Sarah Ruhl and Les Waters return to Berkeley Rep with Dear Elizabeth, which stars Mary Beth Fisher (left) and Tom Nelis as esteemed poets and lifelong friends Elizabeth Bishop and Robert Lowell.  Photo courtesy of kevinberne.com

DEAR ELIZABETH BY Sarah Ruhl and directed by Les Waters. Berkeley Rep’s, Roda Theatre, 2015 Addison St., Berkeley. (510) 647-2949. www.berkeleyrep.org. Through July 7, 2013

DEAR ELIZABETH is not about Elizabeth Barrett Browning.

Many of the opening night audience were totally unaware of poets Elizabeth Bishop and Robert Lowell even though they were prominent writers from the late 30s to the early 70s. When director Les Waters was first asked to collaborate with Sarah Ruhl who was working on a stage version of the complete correspondence between Bishop and Lowell, published in 2008 as the 900-plus “Words in Air.” He confesses that he too was unaware of their work or fame but that did not deter him.

Ruhl and Waters are close friends and their collaborative works have graced the Berkeley Rep’s stages including the superb Eurydice and In the Next Room (or the Vibrator Play. They have again come up with a winner but it lacks the total qualities displayed in their previous outings. This may be due to the limitations place on Ruhl by the trustees of the poets’ estates. She could only use the words written in the letters without embellishment. The words at times soar and apparently create a true picture of two troubled souls that intellectually united even when many miles separated them.  It is Les Waters’ staging and direction that keeps the evening mostly alive.

This show is a co-production with the Yale theatre group where it received its world premiere in 2012 and Mary Beth Fisher reprises her role as Elizabeth Bishop. The talented Tom Nellis is the second half of this two-hander and creates a multifaceted Robert Lowell including bouts of manic depression (now known as bi-polar disorder), flights of fancy and touching unrequited love. Fisher is completely comfortable in her role and displays a perfect touch of reticence between her underplayed bouts of alcoholism.

They sit side by side on a desk center stage on Annie Smarts beautiful yet utilitarian set that must become multiple locations such as Yaddo an artist’s colony in Saratoga Springs, New York, Brazil, Maine, Italy, the Library of Congress and many more. Projections are used to delineate time and place.The actors leave the desk to make forays to left or right stage that become their individual domains and they only physically embrace once. This gesture may be imaginary gesture since Bishop was enamored with Lota de Macedo Soares her Brazilian partner.

To spice things up, clever Les Waters actually adds a real waterfall that floods the stage, not once but twice to emphasize Bishop’s poem:

“There are too many waterfalls here; the crowded streams

hurry too rapidly down to the seas,

and the pressure of so many clouds on the mountaintops

makes them spill over the sides in soft slow-motion,

Turning to waterfalls under our very eyes.

(Excerpt from “Questions of Travel”)

In summary: A charming evening worth a visit. Running time under two hours including intermission.

Kedar K. Adour, MD

Courtesy of www.theatreworldinternetmagazine.com

Beth Wilmurt (Maureen Folan) and Rod Gnapp (Pato Dooley) in Martin McDonagh’s The Beauty Queen of Leenane, directed by Mark Jackson, at Marin Theatre Company in Mill Valley, now through June 16. Phtos by Kevin Berne

THE BEAUTY QUEEN OF LEENANE: Drama by Martin McDonagh and Directed by Mark Jackson. Marin Theatre Company (MTC), 97 Miller Avenue, Mill Valley, CA 94941. (415) 388-5208 or www.marintheatre.org. May 23 – June 16, 2013

THE BEAUTY QUEEN OF LEENANE needs closed-caption super titles.

Irish plays are notoriously talkative and so it is with Martin McDonagh’s The Beauty Queen of Leenane. It is the first of his multi-award-winning “Leenane Trilogy” that includes A Skull in Connemara and, The Lonesome West taking place in the imaginary village of Leenane in Connemara, County Galaway. Leenane has “been described as not as a place to live, but a place to leave.”

