Pictured left to right: Sam Cohen as Jack and Rudy Guerrero* as Sam and in “Drunk Enough to Say I Love You?” Directed by John Fisher; A Theatre Rhinoceros Production at The Costume Shop. Photo by Kent Taylor.
Drunk Enough to Say I Love You?: Agitprop Drama by Caryl Churchill. Directed by John Fisher. Theatre Rhinoceros, At the Costume Shop, 117 Market Street @ 7th, San Francisco, CA. 415-552-4100 or www.therhino.com. EXTENDED THROUGH JUNE 23
Rhino Theatre’s latest work requires your attention.
Since the Rhinoceros Theater group has had to relocate from the 16th Street digs they have performed in local venues including the Eureka Theatre and Thick Description. For their present production through the courtesy of A.C.T. they are ensconced at Costume Shop on Market Street. Word has filtered down that they have had to good fortune for their 2014 Season will be a spot in Z Space where The Traveling Jewish Theatre performed.
In the present space that is a black box affair the audience and actors are in intimate contact. For Drunk Enough to Say I Love You? as directed by John Fisher that may be too intimate. Caryl Churchill, the noted British playwright who champions feminist movements and has a reputation for taking political establishments to the wood shed draws you into the controversy that surrounds her work. Her last foray into San Francisco was the brilliant production A Number at A.C.T. in which human genetic cloning was the topic. At the end of that play there was no doubt what her position on the subject was.
She leaves no doubt about her political feelings in Drunk Enough to Say I Love You? She bluntly suggests that Britain’s Prime Minister Blair had prostituted himself to George W. Bush. The two male characters are given the names of Sam and Jack. Sam representing the U.S. of A. . . . Uncle Sam, get it? And Jack as in Union Jack of Britain. She forcefully suggests that their alliance furthered world political devastation. It is not surprising that noted Rhino director John Fisher has elected to over emphasize the homosexual extent of the pairing since they advertise as “35th Anniversary of Queer Theatre in San Francisco.” A large comfortable bed fills most of the space and it is often used for the sexual encounters that often appropriately fit into the dialog.
Speaking of the dialog, there are no, absolutely no complete sentences even when one character interrupts but never finishes off what the other is saying. Yes, your attention is required. After the opening line as Jack asks “Am I drunk enough to say I love love you?” and is interrupted by Sam. Jack insists “Not that I don’t still love my wife and children but. .”
It is established that men are gay before the political diatribe begins with Sam being the aggressive macho leader and Jack the follower eventually a believer. There are no extraneous props since Fisher has elected to use projections effectively allowing no interference with Churchill’s dialog. Rudy Guerrero as Sam is a dynamo and Sam Cohen is the perfect foil and has the most difficult job of switching his emotional stance as the play progresses.
Drunk Enough to Say I Love You? is less than an hour long and Rhino has filled out the evening with two 10 minute plays that are related to it. Churchill’s short play Seven Jewish Children: A Play for Gaza was reviled for being anti- Jewish. In response to Churchill, Deborah S. Margolin wrote in rebuttal Seven Palestinian Children: A Play for the Other. They are two character plays both written in Churchill’s discursive style with no indication whether the man or the woman should speak the line. The former play takes place in Europe, America and Israel and the later in Palestine. Kim Stephenson is teamed with Sam Cohen in the first and Rudy Guerrero in the second. Again the use of projections are an integral part of Fisher’s direction and they are extremely affective.
Running time for the entire evening is one hour and 30 minutes including an intermission.
Kedar K. Adour, MD
Courtesy of www.theatreworldinternetmagazine.com
