December/January 2009/2010 Theatre Reviews

December/January 2009/2010 Theatre Reviews

She Stoops to Comedy--
A Gay Romp at SF Playhouse SF Playhouse opened the West Coast Premiere
of "She Stoops to Comedy" as their holiday show which is a playful
gender-bending comedy by one of New York's most innovative
writer/performers David Greenspan. Set in a summer-stock production
of Shakespeare's "As You Like It," actress Alexandra Page (Liam
Vincent) schemes to woo back her estranged female lover by playing
Orlando (who everyone knows is a man) opposite her lover Alison's
(Sally Clawson) Rosalind. Right, that's a man playing a woman
pretending to be a man to woo a woman playing a woman who pretends to
be a man. The title of the play is a take-off on "She Stoops to
Conquer," Oliver Goldsmith's 18th century farce. In As You Like It,
does Orlando know Rosalind is really a woman? Does Alison know that
Alexandra is? As in Ferenc Molnar's "The Guardsman," we never know for
sure. Under Mark Rucker's inspired direction, the excellent cast
enlivens Greenspan's script. Liam Vincent delivers his lines with
perfect dry wit. Sally Clawson as Alison enacts her character's wish
that an actor be more relaxed. As Director Hal and his assistant, Eve,
Cole Alexander Smith and Carly Ciotti provide comic relief from the
intensity of the lovers. Two people really steal the show, Scott
Capurro (who does an amazing monologue) as Simon Languish, an aging
homosexual and Amy Resnick playing two characters in conversation with
each other--one the very butch Kay Fein, an archaeologist and lighting
designer and the other a vain, pretentious actress, Jane Summerhouse.
Artistic Director Bill English provides us with a great set. Kurt
Landisman on the lights was fantastic, and Valera Coble's costumes were
imaginative. Of course, without the inspired directing by Mark Rucker,
this play would not be as compelling. Performances of She Stoops to
Comedy continue at SF Playhouse through January 9. For tickets, call
415-677-9596 or go online at www.sfplayhouse.org. Coming up next at
SF Playhouse on January 23 will be "Animals out of Paper" by Rajiv
Joseph directed by Amy Glazer. Flora Lynn Isaacson

Crossing the Borders of the Arts of the Theatre in Aurélia's Oratorio

Spectators at Berkeley Rep's opening night of Aurélia's Oratorio are
from the start intrigued after a male voice on a phone insists that the
female protagonist respond and then view an arm, a leg and finally a
young woman's body emerging from the drawers of a dresser. They are
still more stunned as, to the sounds of chamber music and gypsy jazz,
the female performer swings across the stage on red streamers and
performs acrobatics in the air, viewing the world upside down just as
the viewers do throughout this work filled with unusual illusionary
images. At one point the stage curtains begin to move and crumble as
though they, too, are performing. Multiple fast moving images and
magical illusions follow among which is a film like clip in which the
heroine is attacked by eerie monsters as she reposes and another one in
which small puppets jump on the heroine and attempt to kiss her. An
audibly enticing image is that of the protagonist playing with an
orchestra of clocks, including a cuckoo clock, that emit various
musical sounds. An outstanding scene is that of dancer Jaime Martinez
lithely dancing with a coat that gives the illusion of being a real
character with which he swishes across the stage like a feather in the
wind.

Aurelia's Oratorio purposely defies the definition of the word
oratorio, defined in Webster's dictionary as a "lengthy choral work
usually of a religious nature and consisting of recitatives, arias and
choruses without action or scenery."

Charles Chaplin's daughter Victoria, who conceived and directed the
piece, and granddaughter Aurélia, who starred in the piece, have not
only continued the tradition of their father and grandfather's silent
film acting art. They have gone a step further to enhance that silent
art by combining multiple theatre arts in an imaginative and original
single theatrical form. As they cross continents they readily reach
audiences through mime, circus and acrobatic feats, dance, theatre of
objects and illusions, puppetry and film. Their work provokes shock as
well as delight such as, for example, that of an electric train giving
the illusion of running through a female's stomach that provides a
provocative and jarring surrealistic ending.

By the end of Aurélia's Oratorio, the audience is completely won over
and spectators stand to applaud loudly.

Aurélia's Oratorio plays until Jan. 24.. Up next at Berkeley Rep is the
West Coast Premiere of Athol Fugard's Coming Home Jan. 15-Feb. 28. For
tix and info call 510-647-2949.

