Celebrating its “four-and-twentieth” season, Marin Shakespeare Company has reached even farther into theatrical history and come up with a pre-Shakespearean hit, Thomas Kyd’s “The Spanish Tragedy.”
Kyd’s play was packing playhouses by the time Shakespeare arrived in London, and “Spanish Tragedy” was revived over and over, even after The Bard began producing his own work. He certainly would have seen it at least once, and dramatic evidence suggests he borrowed from it here and there.
Shakespeare’s “Hamlet,” for instance, is rooted in the young prince’s vow to avenge his father’s death, a vow inspired by the father’s angry ghost. In “The “Spanish Tragedy,” it is the father who’s bent on getting revenge for his murdered son. Revenge is a character that lingers onstage in company with the ghost of another murder victim. (Revenge looks and sounds not at all as you might expect.)
The ghost’s former love — now a bereaved young woman — could almost stand in for Ophelia, and “Tragedy’s” smarmy, sneaky young nobleman could double for Iago, the villain in “Othello.” To top off the resemblances, Kyd even scripted a play-within-a-play as payback for the guilty parties, and as in Shakespearean plays to follow, the bodies begin to pile up.
Director Leslie Schisgall Currier has revived this gory old favorite, set it in a multi-level castle and cut it down to a manageable two hours and forty minutes’ playing time. The action begins with a tolling bell and a long funeral march of white-masked mourners. The deceased follows the march, describing the foul deeds that have made him a ghost. Ghost stays visible throughout the play, accompanied by Revenge.
The Duke of Castille, the King’s brother, describes the battle and shows off its most famous prisoner, Balthazar, Prince of Portugal. Horatio has helped apprehend him, though the Duke’s son, Lorenzo, claims that he was the real nabber. Lorenzo’s sister, Bellimperia, captures Balthazar’s attention, and in no time, speculations begin that a marriage between the two would cement peace between their nations. The young lady, however, had been the sweetheart of Don Andrea, now the Ghost pacing the battlements. She is not available, though her servant vows that the lady’s affections have recently turned to Horatio. This information enrages Balthazar; Horatio’s too much in his way.
But despite all the royalty represented onstage, the most complex character in “The Spanish Tragedy” is the judge, Hieronimo. When he finds his beloved son murdered, Hieronomo’s reaction is similar to King Lear’s over the corpse of his daughter, Cordelia. Justice now equals revenge.
In this large, outdoor performance space, trained voices enhance the show. Julian Lopez-Morillas is superb as Hieronomo, commanding the stage with a big voice and big emotions. Scott Coopwood, as the Duke of Castille has a similar presence, as does Jack Powell as the Viceroy of Portugal. Both Elena Wright in the role of Bellimperia and Jessica Powell as Hieronimo’s wife, Isabella, have roles with heavy vocal demands. Erik Johnson plays the ill-fated Horatio, and in three widely varying roles, Steve Price, who grew up on the Peninsula, portrays a Portuguese nobleman, a petitioner and a hangman. In a last-minute substitution on opening night, Liam Hughes took over the role of Balthazar. Twenty-five additional cast members round out this generously-sized production.
“The Spanish Tragedy” will play at the Forest Meadows Amphitheatre on the Dominican University campus until August 11 and in repertory with “A Comedy of Errors” after July 27. Friday, Saturday and Sunday evening performances are at 8 PM, with Sunday matinees at 4 PM. For tickets, directions and more information, call 499-4488.
As with all outdoor performances, dress for the weather and bring extra layers as the theatre gets cooler after dark. Picnics are welcome.
YOU ARE WHAT YOU EAT, LIKE IT OR NOT
Everything you see I owe to spaghetti.
― Sophia Loren
First, it was horsemeat. We thought we were eating succulent bits of beef but to our horror, we discovered we were shoving Dobbin into our lasagna. Worse, we have been devouring him topped with cheese, tomato and soupçon of lettuce in our burgers. We were horrified. Tesco, a major seller of deceptive equine products ran full page ads apologizing for misleading their customers, insisting they had no idea that they were mislabeling their products.
The rest of the world scoffs at English fastidiousness. “So what?” they say in at least 358 different languages. The French adore horsemeat…in fact they hint that is why they are so romantic in bed, in contrast to the British who apologize before they even mange to get started. The Irish add a wine sauce to anything and once tasted don’t give a damn.
But horsemeat in our dinners is not the worst of it. Oh, no.
