Annette Lust reviews: April/May Theatre Reviews

April/May Theatre Reviews
Revival of Pinter's Homecoming at Off
Broadway West

Off Broadway West's third season in San Francisco offered a challenging
production of one of Pinter's sixties plays. In The Homecoming a
dysfunctional family comprised of Max, an elderly tyrannical retired
butcher (Graham Cowley), his pimp-like son Lenny (Nick Russell), son
Joey training to be a boxer (Conor Hamill), son Teddy, a philosopher
(Gregory Daniels), his daughter-in-law Ruth (Sylvia Kratins) unhappily
married to Teddy, and Uncle Sam (Randy Hurst), are involved in a
struggle to each hold his own and survive side by side. When Teddy
appears with his mysterious and silent wife Ruth she is taken for a
harlot by Max who was never told that Teddy is married. She soon gains
the affection of Max and his two other sons, flirting with them with
sexual innuendos. Ruth ends up abandoning Lenny to replace Max's
deceased wife Jessie, taking on the role of mother and wife and
possibly earn money through her favors to the men Lenny provides.
With a fine cast of actors with impeccable British accents, the play is
expertly directed by Joyce Henderson in minimalist style, particularly
in Act One where the action is under acted. As in all of Pinter's plays
the dialogue is brief with hidden meaning behind the characters' words.
Comic moments, particu
larly in Act Two, alleviate the atmosphere of
suppressed violence that bring about outbursts, particularly on the
part of Max who periodically tears into everyone.
Scott Nordlund's dingy living room set is cleverly arranged in an
intimate space in which the audience is seated in older velvet covered
armchairs three quarters around the stage and that originally was a
meeting hall of the S.F.Alliance Française some fifty years ago.
This ironic portrayal of the inner workings of family life is
dynamically presented in Off Broadway West's highly symbolic,
meaningful, and disturbing portrait of the family members attacking one
another and attempting to survive emotionally in tight quarters.
For information about the company's View from the Bridge by Arthur
Miller July 2-August 22, call 510-835-4205 or visit
www.offbroadwaywest.org.
Dr. Annette Lust

A Gripping Strindberg's Miss Julie at
the Aurora

Mark Jackson's direction of Strindberg's 1888 Miss Julie about male
female and class power struggle with characters that are prey to
passion and lust has audience members
captivated by the high powered action between the flirtatious Miss
Julie and her sexually attractive footman Jean under the moral gaze of
Christine the cook, Jean's fiancée.
What is most moving in this tragic and highly emotional drama is Jean's 0D
mounting power over the authoritative Miss Julie who, once she has
given in to her sexual impulses, slowly descends through her shame for
her action and deception over her servant's true intentions regarding
her. The ups and downs in the emotional scale through which Jean
progresses from passionate lover to ambitious social climber, dragging
along Miss Julie, is dynamically portrayed by Mark Anderson Phillips as
Jean and Lauren Grace as Miss Julie, the seductive count's daughter,
under the calm eye of the cook Christine, played by Beth Deitchman.
Mark Jackson's direction of Miss Julie with multi emotional nuances not
only has the actors expressing fully through their physical movement
but also through moments of static attitudes, prolonged glances, and
silence filled with meaning.
This is one of Aurora's most puissant productions, an exceptional treat
offering outstanding dramatic content, expert direction and
acting.Clifford Odet's Awake and Sing plays from August 21 thru
Setember 29. For information call 510-843-4822 or visit
www.auroratheatre.org.

