What a Tangled Web We Weave

Carlo Alban’s one-man show Intrigulis (n. a complex web; an ulterior motive) is actually two
plays in one. The first play is a fascinating account of his formative years in
New Jersey, spent getting high, acting on Sesame Street and hoping that no one
found out that he and his family were living on expired tourist visas from
Ecuador. The second, less successful play, is a series of characters that Carlo
takes on, from his younger self shooting passing cars with paintball guns to
his older, estranged brother, spewing pent-up bitterness at Carlo’s American
success story.

At 90 minutes, a one-man show has to be a tight ship, and Intringulis features too much throwaway
material. Alban has a gorgeous voice and serviceable guitar skills, but do we
really need five or six musical numbers between scenes? And the natural climax
of his tale—his family’s last-minute struggle to obtain legitimate paperwork to
stay in the country—is bypassed for a lengthy epilogue that involves a trip to
Ecuador and some heavy-handed talk about the falseness of the equator line and
the borders such lines create between human beings.

Alban is a magnetic, engaging performer, one who handled
various technical delays and difficulties with a grin and a lack of
self-awareness at the performance I saw. He has a steely, righteous anger about
the treatment of immigrants in America, a situation he acknowledges has
worsened since he and his family were still illegal. But director David Anzuelo
hasn’t curtailed the extraneous parts of Alban’s story enough, and the evening
tends to sag near the middle. This particular Intringulis is a little too complex, when simplicity would have
served it better.

Intrigulis (n. a
complex web; an ulterior motive)

Through Nov. 13, Intar Theatre, 500 W. 52nd St. (at 10th
Ave.), www.intartheatre.org; $20.