Now that we have managed to come to terms with the brutal fact that the glorious winner of Epsom Downs faces a future in our goulash, we have another gastronomic hurdle to cross. Sixty percent of the tuna we buy to fill our children’s lunch boxes and add flavor to our casseroles is not tuna at all. It is escolar, an oily fish that causes diarrhea. That is why so many of us have that irresistible urge to relieve ourselves after indulging in those cute canapés topped with a pimento. And you thought it was the conversation.
The fact is that most restaurants serve escolar and tell us it is albacore tuna. No wonder we cannot figure out why that delicious Salad Niçoise sent us to the loo within moments of savoring it flavor. It wasn’t that drink you had to wash it down. It was tacky escolar putting on airs.
Everyone knows that we are what we eat. It is now apparent that when we feed our children stew, they could easily be neighing for their supper in a matter of weeks. What is far more frightening, that tuna fish sandwich that every child cannot resist could very well send him swimming in the Atlantic never to return. It has already happened in my family.
My Aunt Gert swears that the reason her daughter Penny became an Olympic swimmer was that she ate nothing but tuna fish for SEVEN years. She stopped eating it that unforgettable day when she cramped up just as she was approaching the finish line in Rome in 1960. She blamed her loss on nerves, but we know better. It wasn’t the pasta either.
My mother’s staple casserole was tuna fish mixed with cream of mushroom soup topped with crumbled crisps. She served it at every party. We never understood why everyone who ate it got the “flu” the next day. We thought it was Ohio weather.
The moral of this shocking tale is that if you want to win the big fight, eat a bull and if you think you are gay, eat fruit.
WHISTLE POWER
Whistle and dance the shimmy
You will find your audience.
Anonymous
Robert Smith has been arrested several times for whistling on the streets of Portland Oregon. Residents said he was disturbing their peace. The court listened to shop owners, pedestrians and outraged mothers’ complaints and last February, decided that Smith was free to whistle as long as he didn’t stand still. Now, Robert Smith walks throughout downtown Portland, whistling a penetrating, tuneless melody so loud you can hear him blocks away. “I get more self-worth out of whistling. I do it every day — weather permitting,” he said. “I’m not out here to be the best whistler in the world. I’m just trying to make people smile.”
I think that is a lovely attitude, one that all of us should think about adopting. Whistling is a delightful way to spread joy, catch someone’s attention and call the dog. My sister could whistle before she could say a sentence. She, like Robert Smith, used to love to whistle while she walked. The difference is that my sister was a fat, adorable three year old who toddled happily in the neighborhood; Smith is a grown man; a construction worker, who should have better things to do with his time.
However, the end results for both of them are the same. When neighbors saw my sister wandering through Birkhead Place, they would call my mother and say, ”Ida, your kid ran away again.”
That served to alert my mother and give my sister the attention she wanted. She too had no intentions of being the best whistler in Toledo, Ohio. She wanted her mother. My sister’s whistling often took her out of our gated community and into the main thoroughfare.
One summer day, in 1944, my sister wandered out of the house whistling and attracted a mangy dog who fell madly in love with her unique melody. The dog followed her down the street, past manicured lawns and budding maple trees, across busy intersections and crowded parking lots until at last, a policeman noticed the tiny, dimpled whistler followed by a large, flea infested hound.
He stopped my sister and said, as kind policemen did in the days before they carried guns and a chip on their shoulder, ”Darling where are you going?”
My sister, who had not mastered speech as well as she had her tuneful art, said, ”Dog!” and she smiled at the policeman expecting him to tell her she was a brilliant child because she said a complete word. At this very moment, my mother dashed into the street her apron strings flying behind her yelling, ”Marsha Dee!!! STOP!!!”
The policeman stopped. Pedestrians stopped My sister kept walking and whistling her way past the drugstore toward the bakery. She pointed to the dog. “We hunnry.” she announced.
The policeman went into the bakery, bought a bag of cookies: He gave one to my sister and one to the dog. “Say thank you,” my mother said to my sister. The dog barked, my mother popped a tranquilizer and the policeman continued his beat.
The moral of this story is: There was a time when a whistle got you a cookie, but now-a-days, all you get is a citation.”
