2008-04 Vital Source Mag – April 2008
Armadale
Brian Vaughan and Emily Trask in Armadale Jeffrey Hatcher is one of the most talented American playwrights alive. His deftly-written monologue program Three Viewings recently found a local stage at Kopper Bear productions — a tiny studio staging which became one of the best productions in the county this season, of any size. Even the best writers, however, don’t always write the best stuff. For Hatcher, Armadale is a perfect example. Hatcher’s adaptation of the 1862 penny dreadful by Wilkie Collins makes its world premiere this month at The Milwaukee Rep. While it has its moments, Hatcher’s adaptation of Armadale is an amateurish work that nearly succeeds in spite of itself thanks to the heroic efforts of a top-notch Milwaukee Rep cast. Armadale is the story of two men, both named Allan Armadale, caught in the scheming web of Lydia Gwilt. Collins forged Armadale’s voluminous plot in tiny episodes as a very long-running serial, with the complete novel weighing in at well over 700 pages. In theory there could be countless ways to capture Collins’ unique blend of turgid romantic soap opera and social commentary into a stage play. Only the least imaginative would involve a script that stretches nearly three hours onstage, which is exactly what Hatcher has done here. Rather than carefully choose the most dramatic scenes in the novel to construct a graceful, deftly-paced plot, Hatcher has slapped together a script that lurches, heaves and gasps across the stage, occasionally running when it should walk, jumping when it should crouch, leaving stranded the few truly captivating moments of drama, comedy and beauty. For all its pedigree, The Rep’s world premier production of Armadale fits one of the most common profiles in local theater: a remarkably talented cast thrown at a less-than-inspired script. While the cast manages to salvage some of the script’s less entertaining moments, more often than not, decent talent goes underutilized. Brian Vaughn and Michael Gotch play the Allans, with Vaughn in peak form here as a wealthy man caught up in forces beyond his control. But Gotch, though up to his usual standards, seems to be thrown at a far from interesting character. In stand-out performances, Gerard Neugent brilliantly plays an investigator with a few fleeting but hilarious moments, and Emily Trask is excellent in her twin roles (the last before she leaves town to begin an MFA program at the Yale School of Drama). Living up to her high visibility in the Rep’s promotional material for the play, Milwaukee Rep Resident Actress Deborah Staples gives one of her best performances in years as the story’s incomparable femme fatale: Ms. Lydia Gwilt. VS The Milwaukee Rep’s production of Armadale runs through May 25 at the Quadracci Powerhouse Theatre. Tickets can be purchased in advance by calling the Rep box office at 414-224-9490 or visit the Rep online. Wilkie Collins’ original novel Armadale is in pubic domain and can be found free of charge online.
Apr 29th, 2008 by Russ Bickerstaff
Setting the stage
Jeffrey M. Kenney is an employee of Katie Gingrass Gallery, and even though his artist statement reads “Jeffrey M. Kenney,” you can just call him “Jeff.” I saw two of his photographs recently when I stopped in to write a Shepherd Express review of an exhibition at Gingrass Gallery. They were not part of the show, but I ended up standing in front of them anyway. He handed me the March 2008 issue of Vital Source – he did the cover art – then he toured me through the gallery. You can view a broader sampling of his work when Urban Perspectives opens on May 2. When I phoned him to set up an interview, he told me he’d just moved from Bremen Street to “more shrunken” third floor quarters in a majestic house on Humboldt. We agree to meet on a Monday, late in the afternoon – Mondays mean freedom for Jeff, and freedom means time to develop ideas in his new space. I warn him to not rush around and tidy up before my arrival. “I doubt if that’s even possible at this point,” he replies. March 31: Rain with fog. I brace myself for a climb to the third floor. Jeff leads the way up the narrow stairs to his apartment. Plaster walls, elegant coved ceiling, deep window sills, original radiators, three rooms and a spacious bath, all recently updated with new appliances. The red light on the oven indicates it’s baking something – a miniature papier-mâché sculpture he intends to incorporate in his art. Jeff is a twin (his brother is a musician living in Austin, Texas), born in Viroqua, Wisconsin on January 20, 1981 – the day of Ronald Reagan’s inauguration as President of the United States. He doesn’t have cable, so he haunts Peoples Bookstore and Riverwest Film & Video. He’s currently reading works by French writer Paul Virilio, who studies war and the speed of our current society. One of his favorite films is The Magician by George Melies, who shaped early cinema from the late 1890s through the 1920s. “They resemble one-minute magic tricks,” Jeff observes. Illusion interests this artist, who once had a summer job in the Dells as a videographer for a magician. “I also mowed his lawn,” he says. His father is a pilot and his mom is helping with an environmental clean-up at former site used to produce ammunition during the Second World War. If you’ve ever visited the fantastic acres of Dr. Evermore’s “Forevertron” sculptures near New Freedom, Wisconsin, it’s directly across the road. He graduated from MIAD in 2003, with a BFA in Sculpture. Back then, he was just beginning to explore and develop his current arsenal of ideas. Before graduating, he studied at S.A.C.I. in Florence, Italy, and labored there as a teaching assistant. We chat about the problems young artists encounter when trying to price their work for specific markets. I remind him that $50 seems to be the going price around here, and […]
Apr 25th, 2008 by Stella Cretek
Two one-act dramas
Underground art institutions Insurgent Theatre and Alchemist Theatre have teamed up for a double feature that explores the darker side of human emotion. The two shorts, split by an intermission, run no longer than an average feature-length drama. The presentation runs through May 4. Insurgent opens the program with Cracks in the Floor, a compelling naturalistic drama starring Tim Chrapko and Tracy Doyle as siblings who live above a man running a Christian cult (Jason Hames). Doyle’s performance is inexplicably captivating given the passivity of her character while Chrapko’s best work lies in unspoken movements – in the title moment, for instance, when he peels back the carpeting to reveal light shining through a crack in the apartment floor. In a brilliant and subtle statement about the nature of observation, Cracks in the Floor turns mirrors upon mirrors as the audience watches Chrapko watch those who are watching Hames. The play was developed in Insurgent’s workshop and through intensive one-on-one character development with director Wes Tank. The resulting short is by no means a ground-breaking work, but the process contributed to producing a profoundly moody piece that drifts across the stage with a casually dazzling darkness. In Alchemist’s psychological thriller 31 – set along US Highway 31 – Kirk Thomsen plays a reluctant forensic pathologist investigating a string of murders with Aaron Kopec as the womanizing police investigator working alongside him. Kopec also designed the set, which is impressively detailed for such a small space. Liz Shipe picks up dual roles as the forensic pathologist’s wife and a waitress at the diner where the two investigators meet. The plot is derivative of Hollywood crime dramas and draws quite close to Christopher Nolan’s indie classic Memento, but the ensemble manages to deliver interesting, clever performances. Shipe and Kopec’s moments together as Investigator and Waitress are some of the most novel in the play. Thomsen’s believable performance tempers the pathologist’s uneasiness with an understated professional detachment. The story of 31 ends with a video segment which fails to tie together an otherwise satisfying first outing for Alchemist Theatre Productions. VS Cracks In The Floor and 31 run through May 4 at the Alchemist Theatre. For more information, visit Insurgent and/or Alchemist online.
Apr 25th, 2008 by Russ Bickerstaff
Talley’s Folly
Originally staged in 1979, Talley’s Folly is a romantic theatrical waltz for two written by Lanford Wilson. Milwaukee Chamber Theatre closes its season with a production of the play starring Laura Gray and Jonathan West. In 90 minutes without intermission we see an unlikely romance develop between an older man and a younger woman on July 4th, 1944. Jonathan West plays Matt Friedman, a sharp Jewish gentleman who is smitten with Sally Talley, a strong-willed, highly articulate southern woman. Matt meets Sally at a decaying gazebo-like boathouse in twilight. In no uncertain terms, Sally tries to tell Matt that she doesn’t want to have anything to do with him, but Matt is persistent. It doesn’t take a genius to figure out where the plot will ultimately end up, but it does get there in a refreshing way. Cast in the glow of Jason Fassl’s lighting design, R.H. Graham’s well-designed set establishes a pleasant mood. Still, the play starts off on the wrong foot; when it begins, there is Jonathan West, bearded, speaking in an accent that is difficult to place. That’s intentional, but West’s voice doesn’t sound natural, even