he insists he was in Auschwitz, though everyone knows he wasn't).
Tossmann also has written a delicious part for himself as Frank, a shiftless, pot-smoking, good ole Southern boy improbably married to Klaus' no-nonsense daughter Anna (Jackie Carrico). What attracted a strong smart woman like her to a man like him is a mystery, but it must be the sex because she melts every time he calls her Baby and starts petting her.
Klaus in the early stages of his illness has come to live in the apartment (the nicely appointed set is by Damon Herbert) of his adopted gay African-American son named Fritz (Robin Hunter, quietly effective in this unflamboyant role). Klaus' late wife brought home the baby one day after the death of their child. The problem worrying the family is that Fritz can't continue to have Klaus live there as the dementia grows more severe.
Tossmann has mined lodes of humor in the situations he envisions, humor that helps his characters get through the uncertainties they face. Frank is a storehouse of politically incorrect remarks, but they're not meant to be hurtful, and he is open to change once he understands the need. He's especially fond of the "Queer Eye for the Straight Guy" TV show that Fritz abhors -- so fond that he has applied to have the Fab Five do a makeover on him. He also warms to Klaus, and you can spot a heartwarming ending coming after these two outrageous characters bond through the tokes they take, the limburger cheese they secretly share, a lot of schnapps drinking, and playing a scene together from Othello.
Who could ask for anything more?