JUNE 28, 20l3
I traveled up to the lovely, but very warm Hanna Winery for the Why Hunger fundraising party, with my publicist, Joe, and his companion, Mary. Hanna winery founded in l985 is located in southern end of the Alexander Valley in Healdsburg, CA. We braved the Friday night commute traffic, which was difficult, and finally reached this lovely winery on a hillside, after a pleasant 2 hr. drive, mostly on the backroads of the valley. We actually past a street sign on those backroads, that said, “no where road.”
The staff was very welcoming to us, upon our arrival, and everyone started the evening in the air-conditioned tasting room, enjoying white and red wines. I went up to one gentleman, asked how far he came to be here tonight, he said, “New Jersey.” His name is Oliver Lake, and he had flew in to SFO this morning, for a gig in Healdsburg Center for the Arts the following night. Oliver, plays the sax., and told me his first name stands for peace. Oliver also told me he lives in a small town in New Jersey, the same town where that small cafe is, the one that “The Soprano’s had there last meal on the acclaimed H.B.O. TV show.
I met the very tall Jan Chapin in the tasting room, wearing a striking dark green dress. Jan and her trio were that night’s entertainment. Jan is daughter of the late, great, Harry Chapin, who’s hit songs included, “Cats in the Cradle”, and “Taxi.” Harry died in l981, in a car accident. Jan chairs the board of directors of WhyHunger, her dad was deeply committed to fight world hunger.
We sat outside under a beautiful giant oak tree, which shaded us from the 95 degree heat, and enjoyed a lovely buffet dinner, tasty, mouth watering pizza, salad, desserts, and as much wine as we wanted. We enjoyed talking to a nice couple from Mill Valley, they said the drive took them 3 hrs.
All in all, it was a wonderful evening, and I got to catch up on news with Mary and Joe, and hear more about they 7 week recent trip to England, and France. One place they went to, I actually have seen, StoneHendge. Joe, told me it was very cold there when they visited this great landmark, not far from the Winchester Cathedral.
NEWS FROM THE BRIGHTON FRINGE
SHORT COMMENTARY ON WHAT IS HAPPENING ON THE OTHER SIDE OF THE POND
I had the unexpected pleasure of stumbling on BITCH BOXER written and performed by Charlotte Josephine. I am not a sports fan and I particularly abhor boxing, yet this play with its fast moving dialogue, exquisite direction by Bryony Shanahan and truly brilliant lighting effects by Seth Rook Williams captivated me from the moment Josephine stepped on the stage and brought tears to my eyes as I relived a young girl’s torment, torn by her own determination to validate herself in her fathers eyes. This is a play that must be seen because words cannot cast its spell. I takes place in 2012 when women entered the Olympic boxing ring for the first time. We see Chloe training to compete in the event even as she is torn by cosmic events in her own life. Through it all, we see her hanging on to a tattered faith in herself and reaching for a star she knows belongs to her. It is Josephine’s performance that makes this production stellar. She is an artist in every sense of that word and beyond
BITCH BOXER returns to the Marlborough Theatre May 25,26,& 27 7:30 pm
www.brightonfringe.org; 01273 917272
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THE SPEIGEL TENT IS THE PLACE TO BE ……
LA CLIQUE happens every night but MOnday at 9 pm and iach performance is unique. You will see Scotty the Blue Bunny charming you with is wagging little tail and marvelous repartee; Shay Horay amaze you with rubber bands, Lilikoi Kaos spinning hula hoops in ways you cannot imagine and the Wau Wau Sisters doing a trapeze act that defies gravity. The show is spellbinding from start to finish and for me a huge highlight is Paul Zenon’s combination of magic and comedy. This is an hour and a half of superb entertainment…fun, exhilarating and spirit lifting.
My favorite performers ever are and have always been MIKLEANGELO AND THE BLACK SEA GENTLEMEN. They perform at 5 pm in the tent from the 13-19 and are an experience not to be missed “These are performers at the top of their game,” says The Scotsman; The Sydney Morning Herald says “They are not so much a band as a dream you cannot wake from.”
The show combines musical theatre and black humor in unexpected ways. You will never see its like anywhere in the world. Mikelangelo has composed and arranged songs that blend Balkan melodies and European Kabaret with comedy and farce. The Gentlemen are superb musicians and each has his own comedic sense. Mikelangelo is brilliant on every level as their leader and your host in the production. When they play AN A MINOR DAY you laugh and yet you know just what they mean…and I defy you not to nod your head at the black humor in A FORMIDABLE MARINADE. You will chuckle; you will dance and you will love every minute you spend with MIKELANGELO AND THE BLACK SEA GENTLEMEN. That is a promise. Tickets 01273 917272 www.brightonfringe.com.
