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May 9 - June 1,
2008
The Oresteia
Reviewed May 17 by
David Siegel
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Running
Time: 2:45 – one intermission
A virtuous work on a very large scale production by a precocious theater
company
Click here to buy the script |
When ancient Greek theater was the entertainment rage 2500 years ago, it
must have been a bracing experience to come to an amphitheater carved
out of stone to settle back and see your history and myths dramatized
before you. While we will really never really know the feeling of being
there then, the Constellation Theatre Company’s ambitious production of
Aeschylus’s The Oresteia may be a close approximation of the 2500
year old experience. This production is a virtuous work, especially
considering that this is a limited budget theater company producing a 29
cast member effort. There are a number of ineffectual elements in the
production. It too often lags, especially in the dance sequences that are
oddly choreographed and overlong, and unfortunately the various Greek
Choruses, Libations Bearers and Furies emote in a muddy manner too often
so that key background material or illuminating information is lost in a
cacophony of voices. But, with that said, the featured actors are a
talented and accomplished troupe. They are skilled at the many emotions
and actions that are required to make this production sturdy and watchable. The key actors are Brian Hemmingsen (Agamemnon), Nanna
Ingvarsson (Clytemnestra), and Joe Brack (Orestes). These actors are
skilled at what the script and director, Allison Arkell Stockman, asks; they
can be subtle, outrageous, clever, nuanced and right in-your-face direct
as well as cloying as they bring biting words to the audience’s ears. Hemmingsen and Ingvarsson especially are adept at rendering outward smiles
and joviality that hide their core craftiness and deceit. The original
music, composed and performed by Tom Teasley, is integral to the enjoyment
of this production and in some scenes keeps the audience focused.Storyline: The drama concerns the House of Atreus as Agamemnon, King of
Argos, returns home after 10 years to his waiting wife Cyltemnestra. He is
triumphant from his victory in the Trojan War. She has been planning his
murder as revenge for his sacrifice of their daughter, Iphigenia so the
Gods would smile upon him for the war. This production brings
Clytemnestra, Agamemnon, Orestes, Apollo, Athena and The Furies together
in a story of war, love, vengeance, justice, mercy, murder and blood
sacrifice.
There is a real sound and
murderous fury in the writing of Aeschylus. His The Oresteia is
even known to have won first prize at a festival in Athens when it was
first performed in 458 BC. It has nearly everything ripping through it
with little that is so ancient as to not be comprehensible to a modern
audience. There is a festering war between the sexes, a witty contretemps
between the old ways of the Greek Gods and the more “modern” state view of
a system of justice. There is the violence of a long war and its effects
on those who did the fighting and those who remained home. There is also a
desolate Royal family split asunder as a consequence of actions taken to
win the war by Agamemnon. Of interest, Director Allison Arkell Stockman
received permission from the translator, Robert Fagles, to adapt his
translation of the Oresteia for the Constellation Theatre Company.
Stockman receives a special kudo for her traffic control of the 29 member
cast. She has them move quite energetically, fight with swords and knives,
dance, and emote with nary a missed step and usually with some sense that
the movement makes sense in the trajectory of the play. There are several
melodramatic scenes with some full force howling as killings of the
innocent and the guilty take place. But, think back 2500 years ago;
without microphones and other technology, melodrama was the only way to
get a point across up into the cheap seats.
Many in the cast of 29
are invisible as individuals, failing to create some sort of character for
brief appearances. That is not so much a fault of the production, just an
issue with any large scale production. As for the featured actors, Brian Hemmingsen, with his rich booming voice is all swagger and furrowed
brow generating heat and force as the all powerful King returning from
victory. All powerful that is, except when in battle with the more
verbally masterful and cunning Nanna Ingvarsson. She, with an outward
smile and inward venom, can place him in untenable positions. Invgarsson,
as the spurned wife, shows absolute malice as she speaks coyly, yet
insincerely, in order to obtain revenge on her husband for his sacrificial
murder of their daughter. Misty Demory (Athena) is stately and ram-rod
straight, all dressed in stunning white robes as she presents her verbal
cases for a new Greek justice system, and then casts a critical vote with a
shrug of her shoulders. Nick DePinto (Apollo) is a haughty one, also
dressed in stately robes, who speaks in a world of clipped words with
little feeling for the humans he affects. Ron Ward (Aegisthus) plays the
paramour to Clytemnestra as a bit fey, and one wonders what her interest
must be in him other than as a weapon to be used for her revenge. Joe
Brack (Orestes) is one heat-seeking guided missile in his way of
performing. His uses a younger man’s very direct presentation style; all
bravado, puffed-up cheeks and voice and little subtly.
Arrayed before the
audiences eyes is an epic sized set of a Greek amphitheater at the Clark
Street Playhouse. The audience sits high up andlooking down for the most
part. The costumes run the gamut from the pure strong white robes to The
Furies with their wings and short skirts, to black clad warriors to city
people who wear unfrilly tunics compared to the more richly attired Royal
family.
