August Reviews

August Reviews

Thwarted Desire in Chekhov's Uncle Vanya at Cal Shakes

Chekhov's Uncle Vanya, originally entitled The Wood Demon that failed
in small provincial theatres, was rewritten by the playwright as Uncle
Vanya (Dyadya Vanya) when staged in Moscow by Stanislavski in 1900.
Although considered to be a tragicomedy about sexuality and thwarted
desire, the play's content actually offers still more philosophically
and psychologically about the human failure to realize self worth and
life accomplishments. Within these themes the dramatic action centers
around the visit of retired Professor Serebryakov and his young
beautiful wife Yelena to the estate belonging to himself and his first
wife. But the Professor is bored with being on the estate with his
daughter Sonja, Uncle Van, Ilya, a simple minded landowner, Dr. Astrov,
Maria, the mother-in-law of his first wife, and even with Marina, the
family Nanny. Those living on the estate also wish the Professor and
his wife would leave so that they may peacefully continue their
unambitious life style of unfulfilled dreams.

The dramatic action consists mainly of relationships between these
characters that undergo suffering concerning their failed lives.
Chekhov is said to have written about that suffering with compassion
but not without humor. And this suffering concerning thwarted desire
renders Chekov's play one of the most stirring in dramatic literature.
However, wh
ether this is due to the adaptation of the play (Emily Mann)
or to the acting, the portrayal of suffering is realized minimally in
this production. There is an exception in the plight of Sonja,
sensitively portrayed (Annie Purcell) as being desperately in love with
Dr.Astrov (Andy Murray) who ignores her feelings. As for the other
characters, we are rarely moved by their failure to realize their
personal desires. The retired elderly professor (convincingly played by
James Carpenter), who hardly appears on stage until the second half,
does not spark much empathy concerning his egotistical and pessimistic
outbursts about the mediocrity of the human beings around him. His
beautiful wife Ylenna's (Sarah Grace Wilson) declarations of being
bored with individuals "who are desperate excuses of people," along
with her rare moments of tenderness toward Sonya in her distress seem
to be coming from a beautiful mannequin who cares more about her own
pain. Sonya's grandmother, Maria, the Professor's first wife (Joan
Mankin), is an eccentric figure who enters and exits, moves about
erratically and sits upstage reading. Landowner Ilya (Howard Swain) is
a colorful smiling character whose simple mindedness at times amuses
us. Dr. Astrov, aside from his periodic erotic advances toward the
beautiful Yelena, is mainly absorbed in salvaging forests that man is
destroying and showing off the maps he has made of the areas he wants=2
0
to preserve. Uncle Vanya, Sonja's uncle (Dan Hiatt), never wins our
sympathy over his dissatisfaction about his life. We mostly laugh at
his clownish bantering and are entertained by his playful complaints
and actions. Even at the play's end, when Vanya undergoes the depth of
defeat as he witnesses Yelena in the arms of another man, we still do
not feel any empathy for this main character. Aside from Sonja, whose
tragic dilemma over her love for a man who ignores her deep love for
him because he finds her too plain, there is only one character that
succeeds in not being a farcical type. That is Marina (Barbara Oliver)
whose grounded wisdom and devoted caring for others on the Estate wins
our sympathy.

Sets by Erik Flatmo that include the Orinda hills in the background
with the occasional passing of a watchman and farmhand (T. Louis Weltz)
are as beautiful and reposing as a painting. Costume design (Raquel M.
Barreto) is perfectly suited to the period. Effective sound (Jeff
Mockus) and lighting (York Kennedy) enhance the production.

Although the play is known as a tragicomedy but fails to portray the
suffering of characters with which we do not empathize, it is a quite
an impressive one, well acted and, under the direction of Timothy Near,
expertly integrates sets, costumes, sound, and lighting in a fine
theatrical ensemble that nonetheless succeeds more as a comedy rather
than as a mix of20tragedy and comedy.

Uncle Vanya runs until Aug. 31. For information call 510-548-9666 or
visit www.calshakes.org.
Annette Lust, Member Bay Area Theatre Critics Circle.

Tale of Glad and Sorry Seasons at Marin Shakespeare

Lesley and Robert Currier opened their 19th season of the Marin
Shakespeare Festival on July 18 co-directing Shakespeare's "The
Winter's Tale." It is deplorable that "The Winter's Tale" is so seldom
revived. For this dramatic romance affords delightful and
comprehensive entertainment. The last production of "The Winter's
Tale" was the Berkeley Rep's production at the Oakland Auditorium in
1990.
"The Winter's Tale" is part of a trio of tragic-comedies written during
Shakespeare's last years—"Cymbaline" (1609), "The Winter's Tale"
(1610), and "The Tempest" (1611).