THE BIG BITE-SIZE BREAKFAST: Fresh Fruit *****
This is a series of award winning one-minute plays delightfully presented with coffee and a croissant included in the 12.50/9.50 ticket. Fresh Fruit is a collection of 5 vignettes directed and produced by Nick Brice/Sam Holland and Sophia Wylie. Each play in this series gives us a new take on what it is to be human, mixing pathos with humor. Of special note is Tegen Hitchens whose monologue Thin Air about a tight rope walker who learns what courage is all about is mesmerizing and unforgettable. Do not miss this delightful mid day hour. Tickets 01273 917272 www.brightonfringe.com.
THE BIG BITE-SIZE BREAKFAST: Interpretations *****
It is rare to see a show that has an almost universal appeal. The audience for this “menu” ranged from a rapt 3 year old to a woman of 80 and everyone there was captivated by the selection of plays that combine comedy with a dose of unvarnished reality. Of special note was Becky Norris’s monologue VALENTINE’S DAY about a woman who receives a valentine from a most unusual stranger. Norris’s characterization is multi-faceted and believable, yet laced with dead-pan humor. Kudos to Nick Brice, Sam Holland and Sophia Wylie for their programming and expert direction. Once again they have given us a delightful and unforgettable morning. Tickets 01273 917272 www.brightonfringe.com.
ROAD Written by Jim Cartwright and directed by Julian Kerridge *****
This award winning play is as moving today as it was when it was written in 1986. “Now, 24 years later, as the gap between rich and poor grows ever wider….once again it is the very poorest in society who suffer,” says director Julian Kerridge. Theater is our best vehicle for social outrage and this gorgeous piece will make you cry, laugh and ponder at what is happening now in our world. Perfectly paced, beautifully directed and acted by an all-star cast, it is the most important piece of theater I have seen in a very long time. Tickets 01273 917272 www.brightonfringe.com.
THE BIG BITE-SIZE BREAKFAST: Desires. The Latest Music Bar May 19, 2013 *****
Once again, the audience is beautifully entertained with five ten-minute plays, all unforgettable because each is a commentary on the human experience. The play selection for all three menus (at Theatre Royal and The Latest) is superb. We are given literary quality, spot-on direction and amazing acting. These talented performers must switch from one character to another in a repertory of fifteen plays (for all 3 shows) and not one of them loses the narrative flow. Each menu is well worth seeing both for its social commentary, its quality, humor and pace. Tickets 01273 917272 www.brightonfringe.com.
THE TREASON SHOW *****
This special Festival show is at the Sabai Pavilion at 9pm Tuesday May 21 until Thursday May 25. The very talented cast present fast moving acerbic commentary on the news in song and satire that cannot help but appeal no matter what your level of political interest. This venue is very large and lacks the intimacy that works so well for the production at The Latest Music Bar, but the skits still get laughs and leave the audience with unforgettable memories that poke holes in the public image of our all too pompous public officials. Most memorable in this production was Daniel Beales’ impersonation of Angela Merkell singing a parody of My Way. This show runs monthly. If you missed this one go to www.treasonshow.co.uk for the next edition.
BIG BOYS DON’T DANCE *****
This show is a must see for every age. The music is superb, the dancing is mind boggling and the talent of the two stars amazing. There is a recognizable and believable story line running though the hour about two brothers about to split up because one is getting married. However, the show is held together with almost magical rhythm, dialogue and dance. The hour passes in an instant, so memorable are the performances of these two South African actors with unequalled comedic timing and pace. At The Warren until May 24 at 6 pm Tickets www.otherplacebrighton.co.uk or 01273 917272 www.brightonfringe.com.