Aurora Theatre's Fat Pig Telling Comedy About Obesity

Neil Labute's Fat Pig grabs you from the start because of its witty and
cutting repartee between Tom, his newfound fat girlfriend Helen, his
protective friend Carter, and jealous ex girlfriend Jeannie. But this
highly comical repartee gradually turns to a dark side when the truth
behind the playful and at times biting sarcastic dialogue concerning
Tom's choice of a girlfriend his peers liken to a "fat pig" begins to
affect his feelings for Helen.
When Tom meets the portly librarian Helen at a fast food restaurant and
her friendliness prompts him to share her table, he is soon drawn to
her frank unconventionality. They begin dating and develop a very
private relationship deprived of the inclusion of Tom's friends or
others." This little pig stayed home" is an increasingly disturbing
rime to Helen. For, although Tom is falling in love with Helen and
feeling liberated and happy with her spontaneous and open-minded
nature, he harbors a growing concern about her physical appearance. As
the psychological and social pressures placed upon him by his ex
jealous girlfriend and his male friend discourage him from continuing
to relate to fat female, will his promise to continue with their happy
relationship be broken?

Labute's so-called comedy about obese people not only contains a
revealing truth about society's condemnation of oversized women or men.
It goes a step further to
present the power of social prejudice and the failure to uphold one'
own choices in the face of conventionality. As the play progresses Tom
begins to be seen as a coward for not
being true to himself and not defending his right to love whomever.
Will he choose to go with the flow of accepting what others think?

The two fold conflicts of the heroine suffering society's
stigmatization for being overweight and that of the hero's wincing
before his promise of eternal love to himself and to Helen render
Labute's Fat Pig dramatically powerful. And it is the playwright's
brutally truthful depiction of the hero's dilemma that is not fully
apparent until the play's end that provides the piece with
psychological and sociological meaning.

Directed by Barbara Damashek on a stage arranged in horseshoe style,
the play moves at a rapid pace with a quick change of scenery and of
costumes cleverly done by the cast. This helps to tighten the sometimes
lengthy repetitive arguments and comments over Helen's weight.

Liliane Klein is a charming Helen- only somewhat obese that makes her
role believable rather than farcical and in which her smile and
vitality compensate for her obesity. Jud Williford is a disturbed, on
the defensive main male protagonist, filled with hesitations about his
final choices. Alexandra Creighton's Jeannie is is a highly revengeful
ex lover and Peter Ruocco mixes nosiness with wit as Tom's friend's
Carter.

Labute's Fat Pig, as all his plays, promotes individual choice in
order to preserve the entity of the human élan. Actually his downbeat
critical style lends clarity and strength to our battles with the
illusions and deceptions regarding the superficial pressures of social
conformity.
Fat Pig plays at the Aurora Theatre through December 6th. Upcoming at
the Aurora is the world premiere of Joel Drake Johnson's The First
Grade, Jan.22- Feb. 28. For information call 510-843-4822 or visit
auroratheatre.org.
Dr. Annette Lust

A Christmas Memory, A Heartwarming Holiday Tale

Theatre Rhinoceros in collaboration with Word for Word presented A
Christmas Memory, Truman
Capote's humorous and heartbreaking tale of growing up in rural
Alabama in the 30s and his great
Christmas adventure at at atTheatre Artaud'ssold out house on Monday,
December 14, 2009.

Word for Word Performing Arts Company is an ensemble whose mission is
to tell great stories with
elegant theatricality, staging performances of classic and contemporary
fiction. Founded in 1993 by
Susan Harloe and Jo Anne Winter, Word for Word believes in the power of
the short story to provide
solace, compassion and insight into our daily lives. A Christmas
Memory directed by Jo Anne Winter
certainly does all of that and more.

Noted for adapting short works of fiction for the stage, without
changing a word of the original text, Word for Word turns short fiction
into fantastic theatre. And supporting arts organization, Z Space
Studio of which always has an intriguing show in development.

