Set in 17th century Salem, this classic story of individuals standing up against the corruption of their society was Miller’s allegory for the witch-hunts of the 1950’s House Un-American Activities Committee led by Senator Joe McCarthy. The Crucible shows the persecution and state-sponsored murder of twenty persons by their friends and neighbors for alleged affiliations with the supernatural world. It also shows how power in the wrong hands can be wielded and opposed in any community–an issue that remains to this day.
As a work of theatre, The Crucible is one of Miller’s best examples of his mastery of subtext. And while this production as a whole is not done in a style that demonstrates Miller’s genius, there are many elements that remain praiseworthy.
It is always difficult to know whether artistic choices are directorial. One in particular is the surprising lack of subtlety in the portrayal of Deputy Governor Danforth (Paul Jennings). A man in a position of power has no need to prove it by shouting angrily. There is nothing more frightening than such a man who benevolently imparts a despicable point of view.
Equally confusing is why if both Proctor (Peter Townley) and Goody Proctor (Megan Briggs) repeatedly mention the emotional chill in their home, she would greet her husband open-heartedly with a welcoming smile. In a society where dancing is considered a sin, casual touching and shouting strike false notes, and feel completely antithetical to the culture.
The Crucible directed by Stuart Bousel also presents challenges in the trial scenes when the young girls demonstrate hysteria. This alternates with dialogue among the judges which dialogue unnecessarily gets completely lost. Picking up cues without talking over others can build in volume to a more dramatic effect.
In the majority of scenes, the ensemble works well together keeping the action apace with notable performances by Reverend John Hale (Nicholas Trengove), Goody Putnam (Melissa Clason), Ezekiel Cheever (Vince Faso), Rebecca Nurse (Carole Swann), Francis Nurse (Richard Wenzel) Mary Warren (Alisha Ehrlich) and Giles Corey (Ron Talbot). As always at CMT the sound design (Liz Ryder) is stellar.
Even with these reservations, The Crucible is an American classic worth seeing. Thurs-Sat 8pm Sun 7pm thru June 15. Gough Street Playhouse 1620 Gough Street, SF www.custommade.org
Linda Ayres-Frederick
Much Ado About Nothing at African-American Shakespeare Company is definitely noteworthy. Under the expertly imaginative hand of Artistic Director L. Peter Callender, this rich plot of twists and turns that explores courting and romance gains momentum from beginning to end. Set in post WWII, the music of Ella Fitgerald enriches the sharp Shakespearean comedy. Callender’s cast is fearless dealing with the serious tones of honor and shame that are interspersed between the more exuberant aspects of love.
Nowhere will you find a more delightfully sassy Beatrice (Leontyne Mbele-Mbong) who meets her match in Benedick (Ryan Vincent Anderson). Their sparring wit contrasts the innocent puppy dog love of Claudio (Twon Marcel) and his lovely young Hero (Danielle Doyle). The story of the two pairs of lovers is enhanced by an ensemble that features solid performances from Don Pedro (Kelvyn Mitchell), Don John (Jim Gessner) and Leonato (Dwight Dean Mahabir) to name a few. Tom Segal’s Choreography and Maureen “Mo” Stones’s Costumes add their talents to give this Much Ado even more pizzazz.
AASC is this year’s worthy recipient of the Paine-Knickerbocker Award by the SF Bay Area Theatre Critics Circle. Named for the former theatre critic of The SF Chronicle, this Award is presented to an organization that has made a continuing contribution to Bay Area Theatre.
Much Ado About Nothing completes AASC’s 2013/14 Season. With such an array of talent, their next season promises to be equally exciting. Located at Burial Clay Theatre in the African American Art & Culture Complex, 762 Fulton Street (near Webster) in SF, an added perk is the free parking next door. Tickets for the upcoming season will be available at the Box Office or Brown Paper Tickets 1-800-838-3006. www.african-americanshakes.org.
