Grand finale
'Exits and Entrances' ends theater season on a high note

Wednesday, May 31, 2006 BY PETER FILICHIA

Star-Ledger Staff
NEW JERSEY STAGE

The last production of the New Jersey theater season ranks as one of its best.


"Exits and Entrances," now at the New Jersey Repertory Company, has a splendid script, superb acting and masterful direction. Who could ask for anything more?

Athol Fugard's 30th play, and his most recent, had its world premiere engagement in 2004 in Los Angeles. New Jersey Repertory's artistic director, SuzAnne Barabas, and her husband, executive producer Gabor Barabas, have imported Stephen Sachs' production to their Long Branch theater.

It's the perfect play for the Barabases, because it celebrates the stage. Few rival this couple's love of theater, as they continue the difficult mission of bringing new plays to audiences.

That "Exits and Entrances" is autobiographical is easy to glean, though Fugard never refers to himself by name, but simply as "The Playwright." He could have called himself "The Dresser" just as easily, for he spends most of the play caring for the costumes -- and the ego of actor Andre Huguenet.

Fugard uses a real name here: Huguenet was a famed South African actor when Fugard worked for him during a 1956 production of "Oedipus Rex."

"The Playwright" shows Huguenet the unconditional respect that only a novice can give, and Huguenet happily takes it. When the lad compliments him on his performance, Huguenet asks, "Really?" He doesn't trust or admire the boy's opinion; he just wants to be praised again.

William Dennis Hurley is excellent as "The Playwright." The script demands that he have the starry-eyed enthusiasm of the stage-struck, but also that he stand up to the star. Hurley displays a strong backbone at these moments.

Morlan Higgins is extraordinary as Huguenet, one of those grahnd men of the theater who enjoys pretending that he's a regular, jovial guy -- but woe be to the underling who disagrees with him. Higgins uses a pretentious and portentous voice when saying, "im-purrrrr-tenant" and the de rigueur "dear boy." Yet what childishness he shows when there's a problem with his costume. Better still is Higgins' introspection when he remembers the taunts and threats heaped on him by village bullies long ago.

Self-pity can only last so long. Higgins snarls when he's corrected while rehearsing "Oedipus," then grandly orates when he's shown performing the text. How imperious he looks, too, when he takes his curtain call before the imaginary "Oedipus" audience.

Back in the dressing room, Higgins shows Huguenet's insouciant nature. He mentions "the drunkenness and sex" for which theater is famous, dryly adding, "If only that were true." Then he turns deadly serious when he speaks of another aspect of stage life: "the hard labor of dreams."

"The Playwright" finds that the realization of his dreams does indeed involve hard work. Five years later, he's about to have his first play produced. He visits Huguenet backstage to tell him about it. That leads to a surprising rift. Here, Hurley takes center stage, and delivers an impassioned speech without a trace of dishonesty.

New Jersey Repertory has replaced its hard-bottomed, armless steel chairs with plush, two-armed theater seats. But even if the company had removed the chairs and made everyone sit on the floor, "Exits and Entrances" would be worth the sacrifice.