Written by Aeschylus, translated by Robert
Fagles. Adapted and directed by Allison Arkell Stockman. Music composed
and performed by Tom Teasely. Choreographed by Ashley Ivey. Fight
Choreographed by Cliff Williams III. Design: A.J. Guban (set and lights)
Yvette M. Ryan (costumes) Erica Yeager (props) Joseph Allen
(photography) Alicia Oliver-Krueger (stage manager). Cast: Joe Brack,
Katy Carkuff, Jennifer Crooks, Misty Demory, Nick DePinto, Kevin
Finkelstein, Gwen Grastorf, Theo Hadjimichael, Brian Hemmingsen, Nanna
Ingvarsson, Keith Irby, Ashely Ivey, Elizabeth Jernigan, Hilary Kacser,
Lisa Lias, Kenny Littlejohn, Beckett Martin, Meghan Nesmith, Anne Nottage,
Kevin O’Reilly, Rachel Lee Poole, Julia Proctor, Amy Quiggins, James
Radack, Julie Roundtree, Joe Thronhill, Jjana Valentiner, Ron Ward and
Linsday Kit Wiebe. |
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March 27 - April 20, 2008
The Good Woman of Setzuan
Reviewed March 29 by
Brad Hathaway |
Running time 2:35 - one
intermission
A spirited production of an allegorical play by Brecht
Click here to buy the script |
As his world was torn apart by the rise of Hitler and National Socialism,
groundbreaking playwright and theater theorist Bertolt Brecht could
disappear into the fantasy world of the play he was crafting and let his
fear, anger, disillusionment and sorrow flow as he constructed a culture
outside of his own experience. His creation, the world of the town of
Setzuan, is brought to life by this relatively new theater company that is
rapidly building a reputation for productions of substance. It is a
company that tends to pick plays dealing with philosophical issues from
notable pens. Last year it was Strindberg and ancient Persian tales. This
year, it is Brecht and Aeschylus and both productions will be at the Clark
Street Playhouse just north of Crystal City. As with last season's
The Arabian
Nights, this production creates a world for the play with a well
conceived, designed and constructed setting and then peoples it with a
good cast under capable direction that allows character to emerge within
the storyline with clarity.
Storyline: A trio of Gods visits Earth (or, at least, China) to
determine if people have followed their edicts of honesty and charity.
Seeking shelter in the village of Setzuan they find everyone too busy to
help them except for one woman - a prostitute who is pure of heart. They
reward her with enough money to buy a tobacco store so she can support
herself without selling herself. Her natural charity, however, is played
upon by customers and neighbors and soon the shop is a financial as well
as physical ruin. She decides to dress up as a man, a cousin who can deny
the requests she, herself, can't seem to resist. This dual personality
works at first but the stringent cousin's presence is necessary more and
more until some of her neighbors notice her absence and suspect foul play.
Soon she's placed on trial for her own murder.
Fantasy (or, as some have called this
play, parable) can be a very difficult brand of theater to pull off. Get
too flippant and emphasize the humor too much and it becomes silly. Get
too serious and punch up the moral behind each story and it becomes
pretentious. Director Allison Arkell Stockman finds the middle course in
Brecht's fantasy, although she seems to take a "better to err on the side
of seriousness" approach from time to time. She makes the absolutely right
choice, however, in her decision to avoid making her non-Chinese cast
members impersonate Asian characteristics. Brecht wasn't really talking
about a village in China anyway, so his characters were universal and not
ethnic. Yvette M. Ryan's costumes and A.J. Guban's workable set create a
sufficiently Chinese visual image by themselves.
A cast of twenty is headed by Katie Atkinson as the
prostitute who can't refuse any plea for aid, comfort or shelter. She is
an appealing character that the audience can take to its heart. Ashley
Ivey opens the festivities in a narrators role of a water seller, nicely
challenging the audience to follow events in order to render a judgment (a
gimmicky touch from Brecht that gives a fairly peremptory feel to the end
of the evening). The bulk of the cast play townspeople, each rendered with
enough personality and peculiarity to be something more than just stock
characters, and Catherine Deadman, John Geoffrion and Kenny Littlejohn make
a colorful and entertaining trio of gods.
This is not a
musical or a dance play but it uses music and movement to establish moods,
reveal a character or two here and there, and give energy to the town of Setzuan. The same Ashley Ivey who is so personable as the water seller has
provided choreography that moves the cast about in ebbs and flows to
create a more vibrant atmosphere in the town than might be expected, even
from a cast as large as this one. He's not alone in creating the
impression of a bustling suburb in a Chinese town, however. Tom Teasley
provides original music which also helps make the production feel even
more substantial.
Written by Bertolt
Brecht. Translated by Eric Bentley. Directed by Allison Arkell Stockman.
Choreography by Ashley Ivey. Original music by Tom Teasley. Design: A.J.