A Christmas Memory is Capote's largely autobiographical story of
seven-year old Buddy (Alex Moggridge) and his much older cousin, Sook
(Patricia Silver), whose trip to find favorite ingredients becomes a
memorable adventure, told through the eyes of Capote's seven-year old
self.
Buddy gets us "to imagine a morning in late November." Buddy tells his
story in the present tense which gives it a certain immediacy. Buddy
and his "friend," a distant, eccentric, and in those times, elderly
(mid-sixties) cousin Sook prepare several dozen fruitcakes and mail
them to people they admire.
Gathering the pecans from those left behind in the harvest, buying
illegally made whiskey for soaking
The cakes, getting a trifle tipsy on the leftovers, cutting their own
tree, and decorating it with home-made ornaments are some of the
adventures the two share. The outside world barely intrudes on this
portrayal
of a loving friendship which wraps us in coziness like the worn scrap
quilt warms Sook.

Winters' staging is innovative. We are so caught up in the story and
lose awareness that the actors are carrying scripts. Both Alex
Moggridge and Patricia Silver give moving performances as Buddy and
Sook.
They are given able support by Molly Noble who makes a darling dog,
Queenie, and Robert Sicular who portrays an Indian, "Ha Ha Jones," from
whom the two buy their whiskey.J. Raoul Brody adds a nice touch of
music with the accordion and an electric keyboard.

Next up at the Z Space Studio is Sharon Gless in "A Round-Heeled
Woman," a stage play by
Jane Prowse from the book by Jane Juska and directed by Chris Smith,
playing January 5-February 7,
2010. For reservations, call 415-626-0453 or go online at
www.zspace.org for details.

Flora Lynn Isaacson

Communication Is Key To Saving A Life
As part of their 80th season, Ross Valley Players has added "The
Miracle Worker" by William Gibson as their second production. This is
also the 50th anniversary of The Miracle Worker which premiered
October, 1959. This play is set in Alabama in the 1880's and tells
the real-life story of Helen Keller, a girl who at a very young age is
left blind, deaf and dumb after surviving an attack of scarlet fever.
Unable to communicate with the world, the girl suffers fits of
frustration which manifest in violent tantrums. Her desperate parents
seek help from the Perkins Institute who send Annie Sullivan, a
visually impaired young woman to tutor Helen Through kindness,
persistence and forceful stubbornness, Annie finally breaks through the
barriers that separate the frustrated Helen from the rest of the world
and teaches the girl a method by which she can communicate with the
people around her.

Director Linda Dunn skillfully directs her cast of twelve (including
some adorable children) in a well paced natural clip. The flow is
seamless. There are no weak actors. Samantha Martin is a must-see
young actress in the physically and emotionally demanding role of
Helen. She balances relentless frustration with naive awakening.
Samantha is Helen!

This play is truly the story of Annie Sullivan, who was the miracle
worker. Megan Pryor-Lorentz gives Annie a dichotomy of forthrightness
and doubt, strength and vulnerability, courage and bravado, humor and
drama. Lorentz is an actress who easily meets the many challenges of
Annie. Lauren Doucette (Helen's mother) portrays a genteel, southern
lady with a backbone when it comes to her child. Tom Reilly (Helen's
father) gives a strong performance as a newspaper publisher who
possesses much power, both in the business world and his home. Brook
Robinson (Helen's brother) shows the clear growth of his character's
inner self. Karol Strempke gives a bossy performance as Aunt Ev who is
a talkative woman who tries to be helpful. Mary Jane Baird as Viney,
the servant in charge of the daily housework and meals in the Keller
household, is cheerful, practical and very adept at her job. Rounding
out the cast is Ray Martin as Anagnos, Annie's counselor at the Perkins
Institute for the Blind. It is Anagnos who places Annie in the
Keller's home as a governess for Helen. He is loving and kindly with
Annie but can also be stern when necessary.

Set Designer Michael Cook and Lighting Designer Ellen Brooks arrange
multiple areas representing indoor and outdoor space, clearly defined
by an interior of the house and various exterior areas with variations
of spotlights. Sound Designer Billie Cox has given us both civil war
songs and parlor songs such as "After the Ball" and "Just A Song At
Twilight" as musical background.

Communication is the crux of this play-without it, the human spirit is
locked.

The Miracle Worker plays at the Barn Theatre, Marin Art and Garden
Center, 30 Sir Francis Drake Blvd. at Lagunitas, Ross through December
6.followed by Moliere's Miser Jan 15 to Feb. 14.For tickets,
call 415-456-9555 or go online at www.rossvalleyplayers.com.
Flora Lynn Isaacson

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