The SF Playhouse and Lorraine Hansberry Theatre Co-Stage "The Story"
Tracey Scott Wilson's "The Story" is based on the news article about
journalist Janet Cooke's invention of the story of an eight-year-old
heroine addict implicated in the murder of a white male in a black
neighborhood. In Wilson's dramatization, cub reporter Yvo
nne (Ryan
Peters) attempts to prove her value to her superior (Halili Knox) and
the newspaper by making up the existence of Jimmy, the young addict
whom they never can find and who is involved in the murder. Those
working with her in the paper begin to doubt Jimmy's existence and the
truth of her story when they discover that her resume was comprised of
lies such as her former studies at the Sorbonne in Paris. Although she
has invented these lies, Yvonne justifies her actions by declaring that
she was supposed to have gone to the Sorbonne and that happenings of
this kind based on racial conflict do exist. A second intrigue
concerning Yvonne's dependence for help upon her white lover (Craig
Marker), the newspaper's manager, who attempts to hide their
relationship, places still more emphasis on the racial conflict.
Knowing the true story of Janet Cooke beforehand excites the
spectator's interest in this dramatization as well as clarifies the
content.
Under the baton of Margo Jones, the play moves with a quick pace
throughout and the simultaneous double dialogues of two couples are
well timed, direct and forcefully projected.
Ryan Peters' believable depiction of the ambitious, neophyte
journalist, that provides the basic dramatic conflict of the play,
presents a contrast with the authoritative Halili Knox's Pat, who is
soon wary of Yvonne's lies. The remainder of the nine male female
cast
offer good characterizations.

This cooperation between SF Playhouse and Lorraine Hansberry is a
harmonious and successful one that brings a vital look at the pressures
of journalism heightened by
racial conflict.
For info about the pcoming Dead Man's Cell Phone by Sarah Ruhl, call
415-677-9596 or visit www.sfplayhouse.org.
Dr. Annette Lust

Love, Acceptance and Ballyhoo at the Ross
Valley Players

In the "The Last Night of Ballyhoo" the inevitability of World War II
and the film debut of "Gone with the Wind" intersect for the backdrop.
The Freitags, a Jewish family living in 1939 in Atlanta, are more
concerned with who is going to Ballyhoo, a lavish country-club
cotillion for the elite southern Jewish community event, than they are
with the events of world history. Living together in bachelor, Uncle
Adolph's house, are his widowed sister, Beulah (Boo) Levy and his
widowed sister-in-law Reba. Boo tries to find a date to take her
not-so-popular daughter, Lala, to Ballyhoo because this may be Lala's
last chance to find a husband. One night, Uncle Adolph brings home his
new assistant Joe. Lala
is impressed by Joe and hints broadly about
being taken to Ballyhoo. Joe turns Lala down which infuriates Boo. Joe
falls for Lala's cousin, Sunny (Reba's daughter) home for Christmas
vacation from Wellsley. The problem is Joe is from Brooklyn and his
family from Eastern Europe, not the proper German variety. On the other
hand, Peachy Weil, who Boo arranges to take Lala to Ballyhoo, may be
uncouth but he comes from an old southern Jewish family. Events take
several unexpected turns as the family gets pulled apart, then mended
together again with plenty of comedy,romance and revelations.
This winner of the 1997 Tony Award for Best New Play, was written by
Alfred Uhry, who also won the Pulitzer
Prize and an Oscar for "Driving Miss Daisy" in 1987.
Phoebe Moyer directed her fine cast with a sure hand, and Bruce
Lackovic furnished the Freitag home with all the comforts associated
with money and respectability. Michael A. Berg's costumes are authentic
1939.The secondary railroad car set also works well. The sound and
music were designed by Billie Cox who used period music and original
recordings from 1939.
At the end of "The Last Night of Ballyhoo," we are left with Uhry's
thoughtful exploration of what it means to belong or be excluded and to
claim one's own heritage.
For the upcoming Arthur Miller's "A View from the Bridge"at Ross
Valley Players' Barn Theatre in the Marin Art and Garden Center May=2
0
15-June 21, phone 415-456-9555 or visit www.rossvalleyplayers.com.
Flora Lynn Isaacson