Linda Ayres-Frederick
Matilda (Nanhlanhla Kheswa) in the arms of her loving and doting husband Philemon (Ivanno Jeremiah)
THE SUIT: Drama. Adapted by Peter Brook, Marie-Hélène Estienne and Franck Krawczyk from the story and play by Can Themba, Mothobi Mutloatse and Barney Simon. American Conservatory Theater, 415 Geary St., San Francisco. (415) 749-2228. www.act-sf.org. Through May 18, 2014
THE SUIT with an international cast is riveting at A.C.T. [rating:5] (5 of 5 Stars)
It was 30 years ago that San Francisco audiences were treated to a magnificent spectacular production of A Midsummer’s Night Dream by the Royal Shakespeare Company directed by the brilliant Peter Brooks. It is a pity we had to wait so long to see the culmination of his latest opus The Suit that has been created in alliance with a talented aggregate of adapters, musicians and actors. For this 75 minute production the term spectacular is replaced by simplistic but is equally as brilliant and magnificent as Dream.
The simple setting is populated with colorful unadorned wooden chairs, metal-pipe clothes racks and a table that are moved about to create the illusion of interior/exterior buildings, bus stops, train interiors etc and a bedroom. It is the bedroom that takes center stage and is integral to the storyline. Most of the action is in pantomime without props thus allowing the action to flow smoothly.
With soft classical music playing by the on-stage trio, The Narrator Maphikela (Jordan Barbour) sets the scene in Sophiatown, South Africa during the Apartheid-era. We then meet the young beautiful Matilda (Nanhlanhla Kheswa) sleeping in the arms of her loving and doting husband Philemon (Ivanno Jeremiah). He quietly leaves the bed to serve her breakfast in that fateful bed before he goes to his job as a secretary.
On the way to work he meets Maphikela who reluctantly tells Philemon that a young man has been visiting his Matilda every morning for the past three months. Unbelieving Philemon takes the bus back to his home and chases the young man dressed only in his briefs out the window leaving his suit behind. Surprisingly Philemon’s rage is subverted to a diabolical form of revenge, ordering her to always treat the suit as an honored guest that must be fed and carried with her wherever she/they go. He then goes to a shebeen (a local illegal drinking place) to drink away his sorrow/anger. 
The show is filled with music and song that are extremely expressive of inner and external turmoil. All the singing, with one exception (Jordan Barbour sings the foreboding lynching song “Strange Fruit.”), is by Matilda and Nanhlanhla Kheswa is a trained singer with a beautiful expressive voice. When she performs the songs she steps to the stage apron and sings to the enraptured audience. The first song is “Forbidden Games”.
Her punishment continues and in desperation she joins the local Anglican Mission and bonds with the married women. This time she sings the haunting “Ntylio Nytlio.” She even invites a few friends to come to their home the following Sunday and spends the week preparing to receive them. When they arrive, along with four members of the audience brought up on the stage to share the party, she is encouraged to sing the haunting south African ballad “Malaika.” At the end of the song Philemon brings out the dreaded “guest of honor” the Suit.
Devastated Matilda’s begging to stop the punishment goes unheeded and Philemon goes off with Maphikela to the shebeen but when he returns his lovely bride is dead. Ivanno Jeremiah is absolutely superb, keeping complete control while seething inside and when he does raise his voice, only once, all the internal fury spills out. Jordan Barbour is the one who brings the background story of the Apartheid-era forward never letting us forget that the personal tragic happenings are playing out on a tragic political stage.
Franck Krawczyk’s beautiful score perfectly reflects the moods of the characters and the setting. His trio of Arthur Astier, Mark Christine, and Mark Kavuma not only play a plethora of instruments but also step forward to play both male and female characters adding humor to the evening.
Cast: Jordan Barbour, Ivanno Jeremiah, Nohlanhla Kheswa
Production: Scenic/costume design by Oria Puppo; Lighting design by
Philippe Vialatte; Assistant Director Rikki Henry;
Direction, Adaptation, and Music by Peter Brook, Marie-HehIene Estienne, and Franck Krawczyk
Musicians: Guitar Arthur Astier; Piano Mark Christine; Trumpet Mark Kavuma.
Kedar K. Adour, MD
Courtesy of www.theatreworldinternetmagazine.com
FURY
Anger is never without a reason,
But seldom a good one.
