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Aug 29 2013
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Siobhan Davies Dance: “ROTOR” in London

By Jo Tomalin
(above) Siobhan Davies Dance: “ROTOR”  Photo by Jo Tomalin

Review by Jo Tomalin

Timepiece by Conrad Shawcross
(Photo by Jo Tomalin)

Fusion: Siobhan Davies Dance with Sculpture

In August 2013 the Siobhan Davies Dance Company performed three short dance/theatre pieces called ROTOR. ROTOR was devised as a counterpoint to a continually moving faceless clock sculpture – the Timepiece installation by artist Conrad Shawcross, at the historic Roundhouse in Camden, London, an arts and new media performance centre.

The twenty-five feet wide Timepiece Sculpture was suspended from the high Victorian dome ceiling in this mysterious circular space made of wrought iron and wood. Articulated electronically by gears and pulleys, Timepiece’s continuous turning movement was silent and smooth with bright lights on the ends of three narrow rods. Below, the audience members stood or sat around the edges of the vast open floor space.

Siobhan Davies Dance: ROTOR with Timepiece
Photo by Jo Tomalin

Four dancers began the first piece Live Feed (a play written by E V Crowe and directed by Ramin Gray) starting in a line in the centre – three female and one male. “Do it as you want” said one of the actor /dancers, “It’s a shift” said another, “Relaxed?” as they walked together around, going faster, slower, creating some conflict on their journey through words, direction and speed changes.

In the second segment – A Series of Appointments (Choreographed by Siobhan Davies), each of the four dancers mirror the movement of a clock hand as they approach the centre of the space then walk backward, silently  switching formations – chasing a partner – it seems random, but is it? They speed up, go forward and back, sometimes gliding across or exploding from the group. Then they change dynamics and slow down…almost floating for a second or two. This is playful time keeping.

 Siobhan Davies Dance: ROTOR with Timepiece
Photo by Jo Tomalin

In part three – Songbook (Composed by Matteo Fargion) the audience is asked to move to the centre, while the dancers stand with microphones making vocal sounds and moving rhythmically with strong gestures, claps and bends, counting and whistling. The sculpture moves above the audience, and its shadows suggest a sundial gently brushing each person. In the final moments, the sounds and movement become more abstract and physical – like an exaggerated form of absurdist sign language.

This was a fascinating, devised program of movement, dance and theatre, which was well received by the audience. The nature of the performance was certainly unpredictable – yet experimental work fusing art and performance is often found in leading European museums and galleries – and in this case Shawcross, Davies and the always provocative Roundhouse produced a creative interlude to make us slow down our own pace of life to experience time passing in a different way.

Siobhan Davies, prior dancer and well-known choreographer at the London Contemporary Dance Theatre leads Siobhan Davies Dance, which is one of the UK’s foremost contemporary dance companies. The Roundhouse has combined this dance company with Shawcross’ sculpture in an interesting series of dance/theatre and fusion performances – preceded earlier in August by notable choreographer Wayne McGregor’s Random Dance company and the Timepiece.

 

More information:
YouTube link to Conrad Shawcross’ Timepiece:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zkSl7KlnQm8

The Roundhouse, London:
http://www.roundhouse.org.uk

Watch Siobhan Davies Dance: ROTOR
http://www.roundhouse.org.uk/whats-on/productions/siobhan-davies-dance-presents-rotor

Siobhan Davies Dance:
http://www.siobhandavies.com

Conrad Shawcross:
http://conradshawcross.com

  

Jo Tomalin Reviews:  Dance & Theatre Performances

Jo Tomalin, Ph.D.
More Reviews by Jo Tomalin
TWITTER @JoTomalin

Aug 28 2013
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Ian McKellen, Patrick Stewart shine in pre-Broadway play

By Woody Weingarten

Ian McKellen (left) and Patrick Stewart star in the pre-Broadway engagement of “No Man’s Land.” Photo: Kevinberne.com.

What’s real?

That’s the real question behind many an absurdist Harold Pinter play.

The query’s especially pertinent — when the playwright’s elongated pauses and word-spurts are done — with “No Man’s Land,” which is entrenched at the Berkeley Rep through the end of the month.

The play’s been around since 1975, at which point its debut starred Ralph Richardson as Hirst, the drunken upper-class person of letters, and John Gielgud as Spooner, the failed poet who also knows close-up and personal the decaying consequences of alcohol. Now Ian McKellen and Patrick Stewart exquisitely fill those roles. But only through Aug. 31 at the Rep before moving to Broadway.

Is Spooner an old university classmate of Hirst’s, an inner- or outer-circle chum who shared acquaintances and relationships?

Maybe.

Is he a liar, a charlatan — “a lout,” as Hirst declares at one point?

Maybe.