Bloody Violence Over a Cat at
the Rep

If you enjoy violence-especially bloody violence-check out Martin
McDonagh's Lieutenant of
Inishmore directed by Les Waters at Berkeley Rep. From the opening of
Act One we witness a dead cat with a bloody severed head supposedly run
over by Davey (Adam Farabee) who brings the cat home to the older Donny
(strongly played by James Carpenter) claiming she/he (difficult to know
which sex because the character has hair and body like a girl and voice
like a boy) did not run over the cat with her/his bicycle but only
picked it up. In the next scene we see the owner of the cat, Padriac
(Blake Ellis) torturing a drug dealer hanging upside down by cutting
off his toes. After Padriac calls his father Donny to ask if all is
well including his beloved cat and is told his cat is recovering, he
dashes home. At one point he encounters young IRA fighter Mairead who
becomes enamored of him. After he reaches home to discover his cat has
been replaced by a red one covered with black shoe polish he prepares
to shoot both his father and Davey. The intrigue becomes even more
bloody when three IRA fighters appear to shoot Padriac for having
splintered from the original IRA. After Padriac along=2
0with Mairead
shoot the three members which brings for the the truth about how his
cat died, there is still more blood spattered about when Padriac orders
his father and Davey to cut up the three members' bodies. And when
Mairead finds her red cat had been killed by Padriac more shooting
occurs.Finally as Donny looks up to see Padriac's cat emerge from a
corner of the ceiling the audience is shaking even harder with
laughter over this bloody intrigue of mistaken identity.
It is no wonder that McDonagh's play was not accepted for production
until 2001, five years after he wrote it due to the controversial
subject matter and raw content. If one can view the play with a
detached sense of humor and not take the farcical exaggerated use of
blood curdling violence seriously but accept it as a good theatrical
device, this dynamically staged and acted play can be hilariously
funny. In fact it is reminiscent of the crude shocking buffoonery found
in the Commedia dell' Arte, one of the most vital dramatic forms found
throughout Western Theatre.
For info about the upcoming You, Nero by Amy Freed, call 510-647-2949
or 888 4-BRT-tix (toll-free) or visit berkeleyrep.org.

Robot's Revenge Steals the Show at Fringe of
Marin's Program II

"Robot's Revenge--A Relevant Pantomime" by Dr. Annette Lust and
directed by Sasha got this critic
's vote for most outstanding
production of the Fringe Festival. Erica Badgeley also gets my vote
for Best Actress as The Robot. Christine Clemmons was delightful as
the
Engineer's Wife, Johann Schiffer added able support as the Engineer,
and Lauren
Rigor interpreted the Company President. Sasha's masterful direction
and precise movements are reminiscent of both Morris Panych (ACT-The
Overcoat) and Marcel Marceau.
Best Solo Performance in Program II goes to Lucas McClure for his
wonderful piece, direction and performance in "McBooth" that, besides
being entertaining, offered a history lesson about Shakespeare's
Scottish play
"Special," written and directed by Ann Meredith is about five women
friends whose high school math teacher molested them. In their later
years, a chance presents itself for them to reclaim their stolen
innocence by speaking the truth. Meredith's play is both disturbing and
riveting and gets my vote for Outstanding Ensemble Work with Kathryn
Kim, Ida VSW Red, Lynae Ades, Roy Anne Florence and Mandy Omoregie.
In "One Shoe On," a humorous bachelor party by Dr. K. Adour and
directed by Robin Schild, two of the characters were doctors developed
out of
the past experience of retired physician, Dr. Adour. There were several
"in
jokes" and Robin Schild made the most of comic bits of business.
Outstanding
performances were by Rick Roitinger as Steve and Byron Lambie as
Harvey, a
zoologist. The lead character,
David Rouda, was cleverly directed in a
pratfall, getting tangled up in the cord of the phone. "One Shoe On"
was well
paced with a surprise ending.
Stanton Close's comedy "Darcy's Sex Scene," directed by Nina Lescher,
is based on a clever intrigue- in which a women's writing group meets
and Darcy (Jill Cagan) presents her story to the group. Two
actors downstag, Jonathan Vittum and Pami Malinova, pantomime what
Darcy is reading to the group. Darcy is at times inaudible and the
acting of Sara James, Gretchen Olivero and Gretchen Lee Salter is
uneven.
"Plutarch's Lives, A Darkish Autobiographical Comedy," written and
performed by Donna Budd and directed by Christine McHugh, takes us to
the heroine's hometown in North Carolina. Donna's perfect dialect due
to soft projection, was hard tounderstand. Donna Budd had a sly sense
of humor and an intelligent script, expressive eyes and gestures.
Opening night of Program II, Saturday, April 18, 2009 played to an
enthusiastic
sold out house with standing room only. The Fringe of Marin Festival
offers stimulating and entertaining theatre that discovers fresh voices
and brings in the community to
participate as either artist or spectator.
The Fringe of Marin Festival plays through May 3, 2009. Performances
are
Fridays-Saturdays, at 7:30 p.m. with Saturday and Sunday matinees at 2
p.m.
at Meadowlands Assembly Hall, Dominican University, San Rafael, CA.
For reservations and infor
mation, call
415-673-3131.
Flora Lynn Isa

