Cultural Weekly – Sylvie Drake – AND A HOME MORE SWEET THAN SAFE

… AND A HOME MORE SWEET THAN SAFE

On another stage, in far-away Venice — not Italy, but California, which is far enough — a delicious 75 minutes may be spent in the company of one Dallas Burrows, alias Orson Bean, alias simply O, who invites us into his cockeyed world. It’s all magic tricks, terrible jokes, hellish tales of childhood trauma sweetly told, while Bean inimitably offers all of the good and some of the bad with such bonhomie, such a wickedly gentle demeanor, that it’s impossible to emerge with anything but a glow and a silly smile on one’s face.

Safe at Home is the title of Bean’s one-man confessional (it’s also the title of his memoir of the same name on which the show is based), which is a bit mysterious for a performance that presents all the right reasons for leaving home, yet referring perhaps to the happy one created 20 years ago that he continues to enjoy with his second wife, Alley Mills. (When Bean first proposed to her, the 22-year difference in their ages gave Alley more than momentary pause; an assist from Dracula reinforced Bean’s argument — persuasively.)

So the title is unimportant, but the monologue, nicely timed and calibrated by director Guillermo Cienfuegos, is a large and pleasant surprise. Also bittersweet: the tale of a boy growing up with a father who gave away the dog to animal services, then left home at a certain point never to return, plus leaving behind a mother who couldn’t quite handle any of it.

It is a show rife with humor, often based in dark events and interrupted by the story of a fire walk that changed Bean’s life, some prestidigitation, a little standup and the sharing of jokes that serve to deflect some of that life’s more painful moments. It seems as if humor and comedy burrowed their way into Bean’s consciousness as a way to diffuse the unbearable act of living — and isn’t that the standard tale behind the work of so many comedians?

But don’t misunderstand. The positive here far outweighs the negative. This, as Bean is happy to tell you, is a story of gratitude for a life that, in the end, has been very well lived. Any man who can walk on stage and say, “You may remember me; I was on screen under the name of Irene Dunne,” or whose reaction, when he’s told he looks “20 years younger” is a perplexed “…67…?” is entirely incapable of inflicting harm.

Bean is the improbable product of that highly combustible mix — a Jewish mother and a Catholic father — whose Irish grandfather “poured the shot that was heard around the world.” This is the same grandfather, he tells us, who “died in his sleep, not screaming like the passengers in his car.”

But enough of relating much more of this stuff. You really need to discover it from the man himself.

Treat yourself. You won’t regret it.

WHAT: Safe at Home, An Evening With Orson Bean
WHERE: Pacific Resident Theatre, 703 åVenice Blvd., Venice, CA 90015.
WHEN: Thursdays-Saturdays, 8pm, Sundays 3pm. Ends Nov. 29.

HOW: Tickets $25-$30, available at www.pacificresidenttheatre.com or at 310.822.8392.