Ensemble cast of Stupid F**cking Bird at SF Playhouse

STUPID F**KING BIRD: Drama by Aaron Posner. Sort of adapted from Chekhov’s The Seagull. Directed by Susi Damilano. San Francisco Playhouse, 490 Post Street (2^nd Floor of Kensington Park Hotel,  San Francisco. (415) 677-9596. www.sfplayhouse.org. March 17 to May 2, 2015

Stupid F**king Bird at SF Playhouse a meta-theatrical mash-up [rating:3]

A former Professor of Drama at San Francisco State College began his playwriting class by displaying three posters for an upcoming play asking the students which of the three they would go to see. After selection by each member, it was hardly a universal selection; our professor announced that the posters displayed different names for the same play.

That brings up the well-known and oft repeated question, “What’s in a name. . ?” (Romeo and Juliet (II, ii, 1-2)). Although it is a Shakespearean truism/question it is appropriate as reference to San Francisco Playhouse’s marvelously stage version of Aaron Posner’s revision/adaptation/rip-off of Chekhov’s masterpiece The Seagull. Four mature friends turned down an opportunity to attend opening performance after being told the title. Their decision may have been wise choices but they did miss a well-staged, marvelously acted ‘performance piece’. The raucous opening night audience did not enhance the show and I would suggest that alcohol not be allowed in the theater.

If you attend, it most probably will be available for half-price soon; being familiar with Chekhov’s The Seagull will enhance your ‘enjoyment’ of this two hour and 20 minute (including intermission) play.

It all begins with an obtuse play within the play written and directed by a main character Con (superb Adam Magill) with the ingénue Nina (Martha Brigham ) in the lead. Posner blatantly gives her lines glorifying the beauty and freedom of the soaring sea gulls that become a metaphysical force at the beginning, middle and end of the evening. Director Susi Damilino has Nina dressed in all white costume with gull like lace wings. Author and noted director Posner probably identifies with Con who in the penultimate scene asserts that there are no new art (playwriting) forms and we should be content with making the old ones better.

There is a bit of confusion about relationships early on in the play that are made mostly clear as the evening progresses. Time and place are not identified by Posner but it is the present in a country home (estate?) near a symbolic lake. The estate is owned (or rented?) by successful actress Emma (Carrie Paff) who is there with her lover Trig (Johnny Moreno) a semi-famous author.  Con is Emma’s son and Sorn (Charles Shaw Robinson), a doctor, is her older brother.  The backgrounds for Mash (El Beh) and Dev (Joseph Estlack) are not defined but if you know The Seagull you may surmise their lineage. It is the relationships that are cogent.

Con loves Nina who eventually loves Trig. Dev loves Mash who loves Con. There are extended passages about the meaning of love and art that are shared with the audience both in monologs and directing questioning by individuals and at times with the entire cast. It is a very effective directorial device but occasionally seems indulgent.

Director Damilano is to be commended for staging that is tender to offset the dramatic dynamics of the tangled relationships. Modern songs with irreverent lyrics by Posner are played on a ukulele by Mash throughout the evening. One wonders if having the character Sorn plaintively play clarinet is written into the script or is a brilliant Damilano conceit. She uses Bill English’s fantastic set that includes a lake-side pier with a single rope swing on stage right and a traditional swing on stage left to great advantage. The piece-de-resistance is the wooden home (dacha) on center stage that revolves to become a fully functional kitchen in the second act.

The cast performs brilliantly in individual scenes and are a dynamic force as an ensemble. Despite the title, there is much to like about this production but as heard on departing the theater, “You shouldn’t f—k with Chekhov.

CAST: El Beh (Mash), Martha Brigham ( Nina ), Joseph Estlack ( Dev ), Adam Magill (Con), Johnny Moreno (Trig), Carrie Paff ( Emma), Charles Shaw Robinson ( Sorn).

CREATIVE TEAAM: Abra Berman ( Costume Designer ), Susi Damilano ( Director ), Bill English ( Set Design ), Lauren English ( Casting Director); Tatjana Genser ( Production/Stage Manager ), Mark Hueske (Lighting Design), Maggie Koch ( Production Manager ), Steve Schoenbeck ( Sound Design ), Jacquelyn Scott ( Props Artisan ), Sarah Selig(  Production Assistant ), Zach Sigman ( Technical Theatre Manager),

Kedar K. Adour, MD

Courtesy of www.theatreworldinternetmagazine.com

(l to r) Steven Epp (Tartuffe), Nathan Keepers (Laurent), and Sofia Jean Gomez (Elmire) perform in a provocative revival of Molière’s Tartuffe, a dark comedy about religious hypocrisy. Photo courtesy of kevinberne.com