Lunatique Fantastique's Lyrical and Heart
Wrenching Found Object Puppetry

Liebe Wetzel's revival of her piece Executive Order 9066, about the
incarceration of the West Coast Japanese and Japanese Americans in
camps in the Utah desert after the 1941 Pearl Harbor bombing with
puppets created with found objects, is a heart wrenching creation.
Similar to St. Exupéry's Little Prince, it is meaningful, entertaining
and appeals to all ages.
In her reworking of Executive Order 9066, Wetzel has refined the
movement expression that renders it more emotionally moving. Here she
extracts from the dramatic conflict moments of even deeper intimate
feelings on the part of the Mother (comprised of an upside down teapot
for her head and a piece of cloth for her gown and body) and her two
sons (with two teacups for heads and cloths for their clothing and
bodies) who are torn from their home and ordered to an internment camp.
After they are given number tags to wear, we move to a scene in which
the young boys clown around as they push a heavy suitcase toward the
camp. Our hearts come to a standstill when as they face their sad
destiny in the camp the boys, still fighting and playing with one
another like young kids, are separated when one is drafted to fight for
the Americans in the war. In a following scen
e the son is killed on the
battlefield. After their suitcase returns home, the executive order
number tags are placed standing up in the sand to represent the graves
of the dead soldiers. Once they reach home the souvenirs of the
Mother's loss of her son and their unhappy experience living in the

camp is depicted through her refusal to reopen the suitcase. After the
mother passes away her only son left on his own moves over to his
Mother's favorite little tree to hang on its branches the executive
order tags that turn into multiple white cotton blossoms.
The happy family life of the mother and her boys in which she teaches
her children not to fight with one another and to stand up courageously
against such adversity as their deportation to the camp are enacted
with physical movement that is so subtlety and emotionally interpreted
that one can not only see but also hear the characters breathing in
highly dramatic moments. This is evident is such scenes as the Mother
and boys' catching their breath with terror as they first read the
Executive Order official notice to move into a camp or when one of the
sons leaves to fight the Japanese in the American army.
Written by LiebeWetzel and Christine Young with Object Animation by
Liebe Wetzel and music by Shinji Eshima, the six animator puppeteers
who are responsible for this highly nuanced staging of the destruction
of a family within a background
of war performed by object puppets are
Jen Colasuonno, Sheila Devitt, Anna Fitzgerald, Susie Gaskill. Benjamin
Turner, and Patricia Tyler.
Liebe Wetzel's object puppetry has reached an even higher level of
lyrical and imaginative puppetry and dramatic symbolism with this
recent revival of Executive Order 9066.
For information about Liebe Wetzel's future stagings, call 800-838-3006
or 415-826-5750. Also visit www.themarsh.org.
Dr. Annette Lust

Lights Up! A Celebration of Cyril
Clayton

A Celebration of Cyril Clayton's 90th birthday as well as his 30th year
as
Founder and Artistic Director of ESSEFF Acting Clinic was held
Saturday, March
28, 2009 at the Presidio Middle School Theatre. Cyril Clayton has been
a much
beloved actor in the San Francisco Bay Area for the past 50 years.

