The Skin of Our Teeth

Critiqued by Holly Bartges

Now is the time for perfect timing, and the Aurora Fox grabbed hold, producing Thornton Wilder's Pulitzer Prize hilariously perceptive The Skin of Our Teeth.

On Charles Packard's knock out set that literally will have you thinking twice about getting out of your seat during the first Intermission. If you do, you will wish you hadn't. That's not only a truth; it's a promise.

Ben Dicke as Henry; John Arp as Mr. Antrobus; Misha Johnson as Gladys in Skin of Our Teeth at the Aurora Fox. Photo credit: Jen Orf

Under the astute direction of Bev Newcomb-Madden, and a gangbusters cast featuring John Arp, Billie McBride, Megan Van de Hey, Misha Johnson, and Ben Dicke. The cast also includes a loveable Mammoth, and a snuggly Dinosaur, you'll not only want to take home, but will want to scream out loud at McBride's matter of fact, Mrs. Antrobus. "How dare she send the two devoted animals out into the cold with the next ice age looming in the distance? McBride provides rock solid mother-of-the-earth demeanor to the wife of the hard working inventor of the wheel, mathematics, and the alphabet. John Arp wraps himself neatly around and through the fun loving Mr. Antrobus who gets child-like excited over figuring out how to separate the letters m and n. Horrified at the sight of refugees freezing and hungry Mr. Antrobus collected on his way home from the office, McBride's Mrs. freezes in her tracks at his request. What? He wants to bring these scrounges into her house? These scrounges just happen to be a doctor, (Ok, the children might need a doctor,) a judge representing Moses, and three sisters whose last name just happen to be Muse. Oh, yes, mankind definitely needs the muses. Giving in to his cunning pleas, she insists if the refugees come in, the animals must go. No! Tells you where my priorities are. Save the animals.

Robert Michael Sanders and Ashley Marcinkowski not only maneuver the Mammoth in perfect synchronization; they bring him to life with gurgling happy sounds and appreciative personality. "Katie Solko equally brings the Dinosaur to cuddly life. ?Com?on Mrs. Antrobus can't you let them curl up in the bedroom? Please don't turn them out." History tells us otherwise. The two enchanting creatures had to go. In spite of the destined extinction, the Antrobus' with their two children, Henry played by Dicke, and Gladys played by Johnson survive the Ice Age, by the skin of their teeth.

When was the last time you paid attention to a Telegraph Boy when there were Telegraph Boys to pay attention too? Rob Costigan takes the role of the Telegraph Boy and turns him into a major player with pizzazz.

Wilder is not concerned about funny thoughts engulfing one family, but mankind. Antrobus taken from the Greek word for mankind, anthropos, is what Skin of Our Teeth is all about.

No, Skin of Our Teeth is not a chronological history of mankind. If it were, we?d be at the Aurora Fox for months. Not a good idea.

Act I goes back to the Ice Age. The actress playing Sabina, the maid, (Van de Hey plays both.) breaks from her saucy role admitting she has a great difficulty comprehending the meaning of the play. "Wilder just can't make up his mind whether the family should live in a cave or in New Jersey". For Wilder, it doesn't matter where they live. What matters is how mankind meets each "tragical" historical moment. It doesn't even matter that humans weren't around during the ice age, much less had mammoths and dinosaurs for pets. References reach back to Biblical characters, and the great philosophers. Whether each reference is caught doesn't matter either. They definitely enhance the direction and motive of the loose-leaf story. For the first time around, however, this isn't crucial. The point of it all is how mankind reacts to end-of-the-world-feeling-moments, whether real or fantasized. Either way, it fits perfectly into today's moodful anxieties of where we are going and how we will get there.

Arp molds his classic humored ability perfectly into Mr. Antrobus breathing a life-filled reality to a character representing all mankind and yet a specific human being who loves life, thrills over inventive creativity, struggles with a growing distaste for his son Henry, and adores his daughter Gladys. She fills a need after losing his most favorite child, and at the same time falls into temporary despair to ponder why start over again?