if the emotions behind it seem to be. West tries his best to be charming at the outset, but he falls considerably short for at least the first quarter hour, coming off as that guy you meet at the bus stop whose conversation you tolerate for the sole purpose of being polite. Laura Gray as Sally makes it apparent that she wants to get rid of Matt as quickly as possible, but, though it is easy to identify with her need to get away from this guy, sympathy doesn’t go far enough to make her seem all that pleasant either. But the awkward first third of the play is worth sitting through, particularly for those who pay attention. Somewhere after the first half hour, the dynamic between Sally, Matt and the audience becomes a lot more comfortable. There’s an emotional gravity between Sally and Matt that keeps them orbiting each other in conversation, careful to keep their distance for fear of crashing into each other too soon. Gray and West portray the intricacies of human emotional traction with admirable subtlety. As the story of Matt and Sally becomes increasingly interesting, the production builds momentum, and somewhere around the last quarter hour of the play, Matt Friedman becomes irresistibly charming, and Sally’s strength becomes unspeakably beautiful. The audience had to sit though 75 minutes worth of less-than-satisfying theatre, but everything ends almost perfectly. Right on time. And without the relative discomfort of much of the rest of the play, those last 15 minutes wouldn’t have been anywhere near as good as they end up being. As it is, this is one of the most satisfying productions of the season, even though so much of it is rather unpleasant. VS Talley’s Folly runs through May 4 at the Broadway Theatre Center’s Cabot Theatre. Tickets can be purchased by calling the box office at […]
Apr 21st, 2008 by Russ Bickerstaff
A Streetcar Named Desire
It’s the most depressing play I’ve seen in over a year. I checked. Tennessee Williams didn’t just want to tell a sad story — he wanted to agonize about it for eleven relentless scenes. He might not have known at the time that he was writing what was destined to be one of the most respected works of American drama to come out of the twentieth century, but he knew how to tell a story people wanted to remember. This month, Blanche, Stella, Stanley and all the rest of the characters from 1940’s New Orleans renew their suffering on the stage of the Sunset Playhouse in Elm Grove. Director Mark Salentine has said that he wanted to go back to Williams’ original Broadway script, which focuses on the plight of Blanche DuBois, played here by Mary C. DeBattista. DeBattista renders an impressively complex performance as a fading beauty with faltering psycho-emotional stability. Angela Beyer makes a solid contrast as Stella, exuding an earth-bound pragmatism that fits really well in the role. As Stella’s husband Stanley, Andy North grounds his aggression with a driven, stubborn emotional gravity that maintains the dynamic between the three principals. This isn’t a perfect vision of imperfection. Environmental sounds are extremely flat and musical scoring added to amplify the intensity proves more of a distraction than an enhancement of the atmosphere. But few minor flaws aside, this is one of the best productions Salentine has directed in recent years. The flow of movement and emotion across the stage is impressively well-modulated. The full ensemble immerses the production in an organic atmosphere aided by a realistic J. Michael Desper set and fight choreography by Gene Schuldt. It’s difficult to make stage fighting convincing, but as we’ve seen before, Schuldt does well with messy brawls; his fight choreography is particularly graphic. His talent is in perfect form here to show the full brutality of drunken human aggression. And then there’s the smoke, which creates an intense sensory atmosphere that drives home the earthiness of the production. I’ve seen and smelled cigarettes wafting across an audience before. Sometimes the smell of cigarette smoke in an auditorium brings the reality of a character or two into the audience in a novel way. In this production, there are only one or two characters in the entire show that don’t smoke. Stanley’s got a few guys over for a poker game and there are at least four lit cigarettes onstage. The smell of cigarettes, however brief, fills the entire auditorium. A hazy miasma rises into the stage lights. This is a gritty, gritty production, perhaps the darkest Sunset production in years. VS Sunset Playhouse’s production of A Streetcar Named Desire runs through May 3. For more information call the Sunset Playhouse box office at 262-782-4430 or visit the Sunset online.
Apr 16th, 2008 by Vital Archives
Eureka!