McDonagh in his imaginary village has created a claustrophobic setting with the action taking place in a single room kitchen where the title character Maureen (Beth Wilmurt) is living with her demanding and controlling 70 year old mother Mag (Joy Carlin). The 40 year old Maureen has become Mag’s caretaker when the two other sisters ‘escaped’ by marrying and raising families.  Middle-aged construction worker Pato Dooley (Rod Gnapp) living in London re-visits Leenane and after a night of drinking is brought home and bedded by Maureen. As the first act ends there is the spark of romance and one last hope for Maureen to a live a life of her own.

The possibility for the two lonely souls of Maureen and Pato to bond continues in act two with a bitter-sweet monolog by Pato that Gnapp nails with pathos and sincerity. He puts those words into a letter that his brother Ray Dooley (Joseph Salazar) is to deliver only to Maureen. Not to bright Ray is conned by Mag into leaving the letter with her and after she reads the letter burns it. This sets up a chain of horrendous events that have become trade marks of McDonough’s plays.

Mark Jackson is noted for his physically inventive direction but this play becomes more of a fantasy rather than a cruel slice of life written into the text. His last turn at the Aurora Theatre for The Arsonists was stunning. He totally misses the mark for Beauty Queen and may have been undone by a platform set (Nina Ball) mounted in the center of the total stage with flat panels stretching from stage  floor to the ceiling used to project atmospheric lighting (York Kennedy). The music selections (Matt Stines) also leave something to be desired.

Then we return to the dialect coaching (Lynne Soffer). Joseph Salazar’s Irish brogue and speed of delivery makes his speeches almost completely

Joy Carlin as Mag Folan

unintelligible and the production crew would be wise to use closed caption super titles while he is on stage. Beth Wilmurt in the lead role is hesitant in the early scenes but becomes very professional as the story unfolds. What make the play worth a visit are the performances of theatre Bay Area legend Joy Carlin with her multilayered performance and the control of the stage by Rod Gnapp when he makes in entrances. Running time about 2 hours including an intermission.

Kedar K. Adour, MD

Courtesy of www.theatreworlinternetmagazine.com

Full cast: Angela (Allison Jean White*) Tony (Patrick Kelly Jones*), Sue (Julia Brothers*) Bev (Susi Damilano), and Laurence (Remi Sandri*)
Photos by Jessica Palopoli

ABIGAIL’S PARTY: Comedy by Mike Leigh and directed by Amy Glazer. SF Playhouse, 450 Post Street, @ Powell, San Francisco, CA 94102 . 415.677.9596 or www.sfplayhouse.org.

May 21 to July 6, 2013

ABIGAIL’S PARTY a dynamic resurrection at SF Playhouse

English drama underwent a critical change in the 60s and 70s with plays being infused with social conscience depicting ordinary people. Early on in that era the noted Arnold Wesker wrote a play titled The Kitchen Sink and that was partially the origin of the term “kitchen sink realism.”  Mike Leigh a contemporary of Wesker’s, but 10 years younger, was nurtured in that milieu and Abigail’s Party, written 35 years ago in 1977, is part of that genre.

Probably a major difference is the intellectual construct of the play that became Leigh’s unique methodology. Rather than write a finished script he started with improvisation after selecting actors for specific roles and allowing them to interact spontaneously. When they had sufficiently “become” that character, Leigh produced a script. So it was with Abigail’s Party. By using this method the final product did have minor topical social significance but truly was a script for directors and actors to demonstrate their wares.

SF Playhouse, in their trademark over-the-top productions, has grasped that quality and under Amy Glazer’s tight but free form direction with brilliant actors has come up with a sparkling production unfolding on another of Bill English’s fantastic sets.  That set is symbolic of the upward mobile “wannabes” of English society reflecting wealth without artistic taste.

The occupants of the house are financially successful and hyperactive estate agent Laurence (Remi Sandri) and his trophy wife Beverly (seductive Susi Damilano).  They are giving a cocktail party, complete with Hors d’oeuvre that include toothpick skewered pineapple-cheese  bites and music that includes a Donna Summer record. Significantly, in a clever plot twist that actually defines a trait in Laurence’s character there are no olives out on the huge coffee table.