Billie McBride as Mrs. Antrobus in Skin of Our Teeth at the Aurora Fox. Photo credit: Jen Orf

McBride's matter of fact, salt-of-the-earth Mrs. Antrobus holds her ground, refusing to let Sabina's intoxicating seduction of Mr. Antrobus get in her way. Standing shoulder to shoulder with her practical mindedness there's not enough food, there?s not enough room, McBride embraces Mrs. Antrobus, wedding a tender side of compassion as she gently rubs the head of the beloved baby Mammoth.

Van de Hey grabs hold of Sabina and the actress who plays Sabina with powerful fun loving secured confidence. Swishing, girly, seductress Sabina gets dropped on the floor when the actress speaks directly to the audience. She doesn't like the play, doesn't understand the play. She took the job out of necessity. Sometimes actors will do anything for a paycheck. Ironically, as the Antrobus story progresses, the actress gains insight sharing it with the audience. Van de Hey's artistic ability to move from silly seduction to straight forward out of place actress shines

Act II moves to the boardwalk of Atlantic City where Mr. Antrobus has just been elected President of the Ancient and Honorable Order of Mammals, subdivision Humans. The conventioneers wear the rowdiness of the roaring twenties. Sabina in a puffy red dress tries to steal Mr. Antrobus from his wife and family. Mercedez Perez creates an eye catching Fortune Teller whose sharp deep eyes carries mankind back to the beginning of the ages. Here is a Fortune Teller who speaks truth with choreographed sharp moves, and choreographed piercing eyes. The conventioneers want to hear only what they want to hear, ignoring her foreboding warnings. A natural tragedy closely resembling the Flood of Noah's time taunts Mr. Antrobus to assemble the two fold animals boarding the big boat at the end of the pier. The seductive Sabina melts into a whimpering little girl begging not to be left behind.

Act III moves to the end of a seven-year war. Gladys and her mother survive in their once upon a time house by hiding in the cellar. They worry as to whether Mr. Antrobus survived, and worry about Henry and his erupting anger. Strong reference to the power of good and evil culminates as the family reassembles. Sabina wonders why she always ends up in the kitchen, semi muttering that they always start over and over again. Dicke' creation of Henry from disruptive child to angry man representing of tangled evil, is a mastery of timing and controlled exploding emotion. During the ice age his unconventional behavior creates smiles as his mother lovingly tries to keep him in line. After the seven-year-war, Dicke's demeanor for Henry becomes scratchily unnerving. Dicke's grasp of Henry plays out with every word and disruptive move.

Nicole Harrison?s designed costumes capture the characters perfectly throughout the three-part surreal Picasso-type portrait. Jen Orf's lighting design feeds into the laughter, the despair, the anger, the sauciness, the rowdiness, the hope, and the determination. El Armstrong's sound design bounces through the ages as "anthropos" moves steadily, developing the ability to recreate, and recreate, and recreate.

Wilder grabbed the hearts of Broadway audiences when Skin of Our Teeth opened on The Great White Way in 1943. Destruction loomed heavy in the hearts of the world with the onslaught of World War II. They needed to laugh. They needed to believe life would go on. Mr. and Mrs. Antrobus' unyielding journey gave them exactly what they wanted and needed. No surprise to anyone, Wilder's universal concept of human nature salves uneasy torment right here, right now, as it will a hundred years from now. Undoubtedly, a century from now, something will happen, causing someone to ask, "Can we survive?" Mr. and Mrs. Antrobus, Sabina, Gladys, Henry, and the Telegraph Boy will be right there saying, "Oh, yes we can." The brilliancy of the casting bounces Arp, McBride, Van de Hey, Dicke, Johnson, and every single one of the others in perpetual motion with each other, against each other, always for each other.

The Skin of Our Teeth has heart, and soul. This cast and crew nail it to the wall with their heart, soul, and artistic magnificence. "Not to be missed under any circumstance." Don't waste time even thinking about it. Call now for reservations.

The Skin of Our Teeth
By Thornton Wilder; Directed by Bev Newcomb