It is 1983, and Franklin Robertson — a chubby gay teenager — finds solace and companionship in horror movies. He especially loves the ones hosted by Doctor Cerberus on a local television station and beamed over old-fashioned airwaves into his suburban Washington, D.C., home.
His acerbic parents, Lydia and Lawrence, don’t understand why he spends all his time watching horror movies, reading horror books and writing horror stories. Meanwhile, his athletic older brother, Rodney, pummels him with words and fists.
Doctor Cerberus, who apparently was named after the three-headed dog that guarded the gates of Hades to prevent those who had crossed the river Styx from escaping, is his only “friend.”
The production of “Doctor Cerberus,” by Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa, who writes for the Fox network’s coming-of-age comedy “Glee,” is Penobscot Theatre Company’s late fall offering. It’s a technical triumph for director Bari Newport and Magnus Stark, who did the projection design. Three dozen or so televisions on stage at the Bangor Opera House show clips of classic horror films during the show.
The projection onto the screens of Doctor Cerberus while Franklin is watching him is impressive, but technical wizardry does not lift the production above its deeply flawed script. First performed in 2010 in Los Angeles, “Doctor Cerberus” is a talky show that sounds more like a radio play than a theatrical production. The playwright overuses Franklin talking directly to the audience, as if to a camera. And Newport does not have her actors move often enough. The show, despite all the on-screen action, has a static feel to it.
Mark Chambers brings his professional chops to the production in multiple roles. His weary Doctor Cerberus charms Franklin and the audience, but it is in his performance as the teenager’s Uncle Jack that the actor truly shines. In one brief scene, Chambers as Uncle Jack validates his nephew’s hope that he will not always be the horror he feels like at 13. The older actor also brings to the role the burden of having come of age when being gay was a disorder.
The dysfunctional Robertson family should offer actors lots of opportunities to mine for depth of character. Even though Franklin perceives his parents and brother as shallow, unloving individuals, the actors could and should let the audience see more than the horror the teen sees.
Only Brad LaBree as Rodney digs deep enough to dredge up the jock’s real humanity. His portrayal is so wonderfully edgy, raw and insightful that Rodney’s advocacy in the second act is surprising but hardly shocking, because LaBree shows the adult heart beating inside the chest-thumping teen when he first appears onstage.
Amy Roeder and Dominick Varney could have but don’t give the audience a glimpse of the concerned and loving parents Franklin wants them to be and they apparently grow into. Roeder, who gave a searing performance this spring in PTC’s production of “August: Osage County,” certainly has the experience to hint at why Lydia is so constantly sarcastic and caustic with her son. Roeder portrays the woman’s bitterness to a T but seems uncomfortable with the older, more tender Lydia.
Varney, who is a mainstay on the local theater scene, brings his usual bag of tricks to the part of patriarch. The gestures, the cadence of his speech, his determined strides on and off the stage, are all too familiar. A strong director needs to break Varney of what have become onstage habits and force him to dig deep to portray a 3-D character.
And then there is Ben Layman’s Franklin. It hard to fathom how this experienced and gifted performer and director could portray this character as such a bland boy. It’s unclear whether he is trying to present him as an every-teen or show theatergoers the nice kid Franklin’s family does not see. Layman brings frustration and a go-along-to-get-along attitude but no underlying rage to the role — and every gay teen in the 1980s is or should be outraged.
The lack of depth in these portrayals rests squarely on Newport’s shoulders. She seems to have gotten lost in the show’s technical demands and have forgotten that all that wizardry is for naught if the characters onstage have little or no complexity.
The real stars of “Doctor Cerberus” are PTC’s technical team of Scout Hough, lighting designer; Tricia Hobbs, scenic designer; Brandie Larkin, sound designer; Kevin Koski, costume designer; and Meredith Perry, properties designer. With imagination and flair, they bring to life the real horror of Franklin’s world in ways the cast doesn’t fully inhabit.
“Doctor Cerberus” is a disappointment after the delightful suspense PTC served up two years ago in “The Woman in Black,” which also starred Chambers and LaBree. It also lacks the polished pace of “The Mystery of Irma Vep,” last season’s October offering that featured Chambers and Varney.
“Doctor Cerberus” at the Bangor Opera House runs through Nov. 8. For tickets, call 942-3333 or visit penobscottheatre.org.