Presumably, the reason for the party is to get to know the neighbors.  Angela (Allison Jean White) a nurse and Tony a husky working class bloke (Patrick Kelly Jones) have moved into the upward mobile area two weeks ago. The other guest is Susan (Julie Brothers) divorced 2 years ago whose 15 year old daughter Abigail (who never appears but is tied into a significant plot twist) is having a party at her home down the street.

In the opening scene Laurence has returned home late and in their banter is the first suggestion that their marriage is a bit tenuous. The neighbors are virtually strangers so why were they invited? Apparently for Laurence to display his artistic/affluence showing off his leather bound set of Dickens’ work, his garish overstuffed leather furniture and his love of classical music. Beverly’s motive is not specifically identified but apparently is an attempt to seduce Tony. After the alcohol takes effect, she overtly flirts with Tony.

That is the simple storyline that unfolds in less than two hours in two acts with an intermission. It is the acting that is absolutely superb making this show a must, must see production. Susi Damilano’s in a form fitting, bodice displaying gown exudes sexual attraction as bounces around the stage and garners your attention. The non-verbal performances of Julie Brothers and Patrick Kelly Jones who have minimal dialog would rate Tony Awards. Allison Jean White who initially is a motor-mouth dingbat for most of the evening swings into a gyrating dance late in the play bringing gales of laughter.  When the crisis occurs she switches demeanor adroitly taking charge as the virtual curtain descends.

Kedar Adour, MD

Courtesy of www.theatreworldinternetmagazine.com

“Birds do it, bees do it- Let’s fall in love!”
L to R: Dave Levine as Roy, Luke Taylor as Tango, Elissa Beth Stebbins as Zookeeper and Christopher Morrell as Birder

BIRDS OF A FEATHER: Comedy by Marc Acito and directed by Tom Bruett. New Conservatory Theatre Center, (Walker Theatre), located at 25 Van Ness Avenue near Market Street in San Francisco, 94102. (415) 861-8972 or online at www.nctcsf.org.

Through June 29, 2013

BIRDS OF A FEATHER an anthropomorphic evening of serious fun.

An excellent way to make a controversial point palatable to an audience is to give animals human traits known as anthropomorphism and allow them to convey your ideas/words. You see this every day in cartoons. Marc Acito, author of the comic novels How I Paid for College: A Novel of Sex has taken actual events involving birds and humans coming up with this clever play Birds of a Feather receiving its San Francisco premiere at the New Conservatory in the intimate Walker Theatre.

One of the three major elements of the story involve a real pair of male penguins who nested together and were allowed to hatch an egg and raise the chick with both sharing the nesting duties. This story of ‘gay’ penguins inspired the children’s book And Tango Makes Three by Peter Parnell and Justin Richardson. Alas, the book was banned from school library and it also raised the hackles of conservatives because of the homosexual nature of the penguin’s relationship.

The second part of the story involves a pair of red-tailed hawks, Pale Male and Lola, who built a nest on the upper floor of a luxury high rise building and became a viewing sensation for New York City and beyond. The nesting pair were the darlings of millions of people with the exception of those who lived in the building because of half-eaten rats and pigeons and bird s—t. The nest was taken down but the uproar of the populous was so great the condo rebuilt a platform for future nests. Pale Male and Lola never produced another chick in that nesting area.

The third element involves the humans Paula Zahn and her husband who were the darlings of the paparazzi who documented their nasty divorce proceedings in all the tabloids and on TV.

Four fine actors play multiple (25+??) roles and change swiftly in and out of costumes changing their demeanor to fit that specific character. The two penguins are Silo and Roy (Luke Taylor and David Levine) and the two hawks are the same pair playing Pale Male and Lola. Levine slips from the female caricature of Roy to the macho male image of Pale Male and vice versa for Taylor from male penguin Silo to female hawk Lola. It is all a lot of fun with serious over-tones of gender specific roles being unacceptable since each pair of birds is a ‘family’ sharing child rearing.

Elissa Beth Stebbins as the Zookeeper and Paula Zane give the most professional performance without infringing on the actions of her fellow thespians. The other ‘human’ is simply called Birder and Christopher Morrell who has to play it mostly straight is a great match for Stebbins. In the play those characters are loners but Acito has a charming semi-epilog who find the first tentative stirrings of love as the story of Roy and Silo comes to an end.  They discover each other reaffirming that being love is tough but is a hell of a lot better than loneliness.

