OREGON SHAKESPEARE FESTIVAL (October-November)
Eddie Carbone (Armando Durán) and his wife Beatrice (Vilma Silva) try to find some common ground. Photo by Jenny Graham. OREGON SHAKESPEARE FESTIVAL (OSF); P.O. Box 158, 15 South Pioneer Street, Ashland, OR 97520. 541-482-2111, 541-482-0446 fax, 541-482-4331 box office; www.osfashland.org
A VIEW FROM THE BRIDGE, A MIDSUMMER NIGHT’S DREAM and BREAKFAST, LUNCH AND DINNER.
With the closure of the outdoor Elizabethan Stage October 12, 2008, the Oregon Shakespeare Festival continues indoors until November 2. On the main Angus Bowmer Theatre there is a tremendous “do not miss” production of Arthur Miller’s “View From The Bridge.” Written and produced in 1955, before container ships became the de rigueur for ocean cargo transportation, it may seem a bit dated but it still packs an emotional and physical wallop with strong characters and brilliant staging. The casting could not be better and director Libby Appel has expanded the cast to create living tableau that freeze during the monologues delivered by Mr. Alfieri (Tony DeBruno) a lawyer, the narrator and a one man Greek Chorus with prophecies for future calamities.
The general setting is a tenement house and streets in Red Hook, Brooklyn, the home of Eddie Carbone (Armando Duran), his wife Beatrice (Vilma Silva) and their niece Catherine (Stephanie Beatriz) who is blossoming into womanhood. They agree to take in Beatrice’s cousins Marco (David DeSantos) and his brother Rudolpho (Juan Rivera LeBron) who are there illegally from economically depressed Sicily.
Eddie, the central character, is inarticulate but admirable, having raised his orphaned niece and now makes room for the smuggled Sicilians. Eddie’s love for his niece borders on incestuousness and his antipathy to the handsome, blond Rudolpho’s attachment to Catherine snowballs into obsessiveness. His violent opposition masks his hidden desires and he deludes himself into suspecting Rudolpho of being less than a man because “He sings, he sews, he can cook, . . . he’s not what a man should be.” The stage is set for a stunning dramatic ending
Duran’s performance has the right mixture to convey the complexities of Eddie’s character with the dominating physical presence dictated by Miller’s stage direction. Vilma Silva’s portrayal of the acquiescent wife that grows to a pillar of strength is the perfect sounding board for the smouldering Eddie. David DeSantos creates a strong, reticent Marco that flares to violence while Stephanie Beatriz and Juan Rivera LeBron handle the burgeoning love affair with a charming mixture of gentle exuberance and desire.
Running Time about two hours an 30 minutes .
Shakespeare’s “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” will never be the same after Mark Rucker’s concept production that was received with great appreciation by the younger audiences that are flocking to see it. When Rucker directed “Twelfth Night” for California Shakespeare Company, a headline read “RUCKER CREATES A RUCKUS!” He carries his modus operandi throughout this super-modern version with inter-galactic costumes, rock concert staging and forest fairies that would be a smash hit at the San Francisco Folsom Street Fair or Halloween in the Castro District. The review begs for alliteration since the entire show is raucous, raunchy, racy and ribald and right on for an evening (or matinee) of riotous fun.
Running Time about two hours and 41 minutes.
The “near” world premiere of “Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner” is a strange play given a fantastically interesting staging in the confines of the New Theatre. (The world premiere was produced in the Mark Taper forum in Los Angeles.) It is an admixture of heartfelt comedy/drama with surrealistic fantasy. If there is a basic tenet it is related to either, no one loves a fat person or within every fat person there is a thin person trying to get out of her body. The four-member cast of Sandra Marquez, Zilah Mendoza, G. Valmont Thomas and Rene Millan are all excellent actors working as an ensemble with each having individual moments to shine. What makes this show a “must see” production is the set and technical design especially with the “out of body” special effects? The question mark is intentional.
Running Time about two hours and 5 minutes.
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