The mystery of who Spooner really is — or was — is left to the audience’s verdict as the final curtain rings down.Along the way, however, Pinter’s consistently rapier-sharp dialogue evokes copious laughter from his sporadically impenetrable, always serious-minded and thought-provoking reality vs. fantasy brainteaser.

Sir Ian, 74, a world-renowned British Shakespearean actor, has also mastered fantastic “X-Men” and “The Lord of the Rings” characters. Sir Patrick, 73, likewise an adroit British Shakespearean actor, saw his fame go viral not when he portrayed “Hamlet” but as Capt. Jean-Luc Picard in “Star Trek: The Next Generation.”

Both had wrung the last drop of evil out of the “MacBeth” title role. Now they’re whipping the intellectual crap out of “No Man’s Land” at the Rep.

And starting Oct. 26, the two (as well as supporting actors Billy Crudup and Shuler Hensley as a pair of possibly gay manservants) will take the classic to the Great White Way and alternate performances with “Waiting for Godot,” a standard from the pen of Pinter’s mentor/friend, Samuel Beckett.I went to “No Man’s Land,” which I hadn’t previously seen, with huge expectations.

After all, Pinter, who died in 2008 after writing 30 plays (including “The Homecoming,” “Betrayal,” “The Caretaker” and “The Birthday Party”), had won the Nobel Prize for Literature, hadn’t he?

And hadn’t the Swedish Academy cited his work for unveiling “the precipice under everyday prattle”?

I wasn’t the least bit disappointed, even when forced to strain on occasion to hear McKellen’s mumbled words (which alternated with ultra-precise diction in his characterization of a staggering, impossible-to-pin-down drunk).

Or when, once in a while, Pinter’s use of British slang made clarity momentarily impossible.I found McKellen’s performance so magnetic that even when he was a ragtag background figure clutching his overcoat and a bottle of booze, and another character was speaking, I often watched him.

But Stewart (almost unrecognizable with hair) also could be compelling, depicting Hirst’s underlying insensitivity and threats with a simple look. He could exhibit, too, social differences that can be delineated with few words. Such as, “This is another class…it’s a world of silk.”

I loved that director Sean Mathias wisely let his actors display all their theatrical gifts and thereby heighten the vaudevillian humor of set pieces (McKellen’s bouncy movements while tying the laces of his tennis shoes, for instance).And I adored that Mathias let the often-enigmatic quality of Pinter’s pithy phraseology float unshackled in the air: “I will be kind to you” and “I have known this before…a house of silence and strangers.”

And allow, as well, seemingly irrefutable statements to stand on their own: “I am too old for any expectations,” “I am yours to command” and “Do I detect a touch of the hostile?”

I found the lone set — an elegant, sparingly furnished room designed by Stephen Brimson Lewis — big enough to dwarf the players and put their human transience and frailties in proportion.With both leading thespians being about my age, I was exceptionally pleased to find they’re still perfecting their stagecraft, with majestic, nuanced brilliance.

Opening night of the most star-studded play seen in the Bay Area in many years, the audience gave all four actors a standing ovation and multiple curtain calls.

They earned them.

For their superlative interpretations of characters who, despite its frequent splashes of humor, reside in a “No Man’s Land” that disturbingly “never changes [but] remains forever icy and silent.”

And perplexing.

“No Man’s Land” plays at the Berkeley Repertory Theatre‘s Roda Theatre, 2015 Addison St., Berkeley, through Aug. 31. Tickets: $17.50 to $135, subject to change, (510) 647-2949 or www.berkeleyrep.org.

Aug 28 2013
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Monty Python’s Spamalot by Eric Idle & John DuPrez, 6th Street Playhouse, Santa Rosa CA

By Greg & Suzanne Angeo

Barry Martin (left), Eric Weiss

 

Reviewed by Suzanne and Greg Angeo

(Photos by Eric Chazankin)

Stunningly Silly and Good For You, Too

We all know civilization needs silliness to survive. It’s essential to human life. But let’s face it – far too many people are scared to death of being silly. They need somebody else to do it for them so they can get their minimum daily requirement. The Monty Python troupe has been a premier provider of this vital nutrient for more than 40 years.  Through their landmark BBC series and films, it’s been said that they influenced comedy as much as the Beatles did music. They made sheer, unadulterated silliness the driving force behind their work. “Spamalot”, by Python veteran Eric Idle and composer John DuPrez, is their only stage musical comedy to date and one of their very best offerings, a guaranteed antidote for whatever ails us.

The original 2005 Broadway show was directed by Mike Nichols and received 3 Tony Awards, including Best Musical. During its initial run of 1575 performances it was seen by over two million people, a most definite sensation. Artistic Director Craig Miller and the crew at 6th Street rightly decided that this would be the ideal show for the kickoff of their new season “Journey With Us”.