TARTUFFE: Written by Molière. Adapted by David Ball, Directed by Dominique Serrand. Berkeley Repertory Theatre, Roda Theatre, 2015 Addison Street @ Shattuck, Berkeley, CA 94704. (510) 647-2949 or  www.berkeleyrep.org. March 13 – April 12, 2015

Moliere’s TARTUFFE a solid hit at Berkeley Rep [rating:5]

The standing ovation on opening night of Moliere’s Tartuffe was totally earned by this latest incarnation of this 17^th century comedy that was originally banned after its 1664 opening at the Palace of Versailles for the court of Louis XIV. It earned its banishment from the stage for its irreverent treatment of the Catholic Church, and the scathing commentary on pious hypocrisy in general. There have been numerous adaptations and revisions of the play in the intervening years.

The most widely used script is the translation into English verse by Richard Wilber that was locally staged by Berkeley Rep in 1984 and the Santa Rosa 6th Street Playhouse in 2010. The present latest adaptation by David Ball was first performed by the South Coast Repertory under the direction the legendary Dominique Serrand and staring the inimitable Steven Epp. They have been artistic cohorts for 25 years beginning with the famous, now defunct, Theatre Lejune of Minneapolis that “was known for its visually rich, highly physical style of theatre, derived from clown, mime, dance and opera. The theatre’s reputation also stemmed from their reinvented classics and their productions of highly ambitious original work.” They have worked together numerous times and this latest collaboration equals or surpasses their previous outings.

“The play’s the thing” aphorism takes second place to the stylized acting and staging that incorporates comedy, farce, commedia dell’arte techniques, tableaus and broad acting on a magnificent set with minimal furniture that is adroitly moved by the cast seamlessly changing scenes without interrupting the flow of the story.

Do not be misled, Moliere’s story is as fresh and cogent today as it was in 1664 but in our permissive society no censorship would be forthcoming.  Tartuffe  is a moralistic attack on religious hypocrisy and its potential disastrous effect on those who embrace it. Originally written in five acts, the two hours and 20 minute running time (two acts with intermission) seems like much less and the opening night audience thoroughly enjoyed it.

A capsule summary: Tartuffe (Steven Epp) is the story of a man who ingratiates himself into Orgon’s (Luverne Seifert) rich family by appearing saintly. Orgon is on the verge of marrying off his daughter Marianne (Lenne Klingaman), who is in love with young handsome Valère (Christopher Carley) to Tartuffe the holier-then-thou hypocritical fake. Orgon even gives away his house and fortune to Tartuffe, disowns his son his son Damis (Brian Hostenske), disregards this level-headed  his brother-in-law Cleante (Gregory Linington), and doubts that the Tartuffe attempted to seduce his wife Elmira (Sofia Jean Gomez).  He also silences  Dorine (Suzanne Warmanen) housemaid and confidant of Marianne who attempts to intercede. Alas, knowledge comes too late, but never fear before the end of the play, royal intervention solves all the problems.

Great story but it is the acting and directing that is magnificent. Even though Steven Epp gets, and earns, top billing the other main characters are superb. The always inventive director Serrand has provided Tartuffe with two servants,  rather than one, who silently provide and move props and are used to execute hilarious tableaus. 

(l to r) Steven Epp (Tartuffe), Nathan Keepers (Laurent), and Sofia Jean Gomez (Elmire) perform in a provocative revival of Molière’s Tartuffe, a dark comedy about religious hypocrisy. Photo courtesy of kevinberne.com

Tartuffe makes his entrance late in the play and Suzanne Warmanen  as Dorine and Luverne Seifert triumphantly dominate the first act.  Sofia Jean Gomez exudes sexually excitement in her seduction scene with Tartuffe  and beautiful ingenue Lenne Klingaman milks the touching break-up scene with her true love Valere to perfection. Christopher Carley, dressed in a flower-patterned suit (costumes by Sonya Berlovitz ) brings the house down with his display of thwarted love. One cannot say enough about the superlative performing of Steven Epp. He seductively rolls on the floor, exuding sexual innuendo yet feels perfectly at home being stretched on a wooden cross.

This performance should not be missed.