The dialog and physical action is supplemented by projections including a video of  the hawks flying under the “Everywhere of Blue” so admired by penguin Silo. Running time about 90 minutes with an intermission.

Kedar K. Adour, MD

Courtesy of www.theatreworldinternetmagazine.com

Rebekah Brockman (Thomasina Coverly) and Jack Cutmore-Scott (Septimus Hodge) in A.C.T.’s production of Tom Stoppard’s Arcadia, directed by Carey Perloff. Photo by Kevin Berne.

ARCADIA: Drama. By Tom Stoppard. Directed by Carey Perloff. American Conservatory Theater (A.C.T.), 415 Geary Street, San Francisco. (415) 749-2228 or www.act-sf.org. Through June 9, 2013.

Stoppard’s abstruse ARCADIA is beautifully staged by A.C.T.

The love affair between artistic director Carey Perloff and Tom Stoppard continues with a stunning staging of the esoteric Arcadia that is considered Stoppard’s masterpiece. A.C.T.’s first go around with Stoppard began in 1969 with Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead and continued with Jumpers, Travesties, Night and Day, The Real Thing, Hapgood, Arcadia I(1995), Indian Ink U.S. Premiere), The Invention of Love (U.S. Premiere), and lastly Rock ‘n Roll.  With the exception of Arcadia this reviewer had seen all of the plays listed and was impressed.

It behooves those of us who have never seen nor read Arcadia to do research about the concepts discussed in the two acts, seven scene, and three hour play before going to the theatre. Even then there will be difficulty understanding the interaction of two generations one who has lived and the other living 200 years later in a very large country house in Derbyshire, England. The scenes shift from1809 to the present with the final scene a confusion as Stoppard has taken a page from Alan Ayckbourn’s How the Other Half Loves having the two families, although in different eras, sharing the same space. The first scene is a joy to watch with fine actors romping about and capturing the audience with its self-contained storyline wrapped in humor with marvelous tongue-and-cheek direction.

It is 1809 and the place is a room on the garden front of the mansion. Intellectually precocious 13 year old Thomasina Coverly (Rebekah Brockman) is studying mathematics with her tutor Septimus Hodge (Jack  Cutmore-Scott). She is trying to prove Fermat’s last theorem but she is

Jack Cutmore-Scott (Septimus Hodge) and Nicholas Pelczar (Ezra Chater)

more interested in having a definition of “carnal embrace” since the word has spread that Septimus was seen in the gazebo having such an embrace with Mrs. Chater married to second-rate poet Ezra Chater (Nicholas Pelczar).  Ezra, with Captain Brice (Nick Gabriel) as his second is attempting to induce Septimus into a duel.  Pelczar plays the role of Ezra with flamboyant indignation while Cutmore-Scott’s Septimus parries with brilliant delicious aplomb and flattery that wins the day. It helps that San Francisco icon Ken Ruta plays the role of Jellaby the butler.

From this point on, Stoppard indulges in his trademark intellectual banter with each major character getting his turn to emote and carry the storyline as the time frame shifts between 1809 and the present. To Stoppard’s credit and Perloff’s direction the relationship between the family characters becomes understandable and the unraveling of who did what to whom is plausible.

Lord Byron is introduced into the mystery of what happened to Ezra Chater. Did Byron have a fling with Chater’s wife and did he kill Ezra in a duel? This allows Stoppard to introduce Bernard Nightingale (dynamic Andy Murray) a present day literary critic and chronicler of Lord Byron’s life into the mix. Murray’s time upon the stage adds greatly to the humor and his parrying with Gretchen Egolf playing author Hannah Jarvis whose book has been belittled by Nightingale is first rate theatre.

Interspersed with the individual gems of acting are longwinded stretches of dialog where Stoppard is conveying to us the dictum that he is an intellectual giant. That may be so, but with almost hours of running time Arcadia is not for everyone.

Kedar K. Adour, MD

Courtesy of www.theatreworldinternetmagazine.com.