The plot is a cheeky send-up of the already cheeky “Monty Python and the Holy Grail”, a Python film from 1975, although there are jolly diversions from the original story. At its most basic, it’s a skewer-and-roast of the Arthurian legends. King Arthur, Sir Lancelot, the Lady of the Lake and the various Knights of the Round Table are on a haphazard quest for the Holy Grail. They encounter assorted mishaps along the way, snotty Frenchmen, and some characters so bizarre they defy description.

For the most part, the show is as tight as a drum with really professional bits of business, like a performer catching a hat and cane, launched from the wings, with suave assurance and not missing a beat. Sets and props are scooted on and off stage in medieval carts and baskets with nary a blink, a smooth and well-oiled machine. One small issue may be that some in the ensemble cast have not yet attained this polish. But the lead and supporting performers shine so brilliantly the reflection is shared by all.

Taylor Bartolucci DeGuilio

There are some truly outstanding musical numbers, especially “He’s Not Dead Yet” and “Always Look on the Bright Side of Life”. As Lady of the Lake, the always amazing Taylor Bartolucci DeGuilio really has a chance to belt ‘em out and be the diva she was born to be. She steals the show in “Find Your Grail” and “Diva’s Lament”.  Her cohort King Arthur, underplayed to droll perfection by Barry Martin, ably serves as the almost-straight man, a foil to the constant buffoonery. But wait – who’s that guy following close behind Arthur everywhere he goes, clip-clopping a pair of coconut shells? It’s his faithful stooge Patsy, played with great comic sincerity by young Eric Weiss. Trevor Hoffmann (Sir Robin) has Broadway flair in his truly fine singing and dancing. His real tour-de-force is “You Won’t Succeed on Broadway” performed with the ensemble cast. Another notable triple-threat player is Natalie Herman in two male parts: Not Dead Fred and Prince Herbert. She has a sweet, winsome quality and a remarkable voice.

Choreography is by the superb Alise Gerard, a Sonoma County native who is visiting from her new home in New York, where she went to try her luck on Broadway. The small orchestra’s horn section seems to dominate the proceedings, and with occasional off notes is a bit of a distraction. Maybe a slight adjustment in the sound would make a difference.

Miller keeps the faith: his savvy direction of “Spamalot” is mind-numbingly silly and high-spirited, irreverent enough to offend and inspire just about everyone. He has infused his cast and crew with the rare and elusive Pythonesque essence. It’s that special something that’s hard to describe, but you know it when you see it – a blend of surrealism, futility, courage, death and dismemberment. Oh, and silliness.

 

When: Now through September 22, 2013

8:00 p.m. Thursday, Friday and Saturday

2:00 p.m. Saturday and Sunday

Tickets: $15 to $35

Location: GK Hardt Theater at 6th Street Playhouse

52 West 6th Street, Santa Rosa CA
Phone: 707-523-4185

Website: www.6thstreetplayhouse.com

Aug 27 2013
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All’s Well That Ends Well—Shakespeare’s Problem Comedy at Marin Shakespeare

By Flora Lynn Isaacson

 

Bertram (Adam Magill) is “not that into her” and not too keen on marrying Helena (Carla Pauli) even though the King demands it in Marin Shakespeare Company’s outdoor production of “All’s Well That Ends Well.” Photo by Eric Chazankin

 

According to Director Robert Currier, in his curtain speech preceding the play, in 1895, George Bernard Shaw liked this play very much because it was not a sugar-coated comedy.  Shaw viewed this play as being like real life.

To quote Marin Shakespeare dramaturg, Cathleen Sheehan, “All’s Well That Ends Well invites us into a world strikingly different from the earlier, jubiliant, Elizabethan comedies.  So different do we find this so called comedy that some resist the label entirely and refer to the play as a “problem play.”

In this play, the characters are riddled with flaws and the ending, despite the title, is not a feel good, fairytale, happy-ever after conclusion.  The name of this play expresses the saying, “all’s well that ends well,” which means that problems don’t matter as long as the outcome is good.

This production boasts five outstanding guest artists—Lucas McClure as Lavatch, the wise fool or clown, who also composed some orginal songs for this production;  Jessica Powell as the Countess Rousillon, a great lady, as charming as old Lafeu; Scott Coopwood who is a true French gentleman; James Hiser as Parolles, companion to Bertram (Adam Magill), son of the Countess, a soldier with false bravado; and finally, Jack Powell as the King of France in an amazing performance.

In addition to these five Equity actors, we have rounding out the cast, the leading romantic couple, Bertram and Helena (Carla Pauli) who are not romantic and shouldn’t be a couple. Helena is determined in her desire to win Bertram and Bertram is not.  To escape Helena, Bertram heads off to war in Italy with Parolles in tow.  Helena then sets out to follow him and arrives in Florence in the guise of a pilgrim and lodges with a widow (Heather Cherry) whose daughter Diana (Luisa Frasconi) is the newest object of Bertram’s affection.  With Diana’s help, Helena aims to trap Bertram and there in lies the play.