"The Winter's Tale" is reminiscent of "Othello." The passion and
jealousy of Leontes almost parallels that of "The Moor." Leontes is
not an heroic role, but as played by Rafael Untalan, a very human one.
Rafael Untalan knows how to take the stage with his kingly bearing and
wonderful use of large gestures. He has a fine chance to rant and rave
before the trial, and then to win the audience with a good display of
repentance. Leontes' best friend and childhood=2
0playmate is Polixenes,
the King of Bohemia, who has been in Sicilia for a long visit. When
Polixenes insists on returning home, Leontes asks his wife, Hermione to
convince him to stay which she does. Leontes becomes consumed with
irrational jealousy. Polixenes, portrayed by Scott Coopwood, is a
sympathetic figure as we know he is innocent.
Hermione, beautifully played by Alexandra Matthew is so high minded, so
spirited and so dignified in her anguish that she is perfection in both
queenliness and womanliness.
Camillo is a strong performance by Michael Ray Wisey. The calm, cool
and collected advisor to the King is shocked when Leontes asks him to
poison Polixenes. Camillo has to decide which is more important—loyalty
or doing the right thing. Camillo tells Polixenes what Leontes has
asked and the two leave Sicilia immediately to flee to the safety of
Bohemia.
Paulina, strongly performed by Celia Madeoy, is both true as steel and
free of tongue as Hermiones' lady-in-waiting when she leans that
Hermione has given birth to a baby girl. She takes it to Leontes,
hoping his heart will soften at the sight of his daughter, but Leontes
is too far steeped in jealousy and forces Paulina's husband, Antigonus
(sympathetically played by Jerry Hoffman) to take the baby girl into
the wilderness.

Act One closes with Antigonus abandoning the child who he calls
"Perdida." Enter through the audien
ce an Old Shepherd, comically
played by veteran actor George Maguire and his son, played with relish
by Drew Hirshfield who stumble upon the baby, find gold stashed in her
swaddling clothes and take her home. Act Two begins with Time played
by the ever-present Matthew Cavanna bridging the wide gap of time which
is 16 years and we revert to the pure romantic for an act of exquisite
charm and humor.

No sooner do we meet Autolycus in an amazing transformation by Jerry
Hoffman who, like Falstaff, is one of those poet-rogues securely above
all comparisons because they have to be taken on their own lyrical
terms, we are absorbed in the society of Cloud-Cuckoo-Land. We also
meet the lovely Perdita, charmingly portrayed by Kate Fox Marcom who is
in love with Florizell, the Prince of Bohemia—the handsome Mark
Robinson.

The spirited choreography is by Cynthia Pepper. Billie Cox composed
some interesting original music. Bruce Lackovic designed some good
contrasting sets for Sicilia and Bohemia. I was particularly impressed
by Abra Berman's magnificent costumes—all characters wore white in
Sicilia and very bright colors in Bohemia.

Shakespeare's "The Winter's Tale" is the only play to have a character
actually named "Time," a Chorus who tells us of the passing of 16 years
between the first and second part of the play. My only criticism is of
the direct
or's concept of bringing time to the forefront in all his
many guises. Time was forever present which I found greatly
distracting to the main story line.

Leslie and Robert Currier deserve a great deal of credit for bringing
this complex and wonderful production to the Marin Shakespeare Festival.

"The Winter's Tale" plays through August 24. Performances are held at
Forest Meadows Amphitheatre, 1475 Grand Avenue, Dominican University,
San Rafael. For tickets, call the box office at 415-499-4488 or visit
www.marinshakespeare.org. Also watch for Watch for "Much Ado About
Nothing", August 29-September 28.
Flora Lynn Isaacson

