The Power (and Terror) of Words

Welcome to a world where nothing is as it appears. In Reader, acclaimed playwright Ariel Dorfman creates a layered allegory for a tyrannical government and the urgent cries of its citizens for liberation. Dorfman, a Chilean writing in exile, explores themes of sociopolitical crisis such as power, identity, willfulness and pain. Reader is a bold play that demands irreverent staging and rejects catharsis. For example, actors play multiple roles, characters exist in two worlds and time flashes backwards and forwards. The challenges posed by the play abound. The seven-year-old NY-based theater company One Year Lease (OYL) has dedicated its summer to producing all three of Dorfman’s Resistance Trilogy to which Reader belongs. Out of this text, director Ianthe Demos adeptly weaves together an intelligent and visceral production that bursts with vitality and terror. Reader is a deliciously tangled tale in which a literary censor finds his life story in a manuscript he is set to edit. The story of the manuscript is played out within the story of the play, which forces our main character into deep self-examination. Persistent ghosts haunt him, shaking his confidence and decomposing his veneer of togetherness before our eyes. The oppressor becomes the oppressed as he battles his conscience, attempts to conceal his secrets, hunts down the writer and, finally, overcomes his central fear to rebel against the system he once represented.

The performers offer rich, frenzied characterizations prickling with energy. Most notable are Darrell James, who plays the main characters Daniel Lucas and Don Alfonso Morales, and an electric Emma Jackson who plays Irene and Jacqueline. The set, costumes and lighting ground us in a noir space seething with intrigue, mystery and elegance.

Dorfman creates a world where tyranny smiles and violates. One Year Lease uses its dexterity to present a tension-filled and alluring imagining of this world. The themes of this play are deeply engaging and strike a cord of relevance to contemporary life without being overt or heavy-handed. Treat yourself to an evening of theater that is both contemplative and animal. See Reader.

Note: This production is a part of the 2007 NYC International Fringe Festival.

Heroic Clowning Around

Joan of Arppo is a masterful and delightful one-women clown show that should not be missed. Gardi Hutter, a known entity in her native Switzerland, is a virtuosic storyteller. Outfitted in a sloppy layering of mismatched clothes and the requisite red rubber nose, she engages, amazes, entertains and charms. Ms. Hutter’s imagination abounds and - without speaking a word - she communicates her story and offers up an experience of playful ambition. Joan of Arppo will renew your belief in magic as you giggle all the way home. Joan is a laundry woman who excitedly reads Joan of Arc and Other Heroines and dreams of fighting great battles. She reenacts these battles using the items of her laundry room – a pile of dirty clothes, washboard, clothing line, clothes pins, etc. Joan wins some battles, loses others and, in the end, meets the fate of her idol. Joan’s childlike enthusiasm is magnetic as she draws you into her laundry room/playground. She creates a rich world where objects take on multiple meanings for comedic and/or poignant effect. She teases the audience at moments, pretending to be bashful and at other moments she poses for a photographer, beaming with pride.

The story is incredibly simple and the allure of this production is watching it unfold before you. Ms Hutter’s expertise in clowning is demonstrated consistently throughout the piece. At one point, she dances with the clothesline and it is clear that she has investigated every possible way of interacting with the line and presented us the gems of her research. There are many moments where she directly solicits reactions from the audience, which, in a show like this, only works because we are with her every step of the way. The staged battle scenes vary in scale from fingers fighting fingers to setting up the pile of laundry as a life-sized opponent for her to conquer. Co-creators Ms. Hutter and Mr. Ferruccio Cainero are a skillful artistic duo that presents a carefully conceived and precisely executed production.

This hour-long show goes by in a flash. You will sit on the edge of your seat, gasp at beautiful transformations made before your eyes and experience chuckles that transform into full-blown belly laughs as you give in to Ms. Hutter’s conceits and root for our heroine’s success.

Note: This production is part of the 2007 NYC International Fringe Festival.