Judging by Abra Berman’s wonderful Costumes and Billie Cox’s Sound Design, it would seem that Robert Currier set his play in the 1940’s.

With an entire cast of skilled Shakespearean actors, Currier stresses the comedy and doesn’t worry about the problem.  So we’re all in for an evening of fun!

All’s Well That Ends Well runs August 24 to September 28, 2013.  Performances are at Forest Meadows Amphitheatre, 890 Belle Avenue, Dominican University, San Rafael. For tickets, call 415-499-4488 or go online at:

www.marinshakespeare.org\pages\ticketorder.php

Flora Lynn Isaacson

Aug 26 2013
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‘Other Desert Cities’ probes family schisms, secrets

By Judy Richter

By Judy Richter

Family schisms and secrets are at the heart of “Other Desert Cities” a compelling modern drama by Jon Robin Baitz.

Presented by TheatreWorks in association with the Old Globe of San Diego, most of it takes place Christmas Eve 2004 at a home inPalm Springs.

Brooke Wyeth (Kate Turnbull) and her younger brother, Trip (Rod Brogan), are joining their affluent parents, Polly (Kandis Chappell) and Lyman (James Sutorius), for the holiday. Completing the family gathering is Polly’s sister, Silda Grauman (Julia Brothers), who is living with the elder Wyeths while continuing her rocky recovery from alcoholism.

Polly and Silda once co-wrote a popular movie series, while Lyman was a successful actor who became active in Republican politics. Trip produces a popular TV game show inLos Angeles.

Brooke, a writer, lives on the East Coast and hasn’t been home in six years. During that time, her marriage dissolved and she went into a deep depression.

The gathering begins amiably enough, but the differences in politics quickly become clear, with the elder Wyeths as staunch Republicans and the other three on the more liberal side.

Another sour note emerges as Brooke brings up the name of her late older brother, Henry. Like many young people in the ’70s, he rebelled against his upbringing. He fell in with a radical group that bombed a military recruiting station and inadvertently killed a janitor. Remorseful over that event, Henry apparently committed suicide.

Brooke has just completed a book — a memoir, she calls it — about her family and Henry. It has been sold to a publisher and will be printed in The New Yorker in February. After reading the manuscript, her parents beg her not to allow its publication. They say it will cause immeasurable harm to themselves and the family.

Brooke’s conflicting loyalties to her family and to her belief in her book along with her desire for independence lead to painful, intense confrontations for all.

Although the play is fraught with such emotional moments, Baitz leavens it with sharp humor, much of it coming from Trip and Silda. When Brothers exits after Silda’s first scene, for example, the audience applauds because Silda is so honest and down to earth.

Sutorius as Lyman and Brogan as Trip try to be the peacemakers as Brooke and Polly clash, but they get drawn into the fray, too.

Director Richard Seer skillfully guides the ensemble cast through shifting moods, helping to keep the audience enthralled.

The handsome set by Alexander Dodge was influenced by a 1960 Palm Springshouse called “The House of Tomorrow” as well as “The Elvis Honeymoon Hideaway.” Its modern design features a wide living room with an expansive view of bare, rugged mountains.

Lighting by Steven B. Mannshardt reflects changes in exterior light as well as shifting moods. Costumes by Charlotte Devaux help to define the characters. The sound is by Paul Peterson.

After its New Yorkpremiere in 2011, “Other Desert Cities” went on to win several honors, including finalist for the 2012 Pulitzer Prize for Drama. It deserves such accolades because of  its sharply drawn characters and because it’s a riveting drama that speaks not only to family issues but also to American politics and the history of recent decades.

It will continue at the Mountain ViewCenterfor the Performing Arts, 500 Castro St., Mountain View, through Sept. 15. For tickets and information, call (650) 463-1960 or visit www.theatreworks.org.

 

Aug 26 2013
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OTHER DESERT CITIES a beautifully staged and acted pot-boiler at TheatreWorks.

By Kedar K. Adour

Polly (Kandis Chappell, left) reads her daughter Brooke’s new manuscript while (from l to r) Polly’s sister  Silda (Julia Brothers), Trip (Rod Brogan), Lyman (James Sutorius), and Brooke (Kate Turnbull) look on in TheatreWorks’ Regional Premiere of  OTHER DESERT CITIES by Jon Robin Baitz,  playing August 21 – September 15  at the Mountain View Center for the Performing Arts. Photo credit: Mark Kitaoka

OTHER DESERT CITIES: Comedy/drama by Jon Robin Baitz. Directed by Richard Seer. TheatreWorks at Mountain View Center for the Performing Arts 500 Castro Street, Mountain View, CA. (650) 463-1960 or www.theatreworks.org.