Benjamin Franklin
Whenever I go back to the San Francisco Bay Area, I am immersed in non-stop road rage. Drivers swerve around you, hit the accelerator to get ahead of you, blast their horns to tell you to get out of their way and spew hate all over the highway. I find myself getting just as angry as the other drivers as I try to weave my way through 6 lanes of traffic to get to my destination. I come home exhausted, despising humanity and hating myself for succumbing to the hysteria that clogs our roads.
It is a glorious relief to come to peaceful Brighton where I walk everywhere, smile at everyone and love treading the streets. Humanity charms me when I am here and I find myself enjoying the kindly hustle and bustle on North Street.
I have always thought that road rage was so foreign to those who use public transportation in Britain, that they would sooner stage a massacre than be rude to another person. Besides, it is not in the British personality to be rude or overbearing. The people in this country are obsessed with being politically correct.
Or so I thought.
I just spent two weeks in London living in Stockwell and taking the tube to Leicester Square. That was when I was exposed to Tube Rage. If I dared to try to tap my oyster card on the entrance gate during rush hour, I risked black and blue marks, mangled hips and fractured elbows. When I approached the escalator, I was so terrified I shut my eyes and prayed to the almighty that my foot wasn’t crushed and I was not hurled down the moving staircase because I forgot to stand on the left.
It turns out that all this pushing, shoving, jostling and crushing is not due to rudeness at all. It is the result of poor ventilation. In fact the director of the British association of Anger Management warns that lack of oxygen is sure to cause uncontrolled acts of aggression.
What a relief!! I thought all those people shoving me around were ageist brutes who didn’t care that I am elderly and frail. How wrong I was! When the British push you out of their way, it is a silent cry for air.
Which brings us right back to Brighton where fresh air is always swirling about us, filling our lungs with new oxygen from France. I boarded a train at London Victoria and two people hit me in the shin in their rush to get to the coach first. One lady smashed her suitcase into my hip and another yanked my shoulder into a vertical position to reach the aisle seat. The minute we all got off the train in Brighton, everyone was smiling, inhaling the lovely oxygenated air and loving one another. A gentleman carried my case to the station, a lady held my arm lest I trip and two lovely young men with grandmother complexes bought me a coffee.
The oxygen cure would not work in America however. It isn’t the air that infuriates them; it is the government.
Kedar [rating:5] (5/5 stars)
Lancelot (Wilson Jermaine Heredia*), King Arthur (Johnny Moreno*) and Guenevere (Monique Hafen*) at Knighting Ceremony Photos by Jessica Palopoli.
CAMELOT: Musical. Book and lyrics by Alan Jay Lerner.Music by Frederick Loewe. Based on “Once and Future King” by T.H. White. Directed by Bill English. Music director Dave Dobrusky. July 16 – September 14, 2013.
CAMELOT rides into San Francisco on Harley motorcycles!
We aficionados (with synonyms of connoisseurs, devotees, enthusiasts, fanatics) of the SF Playhouse are mostly inured to seeing volatile productions of the under-belly of society parade the boards of their theatre. They have done it again with an ‘in your face’ staging of the musical Camelot. If any of their productions can be summarized with Harold Ross’s 1925 quote from “The New Yorker”, “It has announced that it is not edited [produced] for the old lady in Dubuque” , this staging of the once (and hopefully future) uplifting King Arthur/Round Table/Camelot story is it.
Last year Bill English’s re-imagination of My Fair Lady at their former intimate Sutter Street Theatre was a success and played to substantial crowds throughout the summer. It seems that the “summer musical” has become a standard for SF Playhouse to catch the vacation crowds that swarm San Francisco. This year they are in the substantially larger venue (up from 99 to 265 seats) that has a huge stage with a plethora of technical equipment. For Camelot Nina Ball has created a massive set using two or three turntables, an integrated rear stage screen for impressive projects and to hide the (count them) eight piece orchestra under SF favorite Dave Dobrusky. The well-known and acclaimed title of Camelot will surely attract crowds.
Those crowds will be overwhelmed with the colossal staging but they will not be humming the charming tunes associated with the musical but rather be shaking their heads as many were on opening night. Although there was appreciative applause at the curtain, the usual spontaneous standing ovation was absent.