By Charise Dawson The Boulevard Ensemble Studio Theatre, located at 2252 S. Kinnickinnic, opened the world premiere of Chad M. Rossi’s Eureka! on Wednesday, April 9. The play runs through Sunday, April 27. Modern theatre needs new writers. According to Artistic Director Mark Bucher, theatre competes with television, film and technical writing. Without new theatre writers, audiences would suffer through endless re-stagings of Arsenic and Old Lace and Nunsense. New playwrights and new scripts attract new audiences, provide new opportunities for actors and demand a collaborative partnership with all of the talents on board. Eureka!, a new play by a new writer, is a perfect example of the seeds that a fresh production can sow. According to Bucher, pages, subplots and an entire character were cut from Rossi’s original script over the course of one month of rehearsals. Now it’s up to the audience and critics to test the piece and provide valuable feedback to the playwright. In turn, the playwright will continue to develop his piece. The comedy takes place in modern-day Milwaukee and features two male roommates under the wiles of two female friends. It explores what can happen to a male friendship beyond the college years and takes a compelling look at the driver/follower relationship on both the platonic level and the romantic level. Generally, the male/female pairings produce more chemistry than the friendly banter between the men. The first half of the script is devoted entirely to the men in the four-person cast, and the interplay between the two becomes strained over time. The play spins its wheels for too long before the women enter to infuse the story with more life. The characters are credibly sketched, though each seems a bit one-dimensional during his or her time on stage. There is the dreamer, the achiever, the bitch and the free-spirit. A lack of reversals, transformations and surprises keep the characters from going beyond a “type.” Bucher attempts to play up the script’s comedic aspects by adding a more rigorously physical dimension to the acting than the text might imply. The result seems discordantly cartoonish, although there are some very effective choices in the scene between Clyde and Teri (Jason Krukowski and Rachel Lewandowski). The actress suggests an impromptu after-bar dance party and tries to coax her partner into dancing. The physicality was wonderfully awkward and offbeat. The director’s notes affirm that this is an attempt to fully “produce” new work rather than simply “develop” it. But while Eureka! may be on the right track, both the script and Bucher’s interpretation feel distinctly as if they are still in the “development” phase. VS For more insight on Eureka!, Read Charise Dawson’s interview with Chad M. Rossi. Eureka! stars Rachael Lau (Nancy), Rachel Lewandowski (Teri), Cesar Gamino (Wayne) and Jason Krukowski (Clyde). All performances are at the Ensemble’s theatre space, located at 2252 South Kinnickinnic. For tickets and information, call 414.744.5757 or visit the Boulevard online.
Apr 15th, 2008 by Vital Archives
Babylon Circus brings dances of resistance to Milwaukee
It’s 12:55 in the afternoon, and I’m preparing to make my first international call through my cell phone. It’s almost 8 pm in France, where lead singer David Baruchel is in the studio with ten other bandmates making their latest album. It’s a big deal. The 2004 Babylon Circus album Dances of Resistance was a hit; worldwide, the group is as big a draw as, say, the Red Hot Chili Peppers are in America. But perhaps you haven’t heard of them. While Babylon Circus has produced three full-length albums and one EP since 1995 and sometimes play for huge audiences (for proof, see here), their influence in the States is relatively minor. This may be in part because most of their songs are in French (sometimes mixed mid-song with English), or it may be because the genre of music they play is hard to nail down and describe. The group’s nom de guerre is apt: Babylon Circus is influenced by Romani music and instruments infused with the bombastic rhythms of reggae and ska. The style is often called “chanson,” which uses the meter and timbre of the French language to set the rhythm. Their onstage antics and cacophony of sound bring frequent comparisons to Gogol Bordello, an international band that plays hardcore cabaret- and punk-influenced rock music. How about this for a written description? Take shades of No Doubt, Sublime, Bob Marley, and Less than Jake – but add even more musical chops. BC’s songs are mostly about social awareness and change, with occasional riffs on personal love and loneliness (like “J’auruis bien voulu”) but nary a treacle-y power ballad in the repertoire. Baruchel emphasizes that the sonic wave of joy and love they send out at their concerts gets bounced right back. “It’s always a big adventure, and we don’t always know what will be next,” Baruchel says. “In New York,” he says – the only North American city the band has played until now – “we played for a big audience in Central Park and a small one in Brooklyn. Each one had a different energy – both were powerful and filled with a lot of love.” Baruchel goes on to describe the vibe from a well-chronicled musical happening in Syria that BC encountered right about the time of the start of the war in Iraq. They weren’t sure how they would be received, but in the middle of the show, the band stepped down from the stage and paraded down the street “carnival style.” Soon shopkeepers were closing up to join the festivities and women in full hijab were dancing along with the music. Even if they couldn’t understand the words, people could relate to the joyful sound. “Afterwards one man took me in his arms,” Baruchel says. “I couldn’t understand what he was saying, but I could feel what he was saying – that it was good to him.” There are other tales of BC’s tours in Ireland, Russia, Australia and beyond. It’s hard to tell […]