August 20 – September 15, 2013 

OTHER DESERT CITIES a beautifully staged and acted pot-boiler at TheatreWorks.

Having spent the past 10 winters in Palm Springs there was a personal interest in seeing this play that takes place in the desert. It is understandable that it is a pot-boiler and the stuff of TV sit-coms since the author honed his skills as the creator of TV’s Brother’s and Sisters and is working on another sit-com for an upcoming season. He is also a produced playwright and screenwriter. His play A Fair Country was a Pulitzer Prize finalist in 1996. 

We learn early in the play the meaning of the title. As you approach the desert area from the West there is a huge sign “Palm Springs and Other Desert Cities.”  Palm Springs used to be the Mecca for Hollywood and Los Angeles glitterati and relies on its past reputation to attract tourism. Now you must go to the ‘other desert cities’ such as Indian Wells to meet the type of characters with the financial means to live in the beautiful ostentatious style home created for this play (Alexander Dodge). Overheard at intermission, “The set is the play!” That comment is only partially true since the play is skillfully constructed in the Aristotelian concept with all the action taking place within 24 hours with an epilog attached to add finality to the plot. 

The basic plot has been used before by, notably by A. R. Gurney in The Cocktail Hour (not to be confused with The Cocktail Party by T. S. Eliot) where a family member turns up with a soon to be produced play script that bares the foibles of his family. Gurney’s play is a true comedy with a touch of discomfiture.  In Other Desert Cities comedy is at a minimum allowing the engrossing dramatic details to unfold scene by scene.

The Wyeths have gathered in the family home on Christmas Eve 2004. The patriarchs are Polly (Kandis Chappell) and Lyman (James Sutorius) with their mature children Brooke (Kate Turnbull) and Trip (Rod Brogan). Living with the Wyeths is Polly’s sister Silda Grauman (Julie Brothers) a recovering alcoholic. The elder Wyeths are affluent right wing Republicans active in the desert political life and members of an elite country club.  Brooke is a liberal left-leaning successful novelist who has written a book that may be a roman a clef. It could have devastating effects on the family unearthing deeply hidden secrets that would devastate the lives of the entire family.

 Author Baitz is a master at revealing layer on layer of the tangled web leading to a terrific climax. The play is produced in association with The Old Globe, San Diego where is received rave reviews. A big reason for those raves must have been the brilliant acting of Kandis Chappell who reprieves her role in the TheatreWorks production. She is ably matched by Kate Turnbull in the demanding role of Brooke and the marvelously under played performance of James Sutorius. He is completely believable when he breaks the staunch demeanor and explodes to take control . . . if only for a brief moment since it is Polly who dominates the family.

Rod Brogan has the right touch to add the few snatches of humor while being cast as brother Trip who moderates the tension boiling between Polly and Brooke. Local favorite Julia Brothers makes the most of her secondary but at one point pivotal role as Silda who refuses to be a sounding board for domineering Polly but is fully aware of her dependence on sister’s beneficence.

Director Seer, who is a mainstay at San Jose Rep, has directed both the San Diego and Mountain View productions and does a superb job keeping the characters in balance, moving them around like chess pieces leaving the outcome in question until the final brief epilog scene that takes place 10 years after the initial confrontation. Running time about 2 hours with intermission.

Kedar K. Adour, MD

Courtesy of  www.theatreworldinternetmagazine.com

 

Aug 26 2013
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“All’s Well That Ends (especially) Well” at Marin Shakespeare

By David Hirzel

Marin Shakespeare has taken on “All’s Well that Ends Well,” one of Shakespeare’s more challenging plays, and pulled it off well.  Deeper than a comedy, funnier than a tragedy, the Bard’s careful look at character and deception has plenty of laughs (especially as served up by James Hiser), and a generous helping of insight into the potential depths of character that (we hope) exist in all of us.  The plot, like many of Shakespeare’s has its unique convolutions that don’t lend themselves readily to synopsis in a brief review like this.  But the language, much of it in rhymed couplets, can soar in unexpected flights.  Suffice it for me to say, the cast and direction here do yeoman work to keep the audience up to speed on the machinations at hand, as female lead Helena (superbly portrayed by newcomer to Marin Shakes, Carla Pauli) deftly plots her way into the  shallow heart of the playboy Bertram (also new here, Adam Magill).

A mesmerizing performance by Jessica Powell alternates between her heartfelt maternal care for the future of her ne’er-do-well son Bertram, and the tender intimacy she shares with her handmaiden Helena, the daughter she wishes were her own. The first half fairly hums along, alternating between laugh-out-loud comedy (Lucas McClure as Lavatch, Hiser’s clowinish Parolles, and Scott Coopwood’s Lafeu) and lovelorn pathos, and the miraculous cure of a perceptibly dying King of France (Jack Powell, another talented and familiar actor).