Cyril Clayton's students presented scenes from great plays of world
theatre such
as "The Lion in Winter," "The Seagull," "A Man for All Seasons,"
"Macbeth,"
"Born Yesterday," "Anne of the Thousand Days," "The Glass Menagerie"
and "Waltz
of the Torreadors." Three male students presented three male
monologues and
three female students presented three female monologues.

Cyril Clayton has proved himself to be a great acting coach as well as
a great
actor. All of his students had wonderful stage presence. They included
Lynn
Lewis, Andrew Cof
fin Wolske, Don Corbin, Roger Prather, Audrey Tijerina
and Liz
Roberson. The show was produced by Lynn Lewis.

A marvelous party followed with refreshments and a fabulous birthday
cake with
Cyril's picture in the center.

Bravo Cyril! 90 years of Living! 30 years of Teaching!

Flora Lynn Isaacson

Holocaust Memories--Unforgotten and
Imagined

"The Model Apartment" by Donald Margulies, which opened at the
Traveling Jewish
Theatre, March 1, is a brilliant and bizarre black comedy about a pair
of
elderly Holocaust survivors and their outlandish, deranged daughter,
which in a
series of sometimes hilarious, sometimes moving scenes, traces the
pervasive
effect of their earlier trauma on the "better life" they have tried to
build.

Having retired to Florida in 1988, Max and Lola are dismayed to find
their new
condo is not yet ready for occupancy, and they are obliged to stay
temporarily
in a "model apartment"--a tacky, gaudily decorated facade with a fake
television
set and refrigerator where even the ashtrays are cemented in place.
Max and Lola had hoped to escape not only the nagging memories of their
earlier
lives, and the terrors of present-day Brooklyn, but also their fat,
schizophrenic daughter, Debbie, whom they tried to "pay off" with
generous
amounts of cash before their hasty departure. But Debbie, who seems to
symbolize
0Afor them, their awful past and present failures, soon appears, followed
in short
order by her underage, mildly retarded, black boyfriend, Neil.
Jarion Monroe as Max repeats, "For this, I walked out of the woods?" He
hid in a
forest until the end of the war, while his wife and daughter, Deborah,
perished
in a concentration camp. Max is constantly haunted by memories of his
daughter.
Lola survived the Bergen-Belsen Concentration Camp, and her memories
are not
strictly her own with her wishful dreaming and stories about Anne Frank
as her
best friend.
Naomi Newman and Jarion Monroe play off each other with the edgy
familiarity of a long-married couple.Amy Resnick all but steals the
show as their obese and mentally disturbed
daughter, Debbie and Margulies' dark humor with a wonderful sense of
timing. Anthony Williams lends strong support as Debbie's autistic
boyfriend,
Neil.
Amy Glazer, one of my favorite directors, handles the combination of
deeply
disturbing subject matter combined with outrageous humor like someone
who
understands these characters and their particular world.
For more information about future Traveling Jewish Theatre productions,
call 415-292-1233 or go online at www.ATJT.com.
Flora Lynn Isaacson

Holocaust Memories--Unforgotten and
Imagined

"The Model Apartment" by Donald Margulies, which opened at the
Traveling Jewish
Theatre, March 1, i
s a brilliant and bizarre black comedy about a pair
of
elderly Holocaust survivors and their outlandish, deranged daughter,
which in a
series of sometimes hilarious, sometimes moving scenes, traces the
pervasive
effect of their earlier trauma on the "better life" they have tried to
build.

Max and Lola had hoped to escape not only the nagging memories of their
earlier
lives, and the terrors of present-day Brooklyn, but also their fat,
schizophrenic daughter, Debbie, whom they tried to "pay off" with
generous
amounts of cash before their hasty departure. But Debbie, who seems to
symbolize
for them, their awful past and present failures, soon appears, followed
in short
order by her underage, mildly retarded, black boyfriend, Neil.