Apr 15th, 2008 by Brian Jacobson
Chad M. Rossi’s big ideas
By Charise Dawson Boulevard Ensemble Studio Theatre closes its 22nd season with Milwaukee Playwright Chad M. Rossi’s comedy Eureka! The company calls the play a randy comedy of “fourplay,” rife with young-adult growing pains, a love story or two and aliens from outer space. The production exemplifies the Boulevard’s mission to provide training for emerging artists. Rossi came to Milwaukee from “up north” five years ago. He knew he wanted to pursue a job in the arts and worked at the Marcus Center for the Performing Arts as a house manager. Here he had his first opportunity to see a performance on the big stage and watch how people reacted to each production. His interest in theatre “just clicked.” “There is human connection,” he said. “It’s the old idea of storytelling. Having people laugh, cry, connect and come together as a community to listen to a story.” Eureka! is Rossi’s first try at a production of this scale. Triggered by the theme of grandiosity, Rossi created a character, Clyde, caught up in the mania of a changing world. The title comes from Clyde’s ideas, or as Rossi puts is, his “eureka” moments. “He becomes disillusioned. He creates big ideas to deal with what he cannot control.” The play is also a relationship play. “It shows the evolution of friendship and how an old college relationship changes when one person meets someone else. Clyde was going through a disgruntled time [and] learning that life was not all roses.” “How do you deal with the bad and still have love and find beauty?” Rossi wanted to ask. “There has to be a natural balance. An acceptance. How can we connect as human beings and at the same time be worried about what could happen to us? Our society can make people so mean and hardened by experience.” Strong women, drawn from life Rossi also used his script to explore the strength of women in male/female relationships. The women characters take over the play from the moment they are introduced. Rossi has always had strong women in his life. “They’ve always run the house. They’ve always run the show. They still do.” Audience members had a hard time liking one strong female character, Nancy, a seemingly uptight shot-caller. Many called her a bitch and struggled to understand what her male counterpart saw in her. Rossi defended her. “Mark made a great comment the other night. He said ‘If the apartment would suddenly start on fire and all four characters were in the apartment, Nancy would get everyone out.’ She is in control. She makes sure everyone is doing well. She won’t take anyone’s bullshit. “My wife has read more of my work than anyone on the planet, including me,” admits Rossi. Once his wife “got” the script of Eureka! and thought it was funny, Rossi knew it was fine. Rossi’s wife, who has an academic background in philosophy, will join Rossi on his wild theories and big ideas, but always brings him back […]
Apr 15th, 2008 by Vital Archives
Track back
Inova/Kenilworth Gallery 2155 N. Prospect Avenue Adelheid Mers & Indexical Frontiers Now – May 11, 2008 I almost decided not to review the new Inova/Kenilworth exhibition (now – May 11, 2008). The lengthy press release was exhausting, and I was somewhat confused by the information surrounding Chicago-based artist Adelheid Mers. According to the press release, her “Organogram,” a mapping of the people, positions, procedures, foundations and economic conditions that make up a functioning university arts program (specifically the Peck School of the Arts), produces not a critique, but a projection. But it also claims that the Organogram “reveals the artist’s bias as she gives shape to a visual report of what she has observed.” I had to ask myself, if the work “reveals a bias,” how then can it not be a critique? Of course, perhaps the artist was protecting herself from possibly offending the Peck School, which commissioned the project. The exhibition, curated by Nicholas Frank, also includes the work of Michael Banicki, Annabel Daou and Renato Umali, all participating in Indexical Frontiers. I visited the Kenilworth Building shortly after the March 28 opening. The alleged point of Mers’ project and process is to help people find “new ways of thinking about their institutions.” Eight questions were included in an online survey, with the anonymous replies to be no more than 2,000 words. Those wishing to schedule an interview with the artist were asked to provide an email address. The gallery-sitter that day was a 23-year-old pursuing an