The second half is even better.  Once the actors really get warmed up, the complex pacing slips into gear, and the show takes off when the scene moves into Florence and the Shakespearean boudoir deceptions are plotted and then executed. Heather Cherry, as a flamboyant Widow of that fair city, fairly owns the stage every second she is on it.  Parolles, at last humbled by his own web of lies, reveals a hidden soul that brought a round of applause from the audience.  And I must confess, the final scene’s emotional outburst by Luisa Frasconi as Diana brought a tear to my eye.  In the end, all these troubled souls come to the understanding that, for all their (and our) weaknesses, there always exists the possibility that “All’s Well That Ends Well.”

Through September 29, 2013.  Box Office:  (415) 499-4488

At:  Forest Meadows Amphitheatre, Dominican University of California in San Rafael

Website:  Marin Shakespeare

David Hirzel’s Website:  www.davidhirzel.net

Aug 24 2013
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The Lieutenant of Inishmore is bloody good at The Masquers Playhouse

By Kedar K. Adour

Padraic (Damien Seperi, center) searches for answers in the death of his beloved cat in the Masquers Playhouse production of “The Lieutenant pf Inishmore.” Padraic questions Joey (Alan Coyne, bottom left) and Donny (Avi Jacobson, bottom right) while under pressure from Brendan, Christy, and Joey (Jesse MacKinnon, David Stein, and Dan Kurtz). Martin McDonagh’s look inside the mind of a cat lover plays weekends August 23 – September 28 at the theater in Point Richmond. “Inishmore” is a comedy that contains graphic violence—it is not appropriate for children.

The Lieutenant of Inishmore: Satirical Comedy by Martin McDonagh. The Masquers Playhouse, 105 Park Place, Point Richmond, CA 94801-3922. 510-232-4031 or www.masquers.org.

August 23 – September 22, 2013

The Lieutenant of Inishmore is bloody good at The Masquers Playhouse

The ambitious Masquers Players in Point Richmond have undertaken to produce the very difficult Irish play The Lieutenant of Inishmore by Martin McDonagh who has a perverted sense of humor along with an ear for colloquial dialog and excellent control of playwriting mechanics. More often than not he goes over-the-top with plot construction leaving the audience aghast if they do not realize he is creating outlandish fiction with a smidgen of truth that rolls inexorably to a climax.

So it is with this play that takes place on a claustrophobic one room set (Mike Maio) in a remote part of Ireland. Before the short production ends four bodies are strewn literally about the stage along with two dead cats. There are eight cast members and this reviewer will not reveal which four depart this mortal world nor in what condition they are in when they leave. Just say it is a bloody mess and I certainly would not want to be the stage manager (Vicki Zabarte) nor one of her crew members who have to clean up.

It’s those damn cats that cause one half of the problems. Cat lovers are known for their fierce attachment to their feline companions. It starts when Davey (a fine Alan Coyne), an effeminate youth with long shoulder length hair has found a dead cat when out riding his bike. He brings the cat’s body to Donny’s (Avi Jacobson a real pro actor) cottage and discovers that it is Wee Thomas, the 15 year, and only “friend” of his son Padriac (Damien Seperi) who has started an unapproved splinter group of the Irish Republican Army (IRA). Wee Thomas had been entrusted to Donny for safekeeping while his son is on the mainland bombing fish-and-chip shops. Davey and Donny hatch a plot that is an improbable scenario to replace the black Wee Thomas with purloined orange tabby using shoe polish for coloring. Their inane dialog sets the tone for gruesome comedy to follow.

Padraic (Damien Seperi, right) interrogates James (Dan Kurtz, left)

We see Padriac’s mean streak in the second scene where we find local drug dealer James (Dan Kurtz) physically ‘hanging out’ with him. That mean streak explodes when he returns home to discover the death of Wee Thomas.

Before that happens we get to meet 16 year old Tomboy Mairead (Cherie Girard-Brodigan), sister to Davey, who likes to shoot out the eyes of cows (from a distance of 50 feet no less) and is about to do harm to Davey for killing the cat (which he did not do). Enter Christy (David Stein) an IRA leader with his two henchmen Joey (Dan Kurtz in a double role) and Brendan (Jess MacKinnon).  It was they who did the dastardly deed to Wee Thomas as a sure way to get Padriac to return so they could kill him for being a renegade.

Things get more complicated when Padriac in a rage shoots the poor cat disguised as Wee Thomas. He shouldn’t have done that because that cat has an owner who loves it.

