If you were fortunate enough to see Mauritius performed last month at the Bay Theatre Company in Annapolis, you not only got to see a great play, but also the considerable range of one of this area's great talents, Nigel Reed.  Looking completely different in almost every role he virtually inhabits, Mr. Reed was a sight to behold as he assayed the thuggish charm of his character Sterling, a passionate stamp collector with a barely restrained, borderline personality disorder.  His approach to cornering the stamp of his dreams and the fulfillment of his ultimate desire ("almost post-coital, I think I need a cigarette") was one for the ages.  Whether playing macho or effete roles, the actor amps it for every production.  Whenever or wherever he's on the billing, do yourself a favor and see the show.

The play matched Reed with the vibrant Rana Kay as Jackie, the down-at-heels sis, with second dibs on the stamp of a lifetime; it was pure pleasure to see these two in action.  Ms. Kay, who I first saw as a demotic "child" in The Chalk Garden, way back when at the Washington Stage Guild, and later as the precocious adolescent in Arcadia about 10 years ago at the Rep Stage, still looks young and possesses the same sly verbal dynamism in this production (she'll be playing Steph in Neil LaButte's Reasons to be Pretty, I bet, before too long).  The fine art of negotiation - let the other name the price - is conducted between the pair with great gusto and comedy. 

Two sisters - the older one named Mary on her way up, performed with peckish precision by Karen Novack, the other on her way down - Ms. Kay's Jackie - apparently inherit not one, but two of the rarest stamps in the world.  This sets the play's context in motion, conducted in the netherworld of shady characters, including the cocky Dennis played with aplomb by Danny Gavigan and the obnoxious Philip, given a withering turn by Peter Wray.  The con games that unfold offer a classic theatrical scenario; each of the characters has what the other desires and won't concede.  Directed with Pinteresque mood and menace by Stephen Carpenter, joined with the realistic, alternating set of Ken Sheats, this show was the best of the young season.  There are many things we are not given to know (why did Jackie leave home; what is the issue between Philip and Sterling; how have the stamps come into the family's, specifically the grandfather's possession?) Motivations are as murky as those strange objects of desire.

The play is about the passion of stamp collecting and the fringe that follows that that impulse.  I caught a glimpse of it up close at World Philatelic Expo held in DC in 2006.  Stamp collectors really are a bunch of old white guys, with attaché cases, plenty of disposable income, and a wide spectrum of appetites.  Theresa Rebeck's script is an authentic slice of life of that subculture, and she nails the dialogue and the mania of collecting.  Is it the need to bring order, to gain access to that special object, to possess some form of beauty - stamps are beautiful - the thrill of the hunt, or just simply the need to relieve the tension that this strange itch provides?  It's a mystery.

This was my third trip to the Bay Theatre Company and each time I've come away impressed with the care that goes into the casting and the results they obtain in other areas of production for such a small stage (80+ seats).  It must have impressed D.L. Coburn the author of The Gin Game, which they performed last season.  Mr. Coburn has agreed to let the theater stage a world premiere of his new play Return to Bluefin.  I'm sure they'll do Mr. Coburn's new work great justice.  Check it out 4/30 - 6/5 (www.baytheatre.org).