by Rafael Gallegos
Daily Lobo
The Cell Theatre and its resident professional-theater company, Fusion, have brought another hot new play to town.
Edna Walsh's "Bedbound" just had a run in New York City at the Irish Repertory Theatre. It now comes to off-Broadway Albuquerque with a different cast and crew to kick off The Cell's second season.
An Irish father and furniture salesman and his polio-stricken daughter re-enact memories from their pasts in Walsh's very Irish play.
The father erects walls and forms a sort of prison for his daughter. Entirely a countryman of William Butler Yeats and Samuel Beckett in theater style and James Joyce in use of language, Walsh's play has a rhythm that is infectious.
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The two actors, Chicagoans Gary Houston and Erin Neal, inhabit the stage for the entire play. Neal has the very difficult task of portraying her character with limited use of her body.
Fusion's actors are all professional actors, so it is a treat to have the opportunity to see "Bedbound," directed by another Chicagoan, Cecil O'Neal of the Tony award-winning Victory Gardens Theater.
Just like other theaters in bigger cities, The Cell has a rush ticket policy for students on Thursday nights. For $10, students can see professional theater in downtown Albuquerque.
What the Cell and Fusion are doing for theater in Albuquerque is tremendous; they are providing a chance to see groundbreaking new plays and classics. This season they will mount "A Streetcar Named Desire," but they also give local actors a shot at roles -- and a paycheck.
The building they are housed in, located in the "warehouse district" downtown south of Lomas on First Street, was practically empty a little over a year ago. I attended a rave there before its transformation and a few months later a brand new British play was on its stage with the first use of onstage cyber sex.
The Cell doesn't try to put on a different show each weekend. Instead, it puts up quality shows for a good run. This is the closing weekend of "Bedbound" and probably the last chance to see the dark Irish play in this part of the world.
Edna Walsh's "Bedbound" runs Thursday through Saturday at 8 p.m. and Sunday at 2 p.m. Tickets are $10 for students on Thursdays, $17 for other performances and $22 for the general public. For more information call 277-9412. The Cell is at 700 First St NW.