Wilson Jermaine Heredia* as Lancelot prepares to battle knights
It was absent for good reason despite a spectacular performance by Wilson Jermaine Heredia as Lancelot. Heredia is a Tony and Oliver Award winner for his role as Angel in the Broadway and London productions of Rent. Director English, using some of his own words, has created knights in the mold of grungy (costumes by Abra Berman) bikers (Ken Brill, Rudy Guerrero, Robert Moreno, George P. Scott), Guenevere (Monique Hafen) as an angry Goth princess, King Arthur (Johnny Moreno) as a day-dreaming dolt and Mordred as a potential to play Richard III. Charles Dean a Bay Area favorite who brought the house down with his role as Doolittle in My Fair Lady is cast as both the magician Merlyn and Arthur’s confidant Pelinore. Sadly, the only distinction in those characterizations is a change of costume.
There is much to like about this twisted version of what should be a romantic escapist evening that includes excellent singing voices (with exception of Johnny Moreno’s limited range), eye-catching projections, energetic acting and exuberant fight scenes staged by Heredia. The marvelous score and lyrics are still enchanting and include “Camelot”, “Follow Me”, “The lusty Month of May”, “How to Handle a Woman”, “Before I gaze at You Again”, “If Ever I Should Leave You”, and “I loved You Once In Silence.”
Running time 2 hours and 40 minutes including the intermission.
Kedar K. Adour, MD
Courtesy of www.theatreworldinternetmagaine.com
“Journey’s End” is a romantic title for the R. C. Sherriff play that just opened at The Barn Theatre in Ross. To get a better idea of what it’s about, go up close to the stage, and examine the set. Rough beams cross the ceiling, sweaty-looking cots sit on either side, wrinkled old papers are pinned to the walls, dirt spreads over the floor, and a view through the curtained opening shows more dirt outside. “Journey’s End” is not an idyll; it’s a war story. This is a British dugout in W. W. I France, and the trench outside leads into battle. One of the play’s first lines is, “It’s coming pretty soon now.” Flashes in the sky outside and booms from distant artillery confirm that. But when?
This mid-season production from Ross Valley Players departs from the rest of the season, especially from the two comedies that bracket it. “Journey’s End” shows the tedium of waiting for battle and the ways the plucky cook maintains service, no matter what food he has to work with. Captain Stanhope, who’s been here three years and whose nerves are “battered to bits,” numbs his existence with alcohol, while a newly-arrived junior officer is excited about the prospect and thinks it’s “an amazing bit of luck” that he’s been assigned to Stanhope’s battalion.
This all sounds remarkably real, and it was. Sherriff served in the war and was twice wounded. It has been said that “Journey’s End” was his tribute to those who didn’t survive. It came to the stage in London in 1928, with an appropriately young Laurence Olivier in the role of Stanhope. The Ross Valley production was directed by James Dunn, who’d seen the play in London in 2005 and was determined to bring it to Ross Valley, where it is having a west coast premiere. Dunn’s respect for the material shows in every scene.
The British accents seem natural and the pronunciations unaffected. Stanhope is referred to as “Stanup;” the town of Ypres is called “Wipers.”
The set, so important to the mood of the story, was designed by Ron Krempetz and assembled by Ian Swift. The Army costumes, helmets included, were collected by Michael Berg. Maureen Scheuenstuhl arranged the dugout’s props.
Stephen Dietz, who plays the self-controlled 2nd Lt. Trotter, also designed the very effective sound effects. Ellen Brooks and Ian Lamers did the lights, which become more important as the play goes on.
Francis Serpa has the role of idealistic young Lt. Raleigh. Tom Hudgens is Lt. Osborne, everybody’s “uncle,” and Philip Goleman is the terror-stricken Hibbard.
Sean Gunnell portrays Pvt. Mason, the tireless cook, with Jeff Taylor as the Company Sgt. Major. David Yen appears in the Olivier role as edgy long-termer, Capt. Stanhope, explaining his alcohol consumption as, “I couldn’t bear to be fully conscious all the time.”
Two former Peninsula lads — Ross Berger and Steve Price — are double-cast. Berger plays Lance Cpt. Broughton and a German soldier, and Price is both Capt. Hardy and the Colonel.