Driving Miss Daisy at Ross Valley Players

Driving Miss Daisy by Alfred Uhry was a smash hit that won both a
Pulitzer Prize in 1987 and an Academy Award in 1989. The time of this
play is 1948, the setting is Atlanta, Georgia and the play starts with
the sound of a big crash.
Daisy Wertham (Anne Ripley), a rich, sharp-tongued widow of 72, is
informed by her son Boolie (Alex Shafer) that henceforth, she must rely
on the services of a chauffeur. Boolie hires Hoke (Bertron Bruno), a
soft-spoken black man who used to drive for Judge Stone, for $20 a
week. In a series of scenes spanning 25 years, we see Miss Daisy and
Hoke grow ever closer, and it is soon movingly clear that both have
more in common than they ever would admit.
Anne Ripley is superb20as the austere southern woman and Bertron Bruno
is a natural counterpart as Hoke, her driver. He is truly wonderful in
his asides to the audience. Alex Shafer gives a convincing performance
as Daisy's up-and-coming son, Boolie. Jimmie Harvey, the dialect coach,
deserves a lot of credit for the realistic southern accents.
The set design by Ken Rowland, with the stage divided in half — between
Daisyy's home and Boolie's office — works pretty well.. However, the
pacing is too slow between the episodic scenes and too much time is
spent getting the car (which is almost another character) on and off
stage. This could have been alleviated by having the car near one of
the arches, on stage right or stage left.
Billie Cox's sound design is right on target showing the passing years
with songs like "After the Ball Is Over," "Ain't She Sweet," "Santa
Baby," "Rudolf the Red Nosed Reindeer," and various Negro spirituals.
The costume design by Michael Berg is very appropriate in helping to
show the actors age throughout with the one exception of Boolie wearing
brown and white summer shoes with a winter coat.
The direction by Cris Cassell is excellent for the most part except at
times I felt the pacing was too slow. However, I strongly recommend
Driving Miss Daisy as a total delight that is worth the drive from
anywhere.
Driving Miss Daisy cont
inues through August 17at the Barn Theatre
(MarinArt and Garden Center, 30 Sir Francis Drake Blvd. at Lagunitas,
Ross).
For reservations, call 415-456-9555 or go online at
www.rossvalleyplayers.com.
Flora Lynn Isaacson

Excerpt from Albert Goodwyn's Article on Amadeus at Marin Shakespeare

Peter Shaffer's play Amadeus is not actually about Wolfgang Amadeus
Mozart. It is about the artistic rivalry between Mozart and Antonio
Salieri. Okay; let's go ahead and address a subtle point that the
playwright did probably not intend. A vulgar interpretation of the
play's name is "I'm a Douche." At the end of the play, the Salieri
character complains that Mozart, the young brat, is going down in
history, while he, Salieri is going to be flushed down the dustbins of
history and never be heard from again. The metaphor is apt, even if not
intended.

Most of the play has Salieri addressing the audience while Mozart
cavorts under the piano with his latest ladyfriend. Salieri (William
Elsman) explains why Mozart's music was so popular in his time, while
his own was also accepted. Elsman used the downstage center of the
outdoor stage extensively, while mostly facing the audience, He could
have used the stage area more extensively. His observations of Mozart,
both at the piano and under it, gave a great sense of his resentment of
the situation. He insisted that Mozart stole his mus
ical compositions
and made them more popular.

Mozart (Drew Hirschfield) was always lively and did play the piano
well. But his comic antics as he ran on and off like a teenager made
Salieri's narrative more poignant, because of the depth of the
differences between the staid Salieri and the flighty Mozart. At the
end, Elsman quietly observes that Mozart is going to live forever in
our cultures while Salieri will be forgotten.

Amadeus plays until Aug. 24. Also watch for "Much Ado About Nothing",
August 29-September 28. For info call 415-499-4488 or visit
www.marinshakeseare.org.
Courtesy of Bay Times and Albert Goodwyn

Raw Alternative Works at Ross Valley Players
Readings of Bay Area Community Playwrights' Works in Progress were
presented on July 19-20 at the Marin Art and Garden Center in Ross
Valley. Among the new plays presented was Kay Noyes' Grammar, directed
by Linda Vito. The play revolves around a son's (Dusty Poole
convincingly plays the embittered son) mistaken relationship with his
mother (Lola Moloney sensitively plays the blamed mother suffering the
heat and from her from her son's firy accusations). As the son remarks
a baby fall from a roof nearby without its mother moving to help him,
he thinks of how his own mother was not there for him when he first was
stricken with polio. The dramatic action later offers an explanation
for his mother's=2
0action that will change the verb he uses to describe
the woman who "was my mother" to the one who "is my mother" after an
understanding between mother and son is reached.
The play reading is well directed by Linda Vito, Assistant Artistic
Director of The Fringe of Marin and producer of the recent film On The
Starting Line http://onthe startinglinemovie.com.
Among other works at the Raw Reading were Ignacio Zulueta's The
Filipino Monkey, directed by Kim Bromley; Limbo by Lynn Snyder,
directed by Carol Sheldon; Facelift by Diane Simpson and His Best New
Friend, directed by Robert Estes.
Ignacio Zulueta, Carol Sheldon and Robert Estes have also had other
plays produced at the bi-annual Fringe of Marin Festival.
For information on the next Raw Reading in September check
www.rossvalleyplayers.com.
For information on submitting original plays and monologues for
production to the upcoming fall and spring 09 Fringe of Marin Festival,
and for auditions on August 27 and 29 for the fall 08 festival contact
Annette Lust at (415) 673-3131 (10 a.m. to 2 p.m.) or email
jeanlust@aol.com.