Truth Put to the Test in Civic Theatre’s “Clever Little Lies”

The opening scene of most plays begins quietly enough so as not to raise eyebrows–or suspicions–too early in the game. Given its one-act brevity and sense of urgency, “Clever Little Lies,” wastes no time getting to the heart of the matter and acquainting us with a family problem that is the key to the plot.       

The current production at Stockton Civic Theatre’s Pam Kitto Black Box Theatre opens in a locker room–of all places–where a father and son are dressing. They have returned from a tennis match in which the son was trounced because, as he explains it, something is troubling him and confounding his game.

The trouble hasn’t been left on the tennis court. It seems the son and his beautiful young personal trainer are doing more than exercising. He’d like nothing better than to run away with her. The problem: young Billy is already married. And the father of a three-month-old baby.

Can Billy’s nice guy father (Bill Yee) warn his philandering son (Joseph Dahl) about the consequences of adultery? Can he persuade him to reform? And can he remind his wayward son of the futility of keeping secrets from his other parent?

“Your mother has a way of extracting information from me,” father cautions. Take warning, Billy!

Playing through March 8,  “Clever Little Lies” is a blend of comedy and drama that takes you down a seemingly predictable path until a surprise you never expected puts a startling (but intriguing) twist in the story.   

This engaging study of ethical misbehavior comes to life in the up-close-and-personal setting of the intimate Kittto Theatre. Unlike the main theatre, a stage does not come between audience and actors. The closeness of the performers tends to make you feel more like a participant than a spectator.

Clever also applies to playwright Joe DiPietro, who adroitly mixes a sitcom-style humor with the turmoil of drama. What will happen to the family of the play–father, mother, son, wife and her unseen but overheard infant–if or when the truth puts an end to Billy’s game of deception? 

It takes no small amount of acting talent to bring the story to life and that’s exactly what we have here, beginning with the locker room opener that introduces us to Yee’s likable senior and Dahl’s playboy son. Can Yee’s engaging dad talk Billy out of marital faithlessness or will that job be up to wife Jane (Carlie Buchanan)? And if what dad tells us about mom Alice is true, can mom extract the truth and use her intervention to save a marriage that already seems lost? 

As the energetic mother and information extractor, SCT star Melissa Esau once again shows her impressive  talents. Watch her go to work as the restless hostess of a cake–and–coffee family get together that enables her to play detective and begin collecting clues as adroitly as Miss Marple. She also has a fine set of gripes about running a book store whose customers are less interested in books than show-off collectibles like Dickens t-shirts, Dostoevsky tote bags and Hemingway sipping cups.   

The play’s performers are aided in no small degree by a production team headed by the multi-talented Jaye Lee Vocque who serves as director, set designer and lighting designer, not to mention pairing with assistant director (and wife)  Dahlia Maeve Vocque on the props. A true family enterprise. 

Telling its tale completely in one full act, “Clever Little Lies”  does not extend to an intermission ritual where playgoers gather to chatter about what they like (or question) in an ongoing presentation, sipping the signature cocktail of the event. This does not, however, preclude the cocktail. Fibs and Fizzes, as it is called, mixes lemonade and gin, with a splash of blood orange soda.                             

To its credit, the theatre makes no claim that its cocktail will help stimulate the brain cells of theatregoers intent on predicting whether a marriage can be saved that seems destined to land on the rocks. Use your best guess (or reliable intuition) to imagine the outcome of “Clever Little Lies,” but keep in mind that whether on stage or off, mama knows best.  

Imagining Alice reopening her book shop, I’d like to grab a Dostoevsky tote bag with a Dickens novel and Hemingway sipping cup tucked inside. As for what exactly to pour in the Hemingway cup–assuming this memorable collectible has the magic to advance writing skills—-that’s another mystery.  

Clever Little Lies

 Where:  Pam Kitto Black Box Theatre at Stockton Civic Theatre, 2312 Rosemarie Lane.

When: Through March 8. Thursday-Saturday, 7:30 p.m.  Sunday matinee, 2:30 p.m.  Tickets: $25.

Box Office: (209) 473-2424.

Business Office: (209) 473-2400.