Firefighters (front l-r, Tristan Cunningham*, Kevin Clarke) observe as a policeman (r, Michael Uy Kelly) pays a surprise visit, and Mr. Biedermann (c, Dan Hiatt*) tries to get to the bottom of the arsonists’ (l, Tim Kniffin*, c. l, Michael Ray Wisely*) actions in his attic in The Arsonists

THE ARSONISTS: Comic/Drama by Max Frisch and directed by Mark Jackson. Aurora Theatre Company, Aurora Theatre, 2081 Addison Street, Berkeley, CA (510) 843-4822 or visit www.auroratheatre.org. April 11 – May 12, 2013

THE ARSONISTS at Aurora Theatre is classic Mark Jackson

Ever since auteur Mark Jackson exploded on the local scene with his brilliant production of The Death of Meyerhold that he wrote and directed under the auspices of The Shotgun Players in 2003, he is in great demand as a director. His works do not ‘grace’ the local stages they explode with energy. So it is with Aurora Theatre’s staging of The Arsonist by Max Frisch.

Frisch is not new the bay area since his play, then titled The Firebugs was presented in 1999 by American Citizen’s Theatre, directed by Allen McKelvey starring Louis Parnell (Biedermann) Schmitz (Matthew Henerson), Phoebe Moyer (Babette), and Peter Hadres (Eisenring) on the intimate Off Center stage at the Dean Lesher in Walnut Creek. Their translation was by Michael Bullock and relied on the words and quality acting to convey its meaning. The acting in this Aurora mounting is superb with the male characters being dominant to the underwritten female roles but the play is not the thing. Mark Jackson’s direction is.

Frisch has rewritten the play that began as a radio drama before being converted into a stage play and has had imaginative staging elsewhere. Jackson’s conceptual interpretation is brilliant but his tendency to use excessive physicality overpowers any message(s) that the author wishes to convey.

The play can be interpreted on multiple levels but seems to be a parable about appeasement and it has been suggested it was Frisch’s “way of getting at political issues through the medium of theatre.”  It certainly lives up to that interpretation since it was inspired by the Communist takeover of Czechoslovakia in 1948.

There is an arsonists loose in the town and no one knows where he (they) will strike next. The main character Biedermann (Dan Hiatt at his best) a respected, ruthless businessman who will protect his property and family at all costs. The dynamic first scene where Biedermann attempts to light a cigar and three firefighters [Frisch’s Greek chorus] (Kevin Clarke, Tristan Cunningham, and Michael Uy Kelly) burst from the wings, sets the tone: Biederrmann to the audience: “It’s not easy these days, lighting a cigar everyone thinks the whole world’s about to go up in flames.” How prophetic.

When homeless Schmitz (Michael Ray Wisely) appears at the door Biedermann becomes implicitly involved in his own destruction. With an extremely clever dialog repartee between the two men Schmitz is invited to sleep in the attic and the start of the action that will lead to a fiery destruction begins.

Schmitz’s abettor Eisenring (Tim Kniffen), unbeknownst to the family shares the attic and is the brains behind the operation. Where Schmitz is the brawn behind the plot, Eisenring is the brains and Kniffen’s acting creates a character that is frightening beginning with a disarming entrance and builds to a frightening level. Hiatt conveys the frustration and fear to the nth degree as he deludes himself thinking that by making friends with the arsonist his domain will be spared. A mesmerizing  85 minute running time without intermission.

Even though the quality of the acting is unquestioned it is Nina Ball’s powerful set that steals the show with sound (Matt Stines) and light (Stephanie Bucher) cues bursting within the intimate theatre engulfing the audience in the cataclysmic ending. It is a theatrical event that should not be missed although you might desire the more staid but no less frightening translation and performance by the American Citizen’s Theatre.

Kedar K. Adour, MD

Courtesy of www.theatreworldinternetmagazine.com

The 39 Steps: Mystery/Comedy. From the novel by John Buchan. Adapted by Patrick Barlow. From an original concept by Simon Corble and Nobby Dimon. Directed by Mark Anderson Phillips. Center REPertory Company, 1601 Civic Drive in Downtown Walnut Creek, CA. 925-943-7469 or www.centerrep.org.

THE 39 STEPS at CenterRep is a tour de force for the actors

It has been almost 100 years since The Thirty-Nine Steps novel was written by John Buchan. In the interim there have been a series of incarnations of the basic plot used for movies and TV. This adaptation by Patrick Barlow uses the 1935 Alfred Hitchcock movie as its starting point and director Mark Anderson Phillips has thrown in more than a modicum of references to Hitchcock’s work to extract laughs throughout the evening.

Yes, you are reading that right. That director Phillips is the superb actor who has been entertaining the Bay area audiences for years. He gave an absolutely smashing performance, winning a Shellie Award, in Center Reps’ 2012 staging of Rumors. He also received rave reviews playing Richard Hannay in TheatreWorks production of The 39 Steps.