CAST: Christopher Carley (Valere), Steven Epp (Tartuffe), Sofia Jean Gomez (Elmire), Brian Hostenske (Damis), Nathan Keepers (Laurent), Michael Uy Kelly (Ensemble), Lenne Klingaman (Mariane), Maria A Leigh (Ensemble), Gregory Linington (Cleante), Becca Lustgarten (Ensemble), Michael Manuel (Madame Pernelle/Officer), Todd Pivetti (Ensemble), Luverne Seifert (Orgon), and Suzanne Warmanen (Dorine).

CREATIVE TEAM: Tom Buderwitz (co-scenic designer), Sonya Berlovitz (costume designer), Marcus Dilliard (lighting designer), Michael Suenkel (stage manager)and Corinne Carrillo (sound designer).

Kedar K. Adour, MD

Courtesy of www.theathreworldinternetmagazine.com

DAME EDNA’S Glorious Goodbye: The Farewell Tour.  By Dr. Barry Humphries AO CBE. Directed by Simon Phillips. SHN Orpheum Theatre, 1192 Market St., San Francisco. 888-746-1799 or  www.shnsf.com. March 17- 22, 2015

Dame Edna needs a truncated more intimate setting. [rating: 3]

There are farewell tours that become second and third farewell tours. The inimitable, indomitable Dame Edna Everage (nee the multitalented Barry Humphries) the Melbourne Australian housewife has barged into San Francisco again with her second farewell tour. She graced the Curran stage in 2009 with Dame Edna: My First Last Tour and although she insists that this present hilarious spectacle is all unrehearsed big segments have been recycled from previous shows and that is not bad. At the curtain call her creator (and alter ego) Barry Humphries takes center stage and suggests that we cannot believe all that the mega-star Dame Edna tells us suggesting that a final, final tour is possible. But at age 81 it is time for her/him to hang up the purple wig, cat’s eye glasses and return to his native Australia and reap further honors for his intellectual and artistic life.

Barry Humphries is a true Renaissance man as a multifaceted intellect; actor/author/artist and has an honorary law degree from the University of Melbourne plus CBE from the Queen of the British Empire. His landscape paintings are much sought after. But we are not here to praise Mr. Humphries but to enjoy and be more than mildly appalled by the satiric bards of his creation (alter ego?) Dame Edna. Humphries insists that he, like Eddie Izzard (who will be in the Bay Area soon) is not a “cross-dresser” but an accomplished actor who has brought Dame Edna to life on the stage and in television.

Dame Edna was created in 1955 and she has parlayed her shtick into a mega personality and does not hesitate to tell her “possums” (those in the better seats) and to those in the cheap seats in the upper balcony she will give them attention “in exact proportion to what you have paid.” To her, all are her inferiors and should be prepared for her cutting remarks that often are risqué double entendres (“how long I lived with my husband’s prostate hanging over my head”).

Dame Edna’s brilliant timed improvisations are fortified by her withering glances and astonished look on her pliant face. Be warned not to sit in the front rows since much of her performance is directed to those seats and in the second act a man and a woman are brought on stage for a mock marriage. On opening night Dame Edna met her match with a diminutive matriarch who almost stole the skit.

Much of the show is actually audience participation especially with her signature finale with gladiolas thrown to the front rows and there is a semi-sing-a-long as her possums wave and clap on cue giving her the obligatory standing ovation she insists she deserves.

To buttress the show there are four dancers joining her for the musical numbers with onstage piano accompaniments by Jonathan Tessero. The show begins and ends with video clips that in themselves are worth a visit to the cavernous Orpheum Theatre.  However, Dame Edna’s sotto voice does not lend itself to amplification and some of the more delicious lines are garbled. When Dame Edna made her San Francisco debut in 1998 at the intimate Theatre on the Square, her scheduled brief stay was parlayed into a four month gig. If you plan on seeing this hysterical put down and becoming one of Dame Edna’s “possums” you will have to hurry since there are only seven local performances before it moves on eventually ending in Palm Springs the mecca for retirees who most probably will give her the standing ovation she demands and almost deserves. Running time 2 hours and 20 minutes with the intermission.

Cast: Barry Humphries  as Dame Edna; ensemble, Ralph Coppola, Brooke Pascoe, Eve Prideaux & Armando Yearwood, Jr.

Artistic Staff: Jonathan Tessero , musical director & onstage accompanist ;  set design, Brian Thomson; choreographer, Eve Prideaux; lighting design,  Aaron Spivey; musical supervisor, Andrew Ross; Songwriter (You Will Have to Do Without Me Somehow & Me Time), Wayne Barker; costume design to Dame Edna, Stephen Adnitt.

Kedar K. Adour, MD

Courtesy of www.theatreworldinternetmagazine.com