QUA, QUA, QUA !! *****
Prepare yourself for a delightful, interactive experience creating comedy in the Jacques Tati tradition. This charming hour sweeps the audience into the Tati experience highlighting the tiny absurdities that are life itself. Chris Cresswell has created this gem of a piece and it is his comedic genius that propels the action. He is supported by a talented cast who pantomime his words. Marion Deprez is outstanding in her characterizations of the conductor on a train, a frustrated sunbather and just another woman in the rain. Do not miss this tribute to a moviemaker who saw what being human means. Cresswell’s presentation is sensitive to every nuance that makes life worthwhile. Tickets: emporiumbrighton.com. May 30-June 1 @ 7:30 13.50 pounds
NIGHT AFTER NIGHT *****
Paul Shaw is a consummate actor, a thrill to see on any stage. His performance in this touching and very wise production is nothing short of stellar. The story begins in 1958 when homosexuality was considered a mental disease. A married couple meet for theater and ponder on their future and the baby soon to be born. Shaw who plays all the characters in Neil Bartlett’s profound script has an understated delivery that makes the dramatization all the more powerful. His series of characters explore the need to accept who we are and what we have become as a fact of our lives. The music composed by Nicolas Bloomfield only enhances the poetic rhythms of the monologue. The tragedy is that this show was only performed May 31 and June first at the Marlborough Theatre and more people lost the opportunity to experience it.
THE WEATHERMAN *****
Kiki Lovechild proves how unnecessary words can be in his charming pantomime of how to amuse yourself in purgatory. His show is beautifully paced and combines movement with sound and lighting that sweeps his audience into a world of fun and fantasy unlimited by earthly notions. Anything can happen on his stage and does from umbrellas swirling to multicolored lights flashing and unexpected gifts shared by a captivated audience. Nothing verbal can describe the magic of this production and why should it? The show is an unforgettable hour that cannot fail to make you laugh and love being alive. Seen at the Marlborough Theatre May 30-June 1.
JULIAN CADDY SPEAKS ON THE IMPACT OF THE 2013 BRIGHTON FRINGE
This is the second year that Julian Caddy has been at the helm of the Brighton Fringe. In that time, the number and quality of shows have increased by 60% as have the number of attendees. The Brighton Fringe is the second largest festival in the UK. Caddy made these comments after a spectacular performance of THE BIG BITE SIZED BREAKFAST: INTERPRETATIONS (reviewed in this article). The Big Bite Sized Breakfast series was a group of delightful and very meaningful 10-minute plays, each one giving the audience a new view of our own life experience. Caddy spoke to us after the show. “What Bite Sized is doing is basic to what we are about,” he said. “Over 200,000 come to The Brighton Fringe. And the shows that come here reflect the values of the society that hosts it.”
The majority of the patrons that attend shows for this festival are from Brighton as opposed to The Edinburgh Festival Fringe where the majority of punters are visitors. Each production lives or dies on what they produce and the audience’s reaction to their work. “That is why we should make more of what we have here, now,” Caddy said. “The Fringe should continue to support the arts by giving vibrant offerings throughout the year. That is my ambition.”
Nick Brice produced the Bite Sized Breakfast show. “Showing people the choices they have gives them the power to make change happen,” he said.
Brice pointed out the parallel between theatre and business. He creates similar productions to businesses to help both employees and employers empathize with one another and learn how to actually understand what the other person is thinking. His goal is to show people how to do business in a different way through theater. “Building a brand is making a piece of theatre,” he said.
Theater then is a reflection of life in all its many phases. Perhaps, this is why experiencing a fringe festival anywhere is so very exhilarating. Suddenly, the arts take precedence over profit…even over our daily routines. Instead of going home, eating dinner and watching television, we take in a play, listen to music, laugh at a comedy and experience live entertainment with people of like interests. All the shows that came to The Brighton Fringe this year were forms of communication and so was the act of attending them. Theater, be it a play, a dance, a concert… indeed, in all its forms…. gives us invaluable tools to keep us human.
WHO SAID FIRST WAS BEST?
A first child is your own best foot forward,
And how you do cheer those little feet as they strike out.
Barbara Kingsolver
In all things in life, being first is considered the best. You win the game, you get the scholarship, you pass the test. You are a winner, that is, everywhere but in your family.
I was my mother’s first born. She had never HAD a baby before but she was pretty enthusiastic about motherhood until the last three months before I emerged. She read books about how delightful little babies are with their cute, cuddly ways and she expected me to be a bundle of exquisite joy. When, at last, I came crashing out of her uterus, I left the warm amniotic fluid that encased me and landed in a cold, hospital room. A bunch of strangers pummeled me to make me cry, cleaned me up and snipped my umbilical cord without so much as a kiss or a word of comfort.
I never got over it. And neither did my mother.
It appears that all first-born children are emotionally and physically bruised just by being first. My own mother never expected to have to deal with a crying, spitting, demanding sleepless infant. She never forgave me for her stitches, the pain, the endless labor she endured for a very questionable reward. “You almost killed me,” she said, every time she looked it me.