R. C. Sherriff, says James Dunn, didn’t set out to write a pacifist play, but that’s what he wrote. It’s a strong and moving piece of theatre, and it comes almost 100 years from the beginning of that war.
“Journey’s End” will play at The Barn Theatre in Ross Thursdays through Sunday, Feb. 16. Thursday performances are at 7:30 p.m., Fridays and Saturdays at 8 p.m., and Sunday matinees at 2 p.m. Ticket prices range from $13 (children and students on Thursday nights) to $22. A “Talkback” with director and actors will take place after matinee performances in February.
To order tickets, call the box office at 456-9555 or see the website, www.rossvalley.players.com.
Marga Gomez is Captivating in “Love Birds”
Marga Gomez is back in the Mission with her new show called “Lovebirds”. Bi-costal playwright and lesbian comic extraordinaire has the folks rolling in the aisles with her 75 minute solo performance with the world premiere of “Lovebirds” at The Marsh in San Francisco. This marks her 10th solo performance which is being directed by David Schweizer. Ms. Gomez who I call a Latino Whoopi Goldberg has been one the better lesbian comics traveling all over the United States with her one person show. She has an amazing personality with a great wit, a mobile face and a lithe body. She is one foxy lady who could be called a lesbian Jennifer Lopez.
“Lovebirds” is not one of her autobiographical soliloquys that she usually does. Here Marga plays Polaroid Phillie an enchantingly unconventional street photographer who still takes photos of couples with of all things with a Polaroid camera in Greenwich Village haunts gay ladies bars and Spanish restaurants.
Marga as Polaroid Phillie tells the audience about fond memories of taking photos in the 70’s in these clubs. She then portrays a crew of incurable romantics as they chase their heart’s desires into the night, through decades and to insane lengths. She is fantastic playing Orestes, a macho maître d’ infatuated with a tin eared singer who is married to an academic who never sleeps or even never awake.
Marga is also brilliant playing an emerging lesbian named Barbara and through her eyes we meet a raucously “butch” Turkey who comes on strong at a local disco. She changes her name to Dahlia and she wants to leave this selfish butch Turkey for a new love with a bewitching New York University woman’s studies teacher, Aurora. She also plays the tone deft singer and even herself toward the end of the 75 minute of the comic tour de force.
“Lovebird “ is Marga Gomez at her best. I wanted to see more but this fast pace presentation is over much too soon. “Lovebirds” runs through March 15 at The Marsh San Francisco Studio, 1062 Valencia Street, San Francisco. For tickets call 415-282-3055 or on line at www.themarsh.org
KNIT ONE, PURL TWO AND YOU’RE FREE
Properly practiced, knitting soothes the troubled spirit,
and it doesn’t hurt the untroubled spirit either.
Elizabeth Zimmerman
I was a nervous child. I was terrified of the horrible dangers that lurked around every corner. If I talked to strangers because they would abduct me; I must never argue with my mother or she would give me back to the Indians. I couldn’t cross a street without risking my life; if I dared to boil water, the steam would blind me. Touching the pan would cost a finger. Boys with nasty leers jumped out behind bushes at little girls like me, and teachers got angry for no reason at all.
Reality was too much for me to absorb. My nerves were jangled and my nails bitten to the quick. I jumped at an unexpected sound; I screamed when a light flashed; I hid under the couch when someone slammed the door.
My mother was a redhead with an attitude. She was afraid of nothing. Danger actually thrilled her and she met it head on with eyes flashing and acid repartee that quelled the bravest among us.
And it was she who made me quiver and shake at the thought of facing another day with all its pitfalls. It was she who reminded me that I might trip if I ran too fast; I might break that dish I was wiping; or jam the brush into my eye when I brushed my hair. She couldn’t stand the fidgeting, the nail biting, and the twitches. “This kid is driving me crazy,” she told my Aunt Hazel. “She is a nervous wreck.”
My Aunt Hazel was a pragmatist. When she didn’t get enough meat for dinner, she left home. When she couldn’t earn enough money to support herself she married a bootlegger. She was one of the first in that generation to think outside the box. “Teach her to knit,” she told my mother.
