Only in theatre can you cast a middle-aged, balding Irishman to play all the leads in a romantic comedy … and have it take your breath away. Written, directed and acted by David Cale, Palomino is a one-man tour de force. Don’t let Cale’s physical appearance trick you into not seeing this adorable, poignant, one-man romantic comedy.
Cale has an extensive pedigree on stage and in front of the camera, and his vast experience carries the audience seamlessly through the show. Cale not only engages the audience, but delights and provokes them, intermingling a certain melancholy drama with unexpected, delightful humor. The show runs longer than an hour and a half, but you wouldn’t know that if you didn’t look at your watch. Cale is fully present in every moment, a feat not to be underappreciated. It takes exquisite skill to embody seven different characters with only the help of a few slides on a projection screen, three stools and a hat, and Cale does so wonderfully.
I must admit I was not expecting to re-examine my views of love and relationships in the 21st century when Cale first stepped foot on stage, but that’s exactly what happened. Cale so perfectly captures the essence of the middle-aged, suburban dating life, you get the sense he’s experienced more in his life than clicks on match.com. Kieren McGrath is the protagonist, an attractive, worldly driver of a Palomino-drawn carriage in Central Park. Kieran’s exploits as a carriage-driver-
cum-prostitute are remarkably genuine and touching. While the play has its lascivious moments, it’s more endearing than anything, engaging the audience in that all-too-familiar search for a loving companion … even if said companion winds up costing a few thousand dollars for a weekend getaway.
The production qualities of the play are very minimalist. Subtle music and a large projection screen behind the stage are all that accent Cale’s performance. The austerity of the milieu, however, serves the play very well. This is a show about love. About raw human emotion. About loneliness, and the common, sometimes desperate search for someone to understand and appreciate the very basest of ourselves.
There is a certain self-deprecating nature to the play. On the surface, Cale himself is not the dashing, suave McGrath he portrays throughout the show. The play, though, proffers the idea that there is that sexier, more confident personality within each of us. Perhaps it is only when we have the nerve to step out of our traditional lives that we allow that version of ourselves to fully flourish. The reward, Cale shows us, is what makes life worth living.
Palomino plays at the Kirk Douglas Theatre through June 6. More information and tickets can be found at www.centertheatregroup.org.
Ben Whitehair is an actor/director/web guru who lives and works in Culver City. He graduated from the University of Colorado at Boulder, summa cum laude with degrees in theatre, political science and leadership. Visit his web site at www.benwhitehair.com.