What then is he doing in the director’s chair and who is Richard Hannay? Phillips is in the director’s chair because he is extremely versatile and his directorial skill is on exhibit in this play. Richard Hannay (Ben Johnson) is the protagonist and he is the only actor who does not double in another role in the play. That leaves Cassidy Brown, Jennifer Erdmann and Mark Farrell to play the other 100 or more roles. They are fantastic, hilarious and adept with quick costume changes and a marvel at slapstick actions. They almost put Tuna Texas character’s shenanigans to shame, but not quite.

Richard Hannay is a stiff upper lip bachelor Brit complete with tweeds (costumes by B. Modern) and pipe. A quick pick-up in a local theater of shady-lady with a secret and a German accent leads to her murder with a knife (think the movie Psycho) and Hannay has to flee since he is accused of the murder. We hear the phrase “39 Steps” early in the first act the remainder of the evening is devoted to finding out the meaning of the phrase. He picks up a love interest, sort of, along the way and Johnson an Erdmann milk their “bed room” scene while handcuffed together for all its worth.

There is even a plane crash scene that brought a gale of laughter as did a silhouette of the portly ‘master’ Hitchcock parading behind the scrim. The music has been usurped from the ‘master’s’ movies and you will recognize, Strangers on a Train, Rear Window, North by Northwest and others.

Brown and Farrell carry most of the action but are ably assisted by Erdmann. Phillips wisely uses a relatively empty theatre set that allows the action to flow but he must share credit with the production team: Scenic designer Eric Sinkkomen, sound designer Lyle Barrare, lighting designer Kurt Landisman, stage manager Wesley Apfel and any other behind the scenes workers.

Although the evening had its shares of laughs and is well worth a visit, there were lapses where action was forced. Although Ben Johnson did a creditable job one would wish that director Phillips had cast himself in the role or Richard Hannay. Running time just under 2 hours with an intermission.

Kedar K. Adour, MD

Courtesy of www.theatreworldinternetmagazine.com

Tobie Windham, L. Peter Callender and Nicholas Pelczar in The Whipping Man

The Whipping Man: By Matthew Lopez. Directed by Jasson Minadakis. Marin Theatre Company, 397 Miller Ave., Mill Valley. (415) 388-5208. www.marintheatre.org.

Extended through April 28, 2013

THE WHIPPING MAN a gritty, brilliant Marin Theatre production

Having recently been reunited with the Bay Area Theatre scene after a long personal hiatus, it was an absolute pleasure to attend The Whipping Man at the Marin Theatre. Written by Matthew Lopez who is no stranger to the Bay Area with a recent production of his Somewhere at Theatreworks, it is a co-production with the Virginia Stage Company in association with the nomadic Lorraine Hansberrry Theatre. The acting is brilliant, the play’s construction almost perfect and the staging dynamic.

Almost perfect, since there is fact that Jews owned slaves and were accepted in Southern society but there is no documentation that the slaves were indoctrinated into the Jewish religion. Once you accept that as fact, then the impact of a seder taking place at the end of the Civil War becomes a powerful analogy of Moses freeing Jewish slaves in the time of the Pharaohs and Abraham Lincoln’s freeing the black slaves.

The time is April 13-15, 1865, a week after Lee’s surrender at Appomattox, and the place is a once grand mansion torn physical asunder by the ravages of the war. Into this chaotic atmosphere amidst thunder, lightning and rain stumbles Caleb (Nicolas Pelczar) the son of the Master of the household. The family has fled with only Simon (L. Peter Callender) the old, formerly loyal but now emancipated slave, living in the house waiting to be reunited with his wife and daughter. Caleb, an officer in the Rebel army has been wounded in the leg and gangrene has set in requiring a below the knee amputation.

Simon’s description of the ultimate outcome without the amputation is stomach turning but is not as horrendous as the on-stage amputation begins. The third character is rebellious John (Tobie Windham) labeled “nigger” John who is about the same age as Caleb and forages the abandoned homes stealing whatever he desires. This ‘foraging’ supplies clothes (costumes by Jacqueline Firkins), food, furniture and the most useful liquor needed to sterilize the wound and induce stupor in the soon to be amputee Caleb.

Lopez cunningly layers fact upon fact as the interaction between the three characters become interdependent only to be explosively rendered asunder at a perfect ending to the play. The title of the play becomes fully understood in two dramatic spellbinding scenes, first by Tobie Windham and in a penultimate scene by L. Peter Callender.

Amongst the tribulations and sordidness Lopez has woven poetry and beauty with Callender almost stealing the show with his initial display of loyalty to the Master, love of God and reverential belief in prayer. His description of meeting Abraham Lincoln that he dubs as the black man’s Moses is a thing of beauty that is a spectacular contrast to baring his back displaying the damage inflicted by the Whipping Man.

To reveal the total interdependency of the three characters would be a disservice to the audience. Be reassured that the standing ovation given on this non-opening night performance is well deserved. (Running time about 2 hours including an intermission.

Kedar K. Adour, MD

Courtesy of www.theatreworldinternetmagazine.com.