“Are you crazy?” said my mother. “She jiggles so much she’ll poke her eyes out with a knitting needled. “
“Well that’s one way to calm her down,” said Aunt Hazel.
So it was that my aunt took me with her to the Stitch In Time Knitting shop filled with yarn in every color and an oval table piled high with pattern books. Several ladies sat around that table drinking coffee, smoking cigarettes (this was 1943) chatting about the war effort and knitting scarves, mittens and caps for our servicemen. Their needles clicked and they smiled and laughed as they worked. As I watched these women moving those needles at the speed of light, I saw to my amazement that they were creating all kinds of garments: sweaters with lace sleeves, block patterns and colors, plaids and stripes and polka dots.
“I want to do that,” I told my aunt.
“I thought you would,” she said. “What would you like to make?”
My aunt took me home that afternoon and told my mother, ”She’s knitting a scarf. That will keep her in line.”
That was back in 1943, but my aunt’s wisdom holds truth even today. In fact, a maximum-security prison in Brazil came to the same conclusion. They have decided that if their inmates knit something for three days, it is worth one day off their sentence. They know what my aunt figured out so many years ago. Knitters don’t have time to get in trouble. They might drop a stitch.
ARLINGTON at the Magic Theatre
Directed by Jackson Gay, Arlington is almost a solo show. Featuring Analisa Leaming as Sara Jane and Jeff Pew as piano accompanist and her occasionally speaking husband Jerry, this one hour stream of consciousness telling of Sara Jane’s attempts to remain cheerful while waiting for her soldier husband’s return is performed primarily singing with dips into Sprechstimme and brief patches of spoken monologue and dialogue. With Jeff Pew prominently placed in full view at his grand piano upstage, there is no mistaking his importance in the play as the never forgotten mate whose military judgment hovers over Sara Jane. What is not so clear is the reason why the monologue of wife Sara Jane needs to be sung or how she could just be coming to the realization that war is painful, horrific and deadly for those near or on the battlefield.
Ms. Leaming has a lovely soprano voice and manages to modulate from cheerful innocence to worried concern for her unborn male child with the implied fear that he too could be cannon fodder in a yet to be waged war. Along the way she gets to question the values of her military family, deal with a mother obsessed with facelifts, respond to a husband whose sexual fantasies about her are disquieting, be repeatedly haunted by photos of atrocities her husband has committed against women and children and more.
Jeff Pew is equally convincing as her husband on the front and as a force that hovers over her that she can’t quite control. His skill as a pianist is exemplary as is his acting talent in the few spoken interjections he has with Sara Jane. Here the difficulty isn’t with the performing artists themselves as with the material they are given to work with that leaves one wanting more.
ARLINGTON written by Victor Lodato with Music by Polly Pen continues through December 8 at the Magic Theatre www.magictheatre.org or 415.441.8822.
UNDERNEATH THE LINTEL at A.C.T.
Academy Award nominee David Strathairn (Lincoln) easily holds our attention in Glen Berger’s captivating 90 minute solo drama Underneath the Lintel. In what could almost be considered a ghost story, an eccentric librarian finds a weather-beaten book in a return bin—and discovers that it is 113 years overdue. It is still an era where a librarian’s date stamp is his most prized possession. Sparked by a message left in its margins, he sets off on a quest to unravel the secrets of the book and the person who borrowed it. From the hallways of his library, he follows a chain of seemingly insignificant clues that spans the globe and dates back thousands of years. Obsessed with piecing the clues together, he is relieved from his post to follow his insatiable curiosity. With astonishing twists and turns, Underneath the Lintel is a magical piece of storytelling that draws us into an unforgettable odyssey. Strathairn’s riveting performance is like a master class in acting. Energetically performed, his exuberance keeps us captivated as does his vulnerability and comic timing, making this a highlight of story telling that is both emotionally moving and ultimately redemptive as well as entertaining.
Underneath the Lintel directed by Carey Perloff ran through November 23 at A.C.T. 415 Geary Street, SF, CA.
Next up: A Christmas Carol Dec 6-28th, www.act-sfbay.org
by Linda Ayres-Frederick