Linke’s Life, Further Examined

Using your own life as the foundation for a solo show is an iffy proposition. One man’s saga may be another’s bathos.

It takes an accomplished storyteller to transform the stuff of his or her life, however epic, into real drama. It also takes a considerable degree of courage, a willingness to shovel through the unsightly detritus of one’s past for glints of gold.

In “Life After Time,” the second solo show in Paul Linke’s “Time Trilogy,” now at Pacific Resident Theatre, Linke proves, yet again, an intrepid raconteur who leaves no pebble unturned in his richly examined life.

“Time Flies When You’re Alive,” the first in the trilogy, details the agonizing passage of Linke’s wife, Francesca, through terminal breast cancer. “Life After Time,” staged by Charles Nelson Reilly based on Robert Egan’s original direction, opens with Francesca’s memorial service. Attended by her devoted family and friends, it’s an exhilarating outpouring of love and loss.

After the deluge comes emptiness, and Linke’s painful realization that it will take more than a memorial to lay Francesca to rest. Grieve though he might, Linke has little time to wallow in his loss. Now a widower with three small children to raise, he must attend to the pressing demands of the living.

Linke describes his subsequent travails--his descent into dating hell and a prolonged bout of “au pair despair”--with brio and lacerating candor. Relentlessly truthful--even when casting himself in an unfavorable light--he kisses a lot of frogs before he finds his Princess Charming, a new woman to share his life. It’s a touching, often hilarious and life-affirming story of love lost and found that leaves us looking forward to Part III.

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* “Life After Time,” Pacific Resident Theatre, 703 Venice Blvd., Venice. July 9, 10, 11, 17, 31 and Aug. 1. $20-$22. (310) 822-8392. Running time: 1 hour, 20 minutes.