Hemmingway (Mark Huckett) is accepted but not credited with genius status.  He spends too much time writing about manly pursuits like bull fighting.  Gertrude and Hemmingway are seen dancing the Paso Doble with stylised moved and a swirling red cloak, as matadors are praised for their bravery.

“Any story is a story about death,” Hemmingway says. Mark Huckett also plays Leo Stern, Gertrude’s brother who wasn’t seen by Gertrude to be as clever as she was, but he was the one with a good eye for what art to collect in the early 20th century.   Picasso (Kelly Burke) gives advice on how to keep his mistresses separate and incidentally Kelly Burke will play all of his wives and mistresses.  Kelly Burke is very agile and in her striped T shirt reminded me of the great mime artist Marcel Marceau and her best acting is without words.  Her acting strays into the French rather than Picasso’s native Spanish.  Talking about the controversy of his work, he says “Artists at the forefront of technique cannot make pretty pictures.” 

We see the Jewish wedding between Stein and Toklas under the awning and a prenuptial orgasmic experience when Alice demonstrates her mooing like a cow. 

The set is dominated by empty picture frames in which to project the scene titles.  The costumes for Gertrude Stein are exact copies of what she wore in photographs.

The show is light and witty, a vehicle for this company James L Simons productions and Untitled Theater Company No.81.  All three woman are especially expressive, the wonderful solidity of Natasha Byrne as Stein, the myriad facial expressions of Alyssa Simon as Alice, and Kelly Burke’s athleticism and movement in so many roles.  Farce it may be but it contributes to our understanding of the unconventionality of Modernism