ANNA DEVERE SMITH – TALENTED TALK O.K. let’s get it out. Smith’s show is quite enticing – but to sit for almost two hours in a theatre chair is like being dragged into a torture chamber. Her play “Let Me Down Easy” is not so easy to sit through. Now, if it were an hour and and 30 minutes it would have been more in my comfort zone. Read any Doctors book and they will tell you that sitting in a chair for almost two hours can kill you. And that’s not a joke. Talented as Devere Smith is – I don’t want to die while I’m sitting still. The play is based on interviews that Smith did with several famous names. Here are some of the characters that Smith portrays in the play: Lance Armstrong, playwright Eve Ensler, Film Critic Joel Siegel. Smith’s take on Siegel was probably one of the most enjoyable. At least, for me. Also very good is “Ann Richards – (the Texas Governor). The comic relief in those two Mono’s gave us a breath of fresh air. Frankly, I really don’t want to hear a monologue about dying, cancer and a Buddist Monk. There is no doubt about it, that Smith is a clever and excellent performer. She wrote the script – but maybe fell too much in love with her words to the point of driving the audience to madness. Or, maybe that is the purpose. The highlight of the show has to be the Set. THAT you can whistle. It was absolutely a knockout (The Set). And, Devere’s show could have been also, with a lot fewer words. Or maybe delete some of the characters for another time. But again, she is a fantastic monologist. One person shows are generally deadly. It’s not good theatre when your audience dies in the chairs. Check with Dr. Oz – he’ll tell you. (RATING: THREE GLASSES OF CHAMPAGNE!!! – trademarked- AT THE BERKELEY REP THEATRE

BeyondChron: San Francisco's Alternative Online Daily News » Sondheim’s Assassins - Brilliant!; Pia Zadora – Wow!; Anna Devere Smith – Chatty!