She may have been more verbal than most new mamas, but she was actually no different than every new parent when they have to deal with the unexpected rigor of that first baby. The crying, the diapers, the pulling at your breast…. …not to mention the terrible guilt because they are not REALLY enjoying the process.
Everyone knows first-borns seem smarter, more aggressive and more successful than their siblings. This is because they are constantly proving to their parents and themselves that they were worth the pain and suffering they caused. First-borns are usually taller than their siblings because they are the ones that have to reach up to get the dishes off the shelf to feed their little brothers and sisters. They are thinner too and that is probably because parents are always more careful to feed the first one proper food and teach them the good eating habits child care books tell them are best. I had to eat my spinach or else while my sister dined on leftover pie and gallons of pudding. The result was that she tips the scale at 400 pounds and I have yet to top 100.
All that stress and responsibly can kill a person and we now know that it actually does. Researchers in New Zealand discovered that the oldest child from the most well-meaning families suffer more heart attacks, higher blood pressure and have a stubborn resistance to insulin that makes them susceptible to diabetes. That means that the child born first will probably be the first one to go to the other side.
By the time the second kid comes along, the parents are more relaxed. They don’t really notice the germs or the squealing and besides they have the older one to baby-sit. It is the oldest child who ends up being a substitute parent to the others. He is the one who establishes the family reputation in school for industry and intelligence. Band most unfair, when he kicks off, the younger ones get the inheritance.
It doesn’t seem right, does it? That is why I now call on all older children to unite!!!! When that new little nipper comes into the house, use those brains that made you the smart one and smother it with a pillow before it gets out of line.
DRUG-ADDLED FISH
Tell me what you eat, and
I will tell you what you are.
Anthelme Brillat-Savarin
I am very careful about the food I eat because I know that what is in it goes into me. I will not eat red meat because I was a huge fan of Elsie the Cow, Porky the Pig and Mary’s three little lambs. However, since I never had an aquarium or cuddled something aquatic, I have been relying on fish as a staple to my diet.
I am amazed to learn that the reason I feel so relaxed and at peace with the world after a salmon dinner is that the fish on our planet are all becoming junkies. We are dumping our medications into the landfill helter-skelter and our Prozac, Vicodin and Demerol are being transmitted from the fish in the sea into my bloodstream.
I find this excellent news. It has the potential to save me an immense amount of money when I am moved to escape my current reality. If I eat my perch and dine on cod I will be calm and collected, if a bit loopy, when disaster strikes. I will not panic…I will be properly tranquilized by my dinner.
There is more good news to come. Evidently, all that drug consumption has made our fishy friends sterile. The morning after pills we didn’t need and the birth control pills we discard are affecting the reproductive powers of our aquatic friends. This is bad for the food supply I admit and terrible information for the pharmaceutical companies. We no longer need rely on the pill or the morning-after remedies (some of which are disgustingly unpleasant) to take care of any repercussions from a night of pleasure. All we need do is eat a generous helping of plaice for dinner. (You can even deep-fry it and it will still fix you up). If you decide you would like to have a family, forget estrogen or in-vitrio fertilization. Eat meat.
Ah, how times have changed. Back in the uninformed early fifties, I had two exquisite Siamese Fighting Fish: Herbert and Tarrington. They were lovely to watch, swimming from one side of their little bowl to the other, munching on algae and sparking in the sun. But one day Herbert got into a snit and ate poor timid Tarrington. He digested him whole and didn’t even spit out the bones. Had he lived in this knowledgeable century of ours, I would have scooped up some water for the nearest stream and cured his inappropriate behavior just like that.
Of course there are times when you do not want to dull your senses. You long to heighten your awareness of life around you. No need to waste hard-earned cash on speed, cocaine or ecstasy. Just run to the nearest fish grotto, pig out on sea bass and you are ready to party!
The only ones deprived of this safe avenue to contentment are vegetarians. They will have to rely on prescription medicines for their highs. The poor among them will reproduce like bunnies if they don’t give up sex entirely. It doesn’t seem fair does it? They have already given up so much that makes life delicious.
Fish, to taste right, must swim three times –
in water, in butter and in wine.
Polish Proverb
Brighton Theatre presents…..