Deciphering The Underworld

Deliberate Motion uses video, choreography, music, text, and three performers to present what they call ‘a theatrical event.’ As you enter the space, there is video playing of an urban landscape in a thunderstorm. When a performer enters the stage, he offers the day’s lesson: ‘the earth is not a chocolate cherry.’ Shortly after, another performer sings a love song. These disparate elements, among others, held my attention at first as I hoped they would cohere to reveal a comprehensible idea. As a lover of non-linear theater, I look forward to learning how to watch a piece as it unfolds before me. Unfortunately, here, I could not decipher who the characters were (they are never identified) and I did not know where the story was taking place. In this case, these points feel like essential grounding information that would allow me to fully enjoy Better This Way. While the structure of the piece is confusing, the artists create interesting stage pictures. One of the cleverest elements is the splitting of one female character performed simultaneously by two actresses - one actress is the voice while the other is the body. Another interesting moment is when the male character creates a tape hexagon on the floor around her. Simultaneously, the third performer is building a chaotic tape sculpture on the other side of the stage, offering a visual juxtaposition that can easily be imbued with metaphors by the audience. The creative exploration that resulted in these and similar discoveries are the strongest elements of the piece.

The video that served as a backdrop for the piece is distracting. The footage consists of the female performers wandering through a wasteland. It is unclear to me how the video moves the piece forward. Similarly, the three performers of the piece did not seem strongly rooted in intention. They appeared to exist in a non-specific void, moving very slowly and carefully, without action or purpose.

The intention of the artists, as stated on their website, is to re-imagine the Persephone myth emphasizing the choices and struggles she faces while suspended between two worlds. I learned that the three actors were portraying Hades and Persephone and that the play was taking place in a liminal space between Earth and the underworld. Unfortunately, I could not make sense of the text as it was presented.

In their attempt to create an experience in which we contemplate love, identity and choice, Deliberate Motion leaves the audience without an entry point into their world, leaving us with too many basic questions.

Note: This production is a part of the 2007 NYC International Fringe Festival.

Just Clever Enough

Studio Six Theater Company is a new New York-based group made up of the first class of full-time American students at the famed Moscow Art Theater School. In their NY production debut, they present Too Clever By Half (or The Diary of a Scoundrel), which shows off their skills as an acting ensemble and offers a summer crowd pleaser for the Restoration Comedy lovers of the City. Make no mistake; this is a Russian play written in the 1800s - a comedy of manners and society reminiscent of A School for Scandal or The Importance of Being Earnest. The Russians, believe it or not, can be funny too. The production opens with a bristly-bearded man sauntering across the stage to make his way to the piano that sits near a downstage corner. He pours water from a wine bottle into a teacup and with that, we are in Moscow. Our hero is a poor, young social climber who is determined to make his way into the gossip-riddled upper class by marrying a woman with a handsome dowry. He decides to chronicle his experience by keeping a diary of his treacherous acts. He pretends to love a woman. He lies. He backstabs. He is eventually blackmailed and his actions are discovered for what they are at a crucial moment. At every turn, sticky situations arise that push us forward through to the end.

Studio Six’s theater is designed to highlight the ingenuity and skill of its actors. These performers make the most of the witty wordplay and present character relationships full of tension and chemistry. The bits of physical humor carried out by high-energy performers who had created very specific characters conjure delight and laughter every time. The quality of accents varied by performer, but not enough to pull you out of the action.

To further showcase the actors’ talents, the design elements are kept to a minimum. They utilize rehearsal blocks and scarves to great effect. You don’t miss any glitz and glamour, although as they continue to grow as a company (and as budgets grow), I hope they add in more design elements that will elevate their strong performances to a strong overall production.

This is a well-constructed and carefully directed presentation of a straight play. It’s great for the theatergoer that enjoys a light entertainment on a summer day.