The intrepid IRA trio save Davey and Donny from Padriac and take Padriac out the door as their prisoner and are going to remove ‘the splinter’ from their group. Not so fast. Mairead and her trusty gun are out there and the tables are turned. Do not ask because this reviewer will not tell. You will have to take the trip to Point Richmond to be hysterically, humorously appalled at the outcome.

The entire cast does a creditable job even though their Irish accents fluctuate throughout the evening. This play won the Olivier Award for best comedy in 2001 and was nominated for other awards on and off Broadway. The running time is a scant two hours with intermission that is more than enough for an evening of bloody farce/comedy/satire. However, it is worth seeing.

Kedar K. Adour, MD

Courtesy of www.theatreworldinternetmagazine.com

 

Aug 24 2013
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PRISCILLA QUEEN OF THE DESERT the musical a smash hit at SHN Orpheum Theatre.

By Kedar K. Adour

(L to R) Wade McCollum as Mitzi, Scott Willis as Bernadette and Bryan West as Felicia in the number “I Love the Nightlife”

PRISCILLA QUEEN OF THE DESERT the musical: Book by Stephan Elliot & Allan Scott based on the Latent Image/Specific Films Motion Picture The Adventures of Priscilla Queen of the Desert. Directed by Simon Phillips.(Based upon the Original New York Direction by David Hyslop).SHN Orpheum Theatre, 1192 Market Street (at 8th) San Francisco, CA 94102.Call  (888) 746-1799or www.shnsf.com.

August 21 – 31, 2013

PRISCILLA QUEEN OF THE DESERT the musical a smash hit at SHN Orpheum Theatre.

Priscilla, Queen of the Desert the musical based on the 1994 movie The Adventures of Priscilla Queen of the Desert arrived in San Francisco last night, rocking the rafters at the SHN Orpheum Theatre and earning a standing ovation. The entire show is an extravagant theatrical event that should not be missed. There is no need to have seen the original movie since this production takes the basic story and surrounds it with fantastic costumes, technical effects, non-stop choreography and a stellar cast creating a memorable evening.

The ‘Priscilla, Queen of the Desert’ of the title is an aging bus that takes two drag queens Tick/Mitzi (Wade McCollum),  Adam/Felicia (Bryan West) and Bernadette (Scott Willis) an aging transsexual on an unforgettable journey from Sydney across the inland Australia desert to Alice Springs.  The red curtain has a cartoonish outline of Australia with a dotted line starting at Sydney circuitously crossing the inland and ending at Alice Springs.

Before the story begins three gorgeously dressed divas (Emily Afton, Bre Jackson, Brit West) are suspended above the stage to do their singing (“It’s Raining Men”) while Mitzi is performing on stage and when he leaves to take a call from Marion, opportunist Miss Understanding (spindly legged, Nik Alexzander) steals the stage (“What’s Love Got to do with It?”) going through an impossible series of dance contortions to start out the hilarious comedy.

Tick, because of his homosexuality is separated from has a wife Marion (Christy Faber) and their eight year old son Benji (Shane Davis or Will B) who live in Alice Springs. Marion runs a gambling Casino. She needs an act to fill an empty slot in the entertainment schedule and calls in a favor from Tick to bring his show to Alice Springs and re-unite with his son. Tick entices flippantly gay, over-the-top Adam and former lip-sync drag queen Bernadette to accompany him and the journey begins (“Go West”) Itis a hoot and a howl with more than a bit of pathos thrown in.

The pathos involves the question of what will be Benji’s reaction when he discovers Tick’s true nature and his life as a homosexual entertainer.  Then too, Australians may be a tolerant lot but homophobia is rampant in the Outback and in the Middle of Nowhere the bus is desecrated with graffiti. This doesn’t faze the intrepid Felicia who undertakes to paint Priscilla pink and add a huge slipper to the top of the bus. Would you believe that Tim Chappel & Lizzy Gardner have created costumes for the ensemble resembling huge paint brushes as they cavort about. From this point on the lighting effects become unbelievable as the entire bus becomes an ever-changing plethora of neon light. To inaugurate the new slipper addition to Priscilla there is a lip-sync opera aria “Sempre Libera” that Felicia performs with the Divas again descending from on high with the ensemble kicking up their heels surrounding the bus.

Along the way to Alice Springs, the bus breaks down and local Aussie Bob (Joe Hart) comes to the rescue. Sadly for him he has a young wife Shirley (Babs Rubenstein) who likes her drink and has ambitions to be a performer (“I Love the Night Life”). She has an act involving ping-pong balls that has the audience in hysterics.  Love blossoms between Bernadette and Bob and you can figure out the rest of the story.

The entire show is non-stop entertainment with lip-sync songs interspersed with the fine natural voices of the cast and exhausting dancing (choreography by Ross Coleman recreated by Joshua Buscher).  The costume designers won an Olivier Award in London and a Tony Awards on Broadway for their imaginative costumes.