BLACK VENUS
by
Jonathan Cash
“Josephine Baker subverted racial stereotypes and had a huge influence on black performers,” said Faynia Williams, director of a showcase trailer of this production designed by Romany Mark Bruce. BLACK VENUS brings Baker, the first jazz superstar, face to face with Hermann Goering over dinner in occupied Paris. The action combines music, dance and dialogue with Brechtian style flashbacks and promises to mesmerize the audience by intertwining themes of love, food, sex and racism.
Baker grew up in St Louis, Missouri, living hand to mouth in the streets when she was 12, living in cardboard boxes and scavaging for food in garbage cans. Her street corner dancing attracted attention when she was 15 and her career expanded across the ocean to Paris. Indeed, she always said she had two loves: Paris and America. Her famous Banana Dance combined the rhythms of African Dance and contemporary jazz to create modern Continental Break Dancing. She was an activist on many fronts and worked for the French Resistance because of her many contacts in the world of the Axis. It was because of her undercover activities that Hermann Goering invited her to dinner. This play recaptures that momentous evening when the two met face to face.
BLACK VENUS was shortlisted for the 2013 Best New Play Award and given funding by the Arts Council of England. It will be presented for one night only, Josephine Baker Day, May 20 at 7pm and 9pm, at Concorde2, Madeira Drive, Brighton BN2 1EN . It will feature Anna Maria Nabirye as Josephine, Ross Gurney Randall as Goering with musical direction by Tom Phelan.
For more information: www.brightonfringe.org; 01273 917272
Edward McCloud, Rose Roberts
Reviewed by Suzanne and Greg Angeo
Photos by Eric Chazankin
Misery Loves Company
“Happy” by acclaimed English playwright Robert Caisley is one of the most provocative, powerful and disturbing new plays ever presented at 6th Street Playhouse. Caisley is now based at the University of Idaho teaching theatre, film and dramatic writing. One of his earlier plays, “Front”, received the 1996 Kennedy Center/Fourth Freedom Forum Award for playwriting. Both “Front” and “Happy” have been picked up for publication by the Samuel French Company. Now, in a series of openings called a “rolling world premiere”, four American theaters – the Montana Rep in Missoula, the New Theatre in Miami Florida, 6th Street Playhouse in Santa Rosa, and New Jersey Rep in Long Branch – are each in turn presenting unique productions of this original play over the 2012-2013 season. These premieres are in collaboration with the National New Play Network, which allows the playwright time to refine his work after seeing it produced with different directors and casts.
The tale unfolds in the city loft of offbeat Spanish artist Eduardo, which is lavishly decorated with modern sculpture pieces and paintings. He has invited his longtime friends Alfred and wife Melinda over for a simple dinner and conversation, and to meet his newest lady love, the young and beautiful Eva. Alfred arrives early, with Melinda still on her way and Eduardo nowhere in sight. Only Eva is at home, and it’s not long before we realize this will not be your typical evening of casual chit-chat. Eva launches immediately into a series of pathological cat-and-mouse mind games, slinking about the stage in a bath towel and gulping tumblers full of gin. She zeroes in with laser-like precision on what she perceives as Alfred’s “fake” sense of contentment with his life. Eva’s apparent mission is to strip away the veneer and make people see “reality”, on her terms. The others soon arrive, but not after some serious damage has been done. Everyone gets a major attitude adjustment after an evening with Eva. She’s a good cook who likes serving up a little sadism with the shish kebab. The story has a compelling build and dramatic flow, but also has an oddly comic tone. The many laugh-inducing moments are a setup for the tragedies to come, and come they do.
Brian Glenn Bryson, Liz Jahren
Rose Roberts delivers a fearless, tour-de-force performance as the seductive, brutal Eva. From the very beginning, Roberts overwhelms the stage with mesmerizing authority. She reveals Eva’s deep, gut-level pain showing through her own veneer – cruel sarcasm – which she wields like a dagger to cut others down to size. We know this girl will soon end up either in the psycho ward, or in the morgue, and we can’t take our eyes off of her.
Edward McCloud as Alfred has a challenging task. He is forced to turn from blissful unawareness to face the unhappiness of his life head-on, like a car crash that he must survive. We see ourselves in him, which seems to be the intent of the playwright, and the actor has fulfilled this promise. Alfred’s slightly ditzy but lovable wife Melinda is played by Liz Jahren, who brings a delightful sort of new-age earth-mother quality to her character. Jahren, who works with special-needs students, is able to find an authentic connection with Melinda’s love for their disabled daughter. Eduardo provides comic relief as portrayed by Brian Glenn Bryson, with lots of charm and appeal. Eduardo is an expressive man, with big emotions and big appetites. He serves as the bridge between the cruelty of Eva and the near-delusional optimism of Alfred and Melinda. There is also a vague suggestion that he may have engineered the whole evening, but it’s not clear, and may be one of several elements that needs refinement. “Happy” is a work in progress, and in some respects, it shows.
