Bad news, good news to report from Beckett Festival

Let's get the bad news out of the way first.

Test Market's planned presentation of 10 productions for the fifth annual Beckett Festival -- which continues through Dec. 15 -- got off to a disastrous start last week.

A group of people who had taken the time to schlep to the theater on the second day were told that the matinees had been canceled. When informed that there would be a performance at 8 p.m., a woman who had just emerged from a cab snapped: "I won't be back."

A couple of days later, director John Beane canceled his production of "The Water Hen" entirely, saying it was due to "weeks of extreme concerns over the festival's substantial technical and scheduling issues." Festival organizer Ernest Hemmings responded: "The director has had more time than any other production in the festival."

Not a good beginning for a program that was supposed to unite local theaters.

The schedules continued to be incorrectly reported. One director said a performance date of his show had been published without consulting his cast. The cast was not available on that night, and even though the performance is a no-go, it's still being advertised on the show's Web site (thebeckettfestival.com). Add to that a couple of shows with missing program notes, a program with an incorrect cast list, and what you had on your hands was an administrative mess.

But the good news: I've seen four of the six plays (two other events were comedy troupes and local short films), and they've been an exciting experience that's on a level with the season's best. Each time I saw a production, I couldn't wait to go back.

I've already drooled in reviews over LionHeart Theatrics' "Act Without Words" and Las Vegas Little Theatre's "Autobahn." Equally expert is Test Market's "Happy Days," which contains the performance of a lifetime by Francine Gordon. She -- with help from brilliant direction by Hemmings -- makes total sense of the difficult role of a woman who spends her life buried in dirt. It's a fully realized, nuanced characterization rich in comic vitality.

"Sum," written and directed by Hemmings, is an interesting melodrama in the Ira Levin tradition, the sort of engaging experience that makes you want to argue back with the author. It's deeply flawed, but the bottom line is, Hemmings has a potentially good play on his hands.

But please Mr. Hemmings, out of respect for your enormous gifts: Get better organized, or find someone to help you. A playhouse that disrespects its customers doesn't deserve customers.

Anthony Del Valle can be reached at DelValle@aol.com. You can write him c/o Las Vegas Review-Journal, P.O. Box 70, Las Vegas, NV 89125.