The Thin Case of ‘Cleopatra’s’ Murder Mystery

All dramatic writing requires some suspense. But when you dip into the murder-mystery genre, the question of who killed the victim matters above all else. And that’s the problem with “Cleopatra’s Wake,” billed as a new mystery by David McFadzean, at the Lamb’s Players Theatre. Figuring out who killed a well-to-do aging actor--who is dead before the play starts--doesn’t matter nearly enough.

There is some suspense as the script pans over Aaron (Paul Maley), the scandal-wary son aspiring to political office; Oliver (David Cochran Heath), the hard-drinking actor son who blames his father for his mother’s death; Anna (Michelle Napolitano), the mentally disturbed daughter whose only words are culled from Cleopatra’s lines in “Antony and Cleopatra”; Rita (Barbara Williams), the daughter’s caretaker; and Dora (Deborah Gilmour Smyth), Aaron’s wife.

But despite some smooth, at times clever and even charming lines, the lack of genuine insight into human motivation, combined with the shallowness of the characterizations, never makes this play any more emotionally involving than a game of Clue. At intermission, the audience is left wondering, but not particularly worrying, if the culprit is Colonel Mustard or Professor Plum.

While “Cleopatra’s Wake” is billed as new, it actually is an update of McFadzean’s “A Proud Look, a Lying Tongue,” produced by Lamb’s in 1984 when McFadzean was the company’s managing director and resident playwright. Since he left in 1985, he has enjoyed a skyrocketing career in television, producing and co-creating “Home Improvement” and other shows.

His flair for turning a phrase makes these two hours go down easy. The best lines go to Oliver and Lillis (Pat DiMeo), the amateur detective aunt, who comes in for the funeral. Lillis’ motto: “If at first you don’t succeed, pry, pry again.” And then there’s her take on Shakespeare as “overblown”: “I’ve always said it was much easier to quote Shakespeare than to read him.”

Heath, a veteran member of Lamb’s company, seems to be enjoying his besotted, upper-class character thoroughly, doing delicious sardonic spins on lines such as “You know, Aaron, you were always your own worst enemy--until you met Dora.”

And then there’s his snappy response to the question: “Somebody shot at Aaron? Who?”

“Probably a Democrat.”

*

Actually, the acting is uniformly fine, as usual at Lamb’s, with well-paced direction by Robert Smyth (even though he occasionally slips and get mired in melodrama). Maley looks suitably nervous, Napolitano vulnerable and tortured. Deborah Gilmour Smyth occasionally is overwhelmed by the effort to infuse genuine feeling into the cliched passions this group is called upon to play.

Nick Reid’s set is a cozy clutter of an actor’s life, and Veronica Murphy’s costumes establish the 1928 period with subdued flair. “Cleopatra’s Wake” has got style up and down its sarcophagus (yep, it’s got one of those too, with a little trapdoor). Now the only thing this baby needs is substance.

* “Cleopatra’s Wake,” Lamb’s Players Theatre, 1142 Orange Ave., Coronado. Wednesday, Thursday, Sunday, 7:30 p.m.; Friday-Saturday, 8 p.m.; Saturday-Sunday, 2 p.m. Ends Sunday. $18-$27. (619) 437-0600. Running time: 2 hours, 8 minutes.

Michelle Napolitano: Anna

Pat DiMeo: Lillis

David Cochran Heath: Oliver

Barbara Williams: Rita

Paul Maley: Aaron

Deborah Gilmour Smyth: Dora

Doug Reger: Mort

A Lamb’s Players Theatre production of a play by David McFadzean, directed by Robert Smyth. Sets: Nick Reid. Costumes: Veronica Murphy. Lights: Mike Buckley. Stage manager: Jenny Lynn.