Lennie Dean is known to 6th Street audiences for her brilliant work on last season’s original production “Tennessee Menagerie” which was, like “Happy”, performed at 6th Street’s black box Studio Theater. It features an open thrust stage, which allows the audience a view from three sides. Dean makes us forget how small this stage is. As with “Menagerie”, she employs every corner of the space. She effectively makes use of the combined visual impact of the set and sculpture pieces, and the actors’ movements. The set design by Jesse Dreikosen includes original artwork by internationally recognized sculptor Boback Emad and other artists. Many of the set pieces are for sale, and a portion of the proceeds will benefit 6th Street. Splendid lighting design by April George and costumes by Liz Smith provide the perfect environmental touches.
We all know someone like Eva, or Eduardo, or Alfred and Melinda. Whether anyone is happy or not, who can say? Some believe that happiness is freedom from all desire. Some, like Eva, believe you can’t be happy unless you drag everyone around you down to your level. As it turns out, happiness, like beauty, is in the eye of the beholder. “Happy” will certainly make you think about it, long after you walk out of the theater.
When: Now through April 21, 2013
8:00 p.m. Thursday, Friday and Saturday
2:00 p.m. Saturday and Sunday
Tickets: $10 to $25
Location: Studio Theater at 6th Street Playhouse
52 West 6th Street, Santa Rosa CA
Phone: 707-523-4185
Website: www.6thstreetplayhouse.com
BEST DIGS EVER
If you want total security, go to prison…..
Dwight D. Eisenhower
I have always wanted to be daring and do something absolutely outrageous…but the truth is I fear the punishment. I have read horror stories of what happens in prisons: brutality, rape, lousy plumbing…and I want none of it. However, I am in the unenviable position of losing my house because it is under water and I am looking around for affordable housing for my declining years. Unfortunately, the only shelter that is “affordable” for me on my pension is a used Yurt in the Andes or an abandoned cave in New Mexico.
Imagine my delight when I discovered the Maconochie Center, a prison in Canberra, Australia specifically designed to pamper lawbreakers with so much smother love that they realize the only way to have little fun is to obey the law and get out on parole. The philosophy at Maconochie is that if you give love, you will receive it. I think that is a wonderful attitude. It didn’t work for me with my two husbands, but it has been overwhelmingly successful with my dog.
The “guards” at the prison (called service providers) refer to the inmates as customers and do their best to give the darlings in their care whatever will make them feel wanted and secure. If one of their customers is feeling a bit depressed, why not cheer him up with a couple gin and tonics, a shot of heroin and a little sniff of cocaine. Whatever works as they say in the trade.
The residents at Maconochie Center live together in five bedroom cottages. There is never a problem if a rapist cannot get along with the guy who strangled his baby. Maconochie Center has mediators on call to help the boys (you KNOW they are boys) settle their differences. Perhaps one of them needs a long walk in the country…where there are willing sheep? Perhaps the other needs apple pie a la mode? Who knows? The staff at the center are there to help.
It sounds like a very fun place to live for me. All I would have to do is grow a bit of cannabis in my yard before my foreclosure and sell it in a schoolyard. If I wanted to be certain I could stay at this lovely place for the rest of my life (and after all, I am 80 years old. How long can that be?) I would have to toss someone around screaming “I am going to kill you!” My mother said that to me often enough. I know I can be convincing. The good news is that I don’t actually have to plunge the knife into anyone’s heart…all I need to do in Australia is make the judge believe I really meant to do the deed.
The weather in Canberra is perfect for me. You get four seasons, none too hot or too cold and at Maconochie there are endless opportunities to explore the outdoors. I can use my computer at all hours and if I have a severe pain, I can get a prescription strong enough to use for recreation after the pain has disappeared. But the best news of all is that there has been a rash of pregnancies at the center since it opened. Why, I could finally have that baby I always wanted and not have to worry about dealing with the little sweetheart when it becomes a teenager. By that time I will be long gone and the Maconochie service providers can take over.