Guban (set and lights) Yvette M. Ryan (costumes) Angelo Merenda and Erica
Yeager (properties) Chris Baine (sound) Joseph Allen (photography)
Francoise Bastien (stage manager). Cast: Katie Atkinson, Molly Cahill,
Katy Carkuff, Catherine Deadman, John Feist, Kevin Finkelstein, Lewis
Freeman, John Geoffrion, Keith E. Irby, Ashley Ivey, Hilary Kacser, Jenny
Leopold, Lisa Lias, Kenny Littlejohn, Beckett Martin, Francisco Reinoso,
Joe Thornhill, Meghan Tolmie, Yasmin Tuazon, Ron Ward. |
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September 27 - October 21, 2007
The Arabian Nights
Reviewed by
Brad Hathaway |
Running time 2:20 - one intermission
t A Potomac
Stages Pick for an atmospheric production of a collection
of ancient tales
Click here to buy the script |
Many stories add up to one big story in Mary Zimmerman's intelligent
adult adaptation of the ancient Persian collection of stories The Book
of the Thousand Nights and One Night. This new and adventurous theater
company takes on the challenge of mounting Zimmerman's big show in the
intimate confines of Source Theatre on 14th Street and makes it work. The
reason it works so well is the strength of Zimmerman's own storytelling
talent which here is multiplied by the strength of director Allison Arkell
Stockman's staging and the enthusiasm of a cast of twelve. The cast throw
themselves into nearly fifty roles at a fast but not distractingly furious
pace moderated by the musical accompaniment of percussionist Tom Teasley.
The result is one night of continuous compelling storytelling.
Storyline: Scheherezade is wed to Persian King Shahryar whose habit is to
marry a different virgin each day only to have her executed the next
morning so he can marry another one. To avoid meeting the same fate as her
predecessors, she tells him a lengthy story which hasn't quite finished at
dawn. He decides to postpone her execution to the next day so he can hear
the end of the story only to have another one begun before the next dawn.
In this way, with a nearly inexhaustible collection of fascinating
stories, each with a twist and a moral, she extends their marriage through
a thousand nights, and, on the thousand and first night, King Shahryar
discovers he has fallen in love with Scherezade and abandons his practice
of executing brides.
Zimmerman, whose adaptation of Ovid's
Metamorphoses won her a Tony Award, and who directed Shakespeare's
Pericles
at the Shakespeare Theatre Company in 2004, wrote this adaptation for the
Lookinglass Theatre Company in Chicago where she is a company member. It
combines a delight in the pure act of storytelling with a deep interest in
the moral of each story which gives it more than mere entertainment
value; yet, in an evening of morality tales, the piece never seems
preachy. That's because of the strengths of the stories she selects from
the many in her source (not actually a thousand, even in the most
comprehensive of versions). She avoids those that have been done to death.
No "Aladdin's Lamp" or "Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves" here. Instead,
fresher and more intriguing tales fill the evening. This skill at picking
and choosing between many possible story lines whets the appetite for her
next project which is the adaptation of the myths of Jason and the
Argonauts which she will direct at the Shakespeare Theatre Company next
January.
All members of the cast take on multiple roles in
this production, including Katie Atkinson who, as Scheherezade, slips into
some of the stories she tells, and even John Tweel as the raptly listening
King Shahryar breaks out to join in a story moment here and there. That
none of the doubling confuses for even a moment is a tribute not only to
the skills of the cast but to the director's sharp blocking which
establishes and then maintains boundaries for each story to clarify
between the story and the telling. In Atkinson's hands, the energy, wit
and charm of Scheherezade captivate not just the king but the audience as
well. The entire cast works well as an ensemble, but a few stand out in
specific roles. Keith E. Irby is a tower of dignity as the legendary Harun
al-Rashid and Lisa Lias is a marvelously clever and intelligent woman of
great learning with the fabulous name "Sympathy Learned."
A not-insignificant aspect of the magic of this
evening is the work of percussionist Tom Teasley, who sits to one side of
the multi-platform, Persian carpet covered set with a collection of
instruments ancient and modern to provide an accompaniment that underlines
the shifting moods and emphasizes the varied paces of Stockman's staging.
He's in place when the theater opens, punching out rhythms on various
sized bongo-like hand-held drums or blowing into a breath-operated
keyboard instrument to evoke a Baghdad Bazaar, while his electronic drum
pad lays down a bottom beat. The decision to have him performing as the
audience enters is a good one, for he becomes part of the ambiance of the
space by the time the show actually starts, and as a result, his presence
is not distracting during the storytelling. At times, cast members break
into songs as well, adding to the musical impact of the evening.
Written by Mary Zimmerman based on the book One Thousand Nights and One Night. Directed by Allison Arkell
Stockman. Musical accompaniment by Tom Teasley. Choreographed by Ashley
Ivey. Design: A.J. Guban (set and lights) Yvette M. Ryan (costumes) Rob
Barossi (stage manager). Cast: Katie Atkinson, Steve Beal, Katy Carkuff,
Misty Demory, Kevin Finkelstein, John Geoffrion, Gwen Grastorf, Keith E.
Irby, Craig Klein, Lisa Lias, John Tweel, Anastasia Wilson. |
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