From left are Victoria Pollack as Reagan, Susan Ferrara as Freya and Jennifer Leigh Houston as Gillian in the Premiere Stages production of 'The Mallard,' currently on stage at Kean University.
UNION, NJ — The current play from Premiere Stages, at Kean University, is a dramedy or comic drama.
“The Mallard” is about a particular duck, a hunter’s carved wooden decoy, which abruptly is at the center of a struggle in the world of thrifting. The denizens of this world scour flea markets, thrift stores, garage sales, any site, for hope of an undetected treasure whose ultimate worth is the significance, real or imaginary, given by its pursuer.
This can be comic business if the treasure isn’t really worth the fuss, and dramatic, if its value satisfies a deeply personal need. “The Mallard” is funny, but dramatic.
The play opens on the front yard sale of a married, middle-aged, lesbian couple, Freya and Gillian, respectively portrayed by Susan Ferrara and Jennifer Leigh Houston. If they were comics, Gillian would be the “straightman” and Freya, the comedian who begins the day with a can of Pabst.
The women, spooked and suspicious of their neighbors, are selling off household possessions to make a few dollars before they have to leave the premises. We learn they are recently fired teachers and can presume the termination had something to do with their lifestyle.
While Gillian tries to remain upbeat, fussing over the sale and expounding on thrifting strategy, Freya will not be distracted from staying peeved. She tells Gillian she will not part with the mallard decoy, her dying father’s wedding gift, after a 25-year estrangement because of her lifestyle. She believes it safely remains in the house.
Into the yard wanders Davis, played by Woodrow Proctor. From within an assortment of sale items he withdraws the decoy and offers Gillian $10. She bargains until a shocked Freya enters and takes the duck and retreats into the house. Enter Reagan, Davis’s wife, played by Victoria Pollack.
They are a New York couple, rabid thrifters in their early 30s on a yard sale spree and they must possess the fake duck, which Davis, as an “auctioneer,” tells the audience is worth $2 million. Husband and wife camp out in the front yard to remain close to their quarry.
The remaining character is Morley, a board of education member who first enters in a flashback of the meeting where a vote on the terminations will occur.
Before the vote, Freya, with mallard in hand, and Gillian, are allowed to speak. Freya said the mallard represents forgiveness. So when a little girl asked if she was married, she answered, explained, as a teacher who did not want to lie to children. She told the little girl yes, she was married to another woman. The girl subsequently told her parents and an anti-DEI eruption ensued. Morley, for his part, is a gung-ho thrifter himself and recognizes the bird. He is also the arch-enemy of Davis and Reagan and the hunt is joined.
The narrative is driven by the disparate values the characters give to the bird. These values reveal the characters in ways that are sometimes maybe a little improbable, but it’s up to the audience to make of them what they will. Still, questions seem to remain.
The acting at Premiere Stages is always excellent, but Morley, played by Eddie Gouveia Blackman, seemed more a shady caricature than someone with a compassionate streak who tells the audience he wants the bird so he can donate the money, minus a finder’s fee, to the school district.
Nonetheless, it’s an entertaining performance.
As for Davis and Reagan, they are the most interesting with the most to lose. They seem to be childless and somewhat nomadic and it’s a mystery how they actually support themselves. Once Reagan loses her credit card, they are penniless.
Freya, it eventually appears, knows the bird is worth a fortune. So why did she wait to tell Gillian? The play ends on an upbeat note, once we’re aware Freya and Gillian are knowingly sitting on $2 million.
Should this be troublesome? Money can’t buy everything. But “The Mallard,” written by Vincent Delaney and directed by John Wooten, would have one believe that maybe it can, even in a troublesome culture war. And for that, “The Mallard” is ultimately cynical but, nevertheless, entertaining throughout.
“The Mallard” runs from July 17 to Aug. 3 in the Bauer Boucher Theatre Center, on the Kean University main campus, Union. Show dates and times are Thursdays, July 24 and 31, at 1 pm.; Fridays, July 25 and Aug. 1, at 7:30 p.m.; Saturdays, July 26 and Aug. 2, at 3 and 7:30 p.m.; and Sundays, July 27 and Aug. 3, at 3 p.m. Tickets are available at Box Office 908-737-7469 or online at premierestagesatkean.com.
Photo Courtesy of Mike Peters
