THEATER REVIEW:Play achieves victory in all respects

The new play “Kimberly Akimbo” at the Victory Theatre Centre has everything small theater should have — fine acting, complex characters, impeccable writing, clever sets and a multi-faceted emotional experience, including laughter, pity, love and hopefulness.

This reviewer has not seen such a winning combination at the Victory before. It all starts with the work of wonderful playwright, David Lindsay-Abaire, who at the tender age of 12 was plucked from his blue-collar world and given a scholarship to attend a prestigious prep school.

Add to that the skillful direction of Maria Gobetti and artistic direction of Tom Ormeny (Victory Theatre co-founders) and sensitive acting by each of the five cast members. Throw in the cool, stylized graphic look of the stage and you’ve got a can’t-miss.

Kimberly is a 16-year-old girl with a rare disease. Her body ages about four times as fast as the rest of us. Consequently the teenager is played by 60-year-old Judy Jean Berns.

Berns has a tough job portraying this unusual character and does so in an appropriately understated manner. She tends to be more like a window into the world of her crazy-making family. We get to know her ultra-needy mom, Pattie (played by Kathleen Bailey). She’s hilariously helpless with a broken leg, a phantom cancer and both hands wrapped in bandages due to carpal tunnel syndrome.

There’s her dad, Buddy, who is sweetly protective of his daughter, yet pathetic in his inability to help her find happiness. He’s trying to find his own at the bottom of a bottle. Joe O’Connor plays Buddy with both the confidence of a seasoned veteran and the freshness of someone surprised by the quality of the script. He brings a stage-full of vitality, humor and authenticity to what could have been a stock, hard-drinking dad-guy.

And then there’s Aunt Debra, an ex-con who worms her way back into the household, implicating Kim and her friend in one “final” petty crime. Without revealing what the crime is, just know it involves a very large, heavy prop formerly owned by the U.S. Postal Service. Debra (played perfectly by Sharon Johnston) is one of those people everyone knows who just keeps talking and twisting your words around until you’ve agreed to do something you know you shouldn’t.

But the character you will fall in love with is Jeff, the boy at school who befriends Kimberly. Patrick Rogers creates a character so real, so sweet and so funny, one can’t imagine it done better. He’s into anagrams, constantly switching the letters of words and names into witty sayings. For instance, did you know “snooze alarms” becomes “alas, no more z’s?” There are plenty more where that came from.

The sets, designed by Gary Randall with scenic artistry help by Christopher Rydman, add a lot to this production. They have a whimsy that draw laughs all on their own, not to mention an efficiency that keeps the pace of the play flowing smoothly.

This is not a schmaltzy “girl with disease finds love” piece. And I’m not even going to call this a dark comedy or worse, a dramedy. This is an all-out comedy that can bring you to tears. It’s a human story that resonates with our daily lives, yet is full of surprises. It’s just great. Go see it.