Ring Twice For Miranda--No Amount of Rings Can Help This New Play

By Joseph Cervelli

Not many shows have luggage falling from the ceiling to the stage. So, in one respect the ghastly new play “Ring Twice For Miranda”  by Alan Hruska at the New York City Center Stage II who wrote the equally poor “Laugh it Up/Stare it Down” has something different.  

A shambles of a play not helped by convoluted direction by Rick Lombardo takes place in either  a dysptopian world or one on the verge of apocalyptic chaos. 

We first meet Miranda (Katie Kleiger) who is in the downstairs of a mansion with butler Elliot (George Merrick.) They seemed to have had a fling and still have some affection for each other. There is a large board with a number of bells for each member of the staff. The problem is that all have been dismissed except for these two. It is not clear was to why Elliot is kept although there is an indication that Miranda is kept on for the possible sexual favors she bestows upon Sir. Well, that thought needs to be expunged from your mind for what actually occurs when they meet is far from clandestine but rather preposterous. The owner of the mansion  is the mysterious and grizzled looking Sir (Graeme Malcolm). His man in charge is Gulliver (Daniel Pearce) who later in the play announces he was an engineer and then plumber. Who exactly is the strongmanhere? Sir or Gulliver? One cannot help but think of the current political atmosphere with the influence of White House chief strategist Steve Bannon.

With one ring of the bell or was it three, no matter, Elliot finds that he is going to be dismissed. Sir apparently only needs Gulliver and the doctors who attend to his every need. Miranda decides to leave the cozy protective environment of the mansion along with Elliot and venture into a world that has taken dark undertones. Has the world become an incendiary place in which Sir is the one in charge of his particular district. They find  themselves among garbage and a deserted building that it is alleged houses undesirables. Jason Sherwood has provided an eerie enough set confirming that anarchy has taken over. I must add that Lombardo does much better on his sound design than direction. They meet a Brit by the name of Chester (William Connell) and his Egyptian girlfriend Anouk (Talia Thiesfield) who are looking for gas for their Porsche. Chester is dressed and acts like he is on an acid trip from spending time at the Woodstock festival  back in 1969 and Anouk with her manic movements looks like she came from a production of the  “Rocky Horror Show.” Giving both Elliot and Miranda a lift falls through. And why do both need so many pieces of luggage with no real form of transport? Suddenly, for no specific reason appears who appears out of this malignant atmosphere but a plumber named Felix (Ian Lassiter) who is carrying a wrench. What is there to fix in this vast wilderness of death and destruction? He receives a call from Sir to return them back to the mansion. 

It is not a real surprise that Chester and Anouk have now taken over the duties once held by Elliot and Miranda. The scene that determines why  these two interlopers are dismissed is inane. 

The play just drags on and if Hruska is attempting to create a world filled with moral corruption and edgy despair among the population where their only escape is to make their way to a safe location that never materializes. A big problem is that Lombardo as director and the playwright are not on equal footing. Lombardo seems to be deconstructing what Hruska is intending by aiming for zany humor and  bringing in two characters that are played like automatons. 

I am not quite what the title means but that is one of the least things to try to figure out in this very forgettable play. 

Tickets are available at City Center Stage II 131 West 55th Street or by calling 212.581.1212. The limited engagement ends April 16. 

Photo: Gerge Merrick and Katie Kleiger. Credit: Russ Rowland