Storytelling.
It must be one of our oldest social engagements. Children practice it, unwinding long and uninspired retellings of movies they have seen and occasionally events they have been impressed by. Adults inevitably use the office water cooler as its stage with ready audience.
The Marsh Theatre, which has venues in downtown Berkeley and on Valencia Street in San Francisco, has been supporting the art of storytelling for 25 years. It’s a very different art from that of theater. Theater attempts to recreate the moment, to become the event portrayed, whether that event lies in the past or in the imagination of the playwright. We judge theater by its ability to transport us, as silent viewers, into the reality of the play.
In storytelling, the teller never disappears.
Currently, Lisa Rothman is at The Marsh in Berkeley, telling us the story of her “Date Night at Pet Emergency.”
The Marsh Berkeley is a small black box with minimal theatrical rig. With only some 60 seats it retains intimacy, a necessary feature of storytelling. And Rothman takes advantage of that closeness, especially with the front row audience, as she turns them into dogs at the breeders, or patients at the pet emergency hospital.
The story Rothman tells is less about dogs, however, and more about the trials of a new family. The first thing she does is address questions to the audience: “How many here bought a dog to see if they could handle having children?” No one, thank god, raises a hand.
In Rothman’s story, dogs and children are a nearly inextricable blend. She and her husband buy a dog, not a practice for a coming child, but because “you can’t have too much love.” It’s one of those endearing American beliefs: that love is boundless. It is a resource that can be cultivated by its mere necessity.
So dog and child arrive simultaneously – almost. The first child is a miscarriage, and the dog somehow morphs into two dogs. Rothman wants a dog with thick fur: a Portuguese water dog, for instance. But her accountant husband insists on doing the numbers: there are only a dozen Portuguese water dogs in the U.S. The likelihood of finding one they are compatible with is … not likely. They settle on a cocker spaniel. There are thousands of cocker spaniels in the U.S. Thousands.
Despite that, both dogs Rothman bonds to are sources of demanding love: Sophie for one is plagued with massive skin allergies. And in the midst of learning the intricacies of pet love, Rothman must learn parental love: her desired child arrives. A second child arrives. What keeps the couple sane is their commitment to regular weekly date nights: nights when both children and dogs are left in the hands of sitters so that the husband and wife can partake of their own blessed quality time together.
It all becomes too much though when it becomes clear that her first child has a serious disability. There are no neural pathways between the child’s brain and his mouth. Her child, unlike the woman telling the story, cannot speak. Words can appear in his mind, but cannot arrive at his tongue. As she points out: while we have some control over the pets we choose, we have no control over the children we conceive and birth.
The story Rothman tells us is a complex one, traveling over many years and involving many people – her husband, her boys, her father, her dogs. All of these roles are enacted by Rothman through changes in posture and voice. And storytelling allows her to include herself as a character, as a commentator not simply on the events but on our lives. Hers is a funny story, ironically and somewhat fatalistically told. She understands that the exercise of all these human and canine interactions is not about happenstance, but about responsibility and commitment. Those compelling features of life which when drawn together with feelings, desires and frustrations constitute love and the meaning of our existence.
– Jaime Robles
Lisa Rothman’s “Date Night at Pet Emergency” continues at The Marsh Theater in Berkeley until December 5, Saturdays at 5 p.m. For information and tickets, visit themarch.org. Classes on writing for storytelling are also offered on Sundays and Tuesdays at The Marsh.
Photo: Lisa Rothman and friend celebrate “Date Night at Pet Emergency”. Photo: Primagine Photography