Not being satisfied that the audience is sated with their most entertaining show, the ‘curtain-call’ is practically a summary of the action and songs that had graced the stage for nigh onto two hours (excluding intermission). Get you tickets now even though this reviewer suspects it will be back.

[PR Notes: The Broadway show used 175 tubes of lipstick, 75 pots of eye shadow, 2 pounds of glitter each month and there are 500 costumes, 150 pairs of shoes, 200 hats and headdresses. They needed 12 rolls of packing tape per week to remove glitter from lips!!)

Kedar Adour, MD

Courtesy of www.theatreworldinternetmagazine.com

 

Aug 24 2013
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San Anselmo theater guy facing a brave new world

By Woody Weingarten

 

Terence Keane enjoys kayaking with Sarah Barker-Ball, then his fiancée, now his wife.

Terence Keane’s reinventing himself — again.

He recently moved from the East Bay to San Anselmo. He just got married. And he just started a new job as executive director of the Cinnabar Theater in Petaluma.I’d say that comprises a brave new world.His brave old worlds were scarcely humdrum. “I had a lot of wanderlust as a young man,” the 42-year-old informed me over breakfast in Hilda’s on San Anselmo Avenue, “and I took a lot of odd jobs.”

And maybe a course in understatement.He’d worked at a ranch in the Rockies (“in the insanely beautiful middle of nowhere”), a circus in New England, a village dump in the Hamptons, a hostel and organic farm in Ireland, a Fulbright teaching assistant post in Austria, a Louisiana bayou fish-and-wildlife gig, a volunteer position with the American Museum of Natural History, and an isla

nd in the Atlantic that’s a breeding colony for seabirds, “a species we brought back from the edge of extinction.He’s written — I’m not sure with wit or regret — that he’s never been a rodeo clown.

He spent years as communications director for the National Multiple Sclerosis Society, spearheading a million-dollar ad campaign that proclaimed, “M.S.: It’s not a software company.”

Then came eight years at the Berkeley Rep, where, as public relations manager, he publicized 75 shows.

I’d met Terence there and learned he liked doing things in non-standard ways. No surprise he became engaged to Sarah Barker-Ball while vacationing in Iceland.

Nor did it stun me to find he planned to sport cowboy boots at their Rancho Nicasio Bar and Restaurant wedding, a throwback to his ranching.

“There were two main things we wanted for our wedding  — to have it outdoors and, since she and I met dancing, a rocking blues band. We [planned to] have both, with musicians I know from jazz school.”

Terence studied blues singing in Berkeley. He still sings, monthly, with buddies in Oakland.

Regarding his outdoorsy bent, it expanded while working at U.C. Davis. He now relishes “kayaking, seeing sea lions, camping at Point Reyes seashore.”

San Anselmo lured the ex-Long Islander when he sought roots. “We count our blessings every day this is where we get to live, like we’ve won the lottery. The area’s beautiful, calm, soothing.”

His sigh was audible.

Afterwards he elaborated: “We live close to Robson-Harrington Park, and it’s a favorite. We often stroll through on our evening walks or on our way to town. I love it when the owls are nesting in the park and you can hear them call one another.”

Sarah ferries to San Francisco, where she’s an environmental-law attorney. “Can you imagine a better way to commute?” Terence asked me rhetorically.

I couldn’t, since I did it for decades.

When queried about his first foray into theater, he replied, “Working the candy counter” in a movie house at 15.

He then cited playing “all the minor parts in ‘Sweet Charity’ — a waiter, a man with a dog in the park — lots of quick costume changes.”

Oops. “I was a smiley face in pre-school.”

In high school and at the Boston University School of Theatre, he acted, wrote plays and made short films. At Berkeley Rep, he mingled with celebrities.

A favorite? “Maurice Sendak, when we were working on ‘Brundibar.’ Having grown up with his books, it was a delight to discover he was just as mischievous off the page as on it.”

Terence’s pet recollections, though, “are about behind-the-scenes collaborations with our photographers and the folks in the costume shop and all the other unsung heroes of this business.”

He loves the challenge Cinnabar provides.

He’s emphasizing the business side — fund-raising, administration, marketing — working alongside artistic director Elly Lichenstein.

What attracted him to that non-profit theater, in its 40th year, was its “unique mix of music and theater. They do two plays, two musicals and an opera each season, and a series of concerts in a wide variety of genres — classical, jazz, country, world music. High quality.”Also, “its long history of educational programs for kids, and that they don’t turn anyone away for lack of funds. Plus, the organization has deep roots in, and a commitment to, the community.

And it’s a chance to grow.

“If they only wanted me to do what I already knew how to do, I wouldn’t want to do it.”

Obviously.