Jarion Monroe as Max repeats, "For this, I walked out of the woods?" He
hid in a
forest until the end of the war, while his wife and daughter, Deborah,
perished
in a concentration camp. Max is constantly haunted by memories of his
daughter.
Lola survived the Bergen-Belsen Concentration Camp, and her memories
are not
strictly her own with her wishful dreaming and stories=2
0about Anne Frank
as her
best friend.

Naomi Newman and Jarion Monroe are wonderful as they play off each
other with
the edgy familiarity of a long-married couple.

Amy Resnick all but steals the show as their obese and mentally
disturbed
daughter, Debbie. She handles Margulies' dark humor with a wonderful
sense of
timing. Anthony Williams lends strong support as Debbie's autistic
boyfriend,
Neil.

Amy Glazer, one of my favorite directors, handles the combination of
deeply
disturbing subject matter combined with outrageous humor like someone
who both
knows and understands these characters and their particular world.

"The Model Apartment" which is part of the Traveling Jewish Theatre's
30th
anniversary season runs through April 5, 2009. Thursday-Saturday
performances
are held at 8 p.m. Sunday performances are at 2 p.m. The Traveling
Jewish
Theatre is located at 470 Florida Street, San Francisco. Tickets can
be
obtained by calling 415-292-1233 or go online at www.ATJT.com.

Flora Lynn Isaacson

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Glengarry Glen Ross: the Life of a Salesman"

On the 25th anniversary of its U.K. premiere, Ross Valley Players
opened
"Glengarry Glen Ross" by David Mamet on Friday, January 16, 2009.
Winner of the
1984 Pulitzer Prize, this explosive drama follows four small-time real
estate
salesman in Chicago pushing plots of worthless land on reluctant buyers
and
trying to make a living by any means necessary, from lies and bribery
to threats
and intimidation. The language of these everyday con men and losers
defined the
Mamet style, creating a kind of grubby "Death of a Salesman."

In Act One, in 3 brief, two person scenes, set in a Chinese restaurant,
we meet
the primary characters and learn they are under extreme pressure to
sell
apparently worthless land in Florida and to succeed in this, they need
good
sales "leads" which are under the control of the office manager,
Williamson.

Act Two begins the next morning; the office has been ransacked and the
leads
have been stolen. The Act ends with the apprehension of Levine, one of
the
salesman, as the thief.

Roma, the fast talking superstar who weaves a web of words to capture
his prey,
is beautifully played by Eric Burke. Roma's ener
gy and charisma is as
essential
as his heartlessness to the meaning of Mamet's play. Roma's prey, a
hapless,
inarticulate man who finds these guys don't cheerfully return your
money when
you realize you've made a mistake, is bashfyully played by Stephen
Dietz.
Norman Hall gives an energetic performance as Shelly Levine, the aging
former
sales star, who is so desperate for money, he lends himself to the
dirtiest of
schemes to get it. H.D. Southerland fills the officious office
manager's shoes
with flair. Richard Conti as David Moss received a special hand of
applause
from the audience. Rounding out the cast, Tim Earls plays the timid
Aaronow and
Jason Souza is intimidating as Detective Baylen.

Bruce Lackovic, the set designer receives high praise for his two sets,
the
bright red and gold Chinese restaurant of Act One with two separate
tables which
gives a private, closed in feeling and then in Act Two, the wonderful
open set
of the office which begins with the "L" train in Chicago passing by and
has a
realistic see-through window. This set almost becomes a character in
the story
of these desperate salesman to win at any cost.

A great deal of high praise should also go to the experienced director,
James
Dunn, who has been directing and teaching theatre arts for 48 years.
Under
Dunn's careful direction, all of these actors give convincing
performances and
capture the rhyt
hm of the language and meld into a true ensemble.

"Glengarry Glen Ross" plays at the Barn Theatre, Marin Art and Garden
Center,
Sir Francis Drake Blvd. at Lagunitas, in Ross from January 16 through
February
22. Performances are held at 8 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays, 7:30 p.m.
Thursdays
and 2 p.m. Sundays. Buy tickets online at www.rossvalleyplayers.com or
call
415-456-9555.

Floralynn Isaacson

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