In the same amount of time that it takes a television drama to introduce a murder, capture the killer, bring him to trial, and render a verdict, two talented actors at the Ruskin Group Theatre in Santa Monica can provide a delightful hour of sweet and poignant comedy. The play is “Unbeatable Harold” by Randy Noojin, and it is a love story of sorts.
Harold (Maury Sterling), an erstwhile loser, has changed his luck and risen to the exalted position of assistant manager at the local steakhouse. But his real dream is to become a sock puppeteer, which is not very likely, considering how bad he is at it. He uses his sock puppets, however, to express his feelings to his girlfriend Wanda (Austin Highsmith), who is sitting in a tight bunch on his sofa.
As he rhapsodizes about their relationship and his dreams of their future, he is totally oblivious to her squirming discomfort. To his ebullient optimism she responds with pragmatic negation: “I can’t dream unless I’m asleep,” she says, and “It’s stupid to think about things that can’t ever happen.” Nevertheless, he plows on, offering a maximum of muddled and zany miscommunication and working himself to a fever pitch so that he can finally find the words to propose to her.
Despite his digressions and her interruptions, the play is engrossing and appealing and the dialogue is realistic as well as funny. You feel for Harold and you empathize with Wanda — two mismatched bookends. Sterling and Highsmith, who are exceptionally good in these roles, play in rotation with Bradley Stryker and Sarah Maine.
“Unbeatable Harold” is directed by John Ruskin, who also produced it with Mikey Myers. And, though the time and location of Harold and Wanda’s meeting is not specified, Ryan Wilson’s eerily authentic set design seems to place it in the mid-1950s to the ‘60s. Harold’s living room includes nearly every fetish of that period: a lava lamp, a bullfighting scene on red velvet on the wall, horse figurines and a duck lamp, a big cinnamon velvet couch, a brown Naugahyde quilted bar, a brown box radio, and intermittently, the songs of Elvis Presley. And the place — most likely one a them red states.
“Unbeatable Harold” will continue at the Ruskin Group Theatre, 3000 Airport Road in Santa Monica, Fridays and Saturdays at 8 p.m. and Sundays at 2 through Aug. 3.
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on June 20, 2008. Read the original PDF.