Majesty in Words, Not Images

John Ott’s new play strives to be more than a retelling of the classic myth in which the sculptor, Pygmalion, falls in love with his own statue, Galatea. In this two-person play, Ott attempts an ambitious treatise on how opposite beings instantly change each other’s lives. His vision is grand with recurring references to enlightenment, oblivion, physics, and illumination. The thickness of the text overpowers this production and, while we leave thinking about big ideas, we did not have an experience filled with the sense of the wonder, grandeur or mystery that these big ideas should inspire. Set in present-day New York, Pygmalion has a chance meeting with a street performer, Galatea. Her beauty instantly enamors him and they begin a romantic, artist/muse relationship. Their opposing life philosophies, more often than not, create greater conflict between them. Their conversations become the main action of the play – conversations about the nature of feathers versus bricks, the etymology of the word ‘phenomenon,’ and what it means to destroy and build. We are shown the development of their relationship from each point of view, which offers the first and only opportunity for the audience to receive a demonstration of how their differing beliefs inform their lives. This demonstration, however, takes place in the exposition and text, not by utilizing the large, bare stage or the virtuosity of the actor’s instruments.

In the balance of text, staging, design and acting, this production is skewed towards the text. The play does not leave much room for action and activity, which poses a great challenge to the stage direction. In one climactic moment, the characters fall into oblivion. The audience is asked to create the entire scene for themselves, while the actors stand still. I would love to see the actors, director & designers confront the challenge of presenting images for what seem to be impossible. Herein lies the magic the play desires to achieve.

The two actors carry an impressive load and exhibit great dexterity with the text. The ideas in the text, however, requires deeper connection and consideration of each moment to help the audience believe the life-altering intensity of their attraction to each other.

While Ott is clearly drawn to life’s big questions, this production amounts to a staged recitation. As is, it would be an effective read. A play about wonder and mystery, however, needs more majesty in its staging to help us experience the otherworldliness of Galatea.

Jamaica: What Brews Behind Paradise

Do you know what you want? No, really, do you know what you want? And do you know how far you would go to get it? In this dynamic and engaging solo performance, writer/performer Debra Ehrhardt dramatizes her personal journey to fulfill her lifelong desire. Ms. Ehrhardt, a Jamaican, is drawn to the allure of America. The myths that American streets are paved with gold and that anyone can achieve anything here were commonly held beliefs internationally, especially in the 1970s. The lengths she went to in order to arrive on US soil will leave you questioning whether or not you are using your American status to its fullest potential while simultaneously offering a glimpse into the humor, humanity and spirit that exists in the Jamaica behind paradise. Ms. Ehrhardt’s dreams of America were dashed numerous times despite her efforts. As the political situation grows more tumultuous in Jamaica, she feels more stuck. And then, one day, she meets a man whom she believes will be her ticket out of the country. The roller coaster ride that ensues is better left as a surprise for the audience. But I can tell you it involves running for her life, the CIA, prostitutes, and lots of money. The twists and turns are almost unbelievable, especially as you remind yourself that this is a true story.

As a performer, Ms. Ehrhardt aptly transforms into different characters’ bodies and voices. We are in trustworthy hands as she takes us through moments of deep compassion, heavy fear, and youthful delight. Equally adept as a writer, she knows how to command rapt attention through suspense and jarring juxtapositions. With the assistance of simple, yet effective staging by Monique Lai, Ehrhardt offers an experience that attunes the audience to the power of personal storytelling.

I recommend this piece to all theatergoers who love a great story laden with love and despair, courage and weakness, failure and success. I also recommend this piece to Jamaican New Yorkers (of which I am one) who will revel in hearing names like Roxanne, Debbie Ann & Charmaine, phrases such as “kiss mi neck” and other markers of Jamaican-ness.

At the end of the piece, Ms. Ehrhardt returns to a simple choice that she is trying to make. She opts for grandeur and adventure, which, as you will learn, is deeply rooted in her nature.

Note: This production is part of the 2007 NYC International Fringe Festival.