Arts Education degree with a double major in painting and drawing. She told me her favorite works in the exhibition were Umali’s, who earned his Master of Fine Arts if Film and Video Performance from UW-Milwaukee and presently teaches in their Film Department. I agree with the young woman. His repertoire is a meticulously crafted presentation of personal data he’s recorded over an eight-year span. You might say this slice of his life is one big spreadsheet – with a twist. Umali has good days and bad days and in-between days, and you can locate his ups and downs by studying his richly detailed, colorfully designed graphs. A bad day is a black day. When his mood lightens, the squares morph to sunny shades of yellow. It’s all very prim and proper in the way that math is prim and proper; it’s easy to imagine Umali as a busy accountant, ticking off his life’s moments and making sure that everything balances. He maintains a piano studio for private instruction somewhere in the Kenilworth building, likely with not one but two metronomes. The gallery-sitter/art student remarked that Umali’s work “is something I would never have thought of.” Across from Umali’s offerings is a wall of obsessive notations on white paper, so tiny and fragile-looking that I feared they might disappear from sight. Born and raised in Beirut, the artist, Annabel Daou, moved to New York in 1999, which may explain why her feathery notations seem to cling to the paper, as if […]
Apr 10th, 2008 by Stella Cretek
A Year with Frog and Toad
An afternoon – or an entire year – of life at the pond with Frog and Toad completely mesmerizes. Interpreting the book, lyrics and music of Willie and Robert Reale, First Stage Children’s Theater closes their season in classic style with A Year with Frog and Toad. As these amphibians perform a soft-shoe dance in brown-and-white spectators, this adaptation of Arnold Lobel’s picture books marvelously reveals the meaning of friendship. From the first moments of song, where Toad, Frog, and Bird chorus sing, “Spring isn’t spring, not without you,” every detail of the production enhances the experience. The enchanting costumes by Kim Instenes — like bird and mouse dresses edged in fringe — impart these humble creatures with an understated grace that captures the imagination. Frog’s pale green silk morning coat with bow tie commands respect, which carries over to every word and action throughout the play, as does Toad’s woven wool vest and knotted tie. Sarah L. Hunt-Frank’s creative stage design includes a semicircular arched bandshell in grass-green, sheltering the instrumentalists and framing the rotating homes of Frog and Toad in the foreground. Cobblestones beneath the actor’s feet give way to growing gardens, windows in the bandshell hide singing birds, and waves of satin blue cloth, when attached to the outer edges of the stage, allow Frog and Toad to swim through cut-out peepholes, revealing their heads. Every inch of the stage sets a believable scene as the action flows easily through seasons of the year. Best of all is Brian J. Gill as the quietly dignified Frog to John Maclay’s slightly cantankerous Toad. Recalling traces of Gene Kelly and Danny Kaye, those iconic figures of song and dance, Frog and Toad are already princes waiting to be kissed. As they near perfectly perform their roles with refined class and sincerity, the audience understands that one would surely be lost without the other, as they sing, “You will always be in all my dreams.” Paul Helm, Courtney Jones and Beth Mulkerron charm in multiple roles supporting this magical duo, ably assisted by the Frog Cast of First Stage child actors. The professional trio of bassist, percussionist and pianist, under the direction of former Milwaukeean James Valcq, plays as though performing for an elite evening soiree. The simple elegance of this performance underscores the importance of children’s theater while revealing a straightforward message. As Frog and Toad spend a year appreciating daily life and each other’s company, showing care, kindness, and empathy while happily baking cookies or taking tea, the musical uncovers the joys of living. Even the Large and Terrible Frog that comes to life in the second act creates an imposing but non-threatening element in this serene story. Children and adults delight in the animated melodies, meaningful lyrics, sly humor and subtle morals. The very best children’s theater illuminates real life with truths seen on stage that every age appreciates, so that when the stage lights raise, its themes linger in the audience’s mind with words or moments […]
Apr 8th, 2008 by Peggy Sue Dunigan
The Mystery of Irma Vep
There is pure pleasure in laughter, in comic relief from a long, receding winter, in an evening spent watching two very talented actors revel in their roles. Next Act effortlessly provides this opportunity in their production The Mystery of Irma Vep by Charles Ludlam. Charles Ludlam founded The Ridiculous Theater Company in 1967, where producing absurd comedy was serious professional business. Combining several classic film and theater genres, staging and lighting effects, borrowed text from other literature, precise stage directing and a measure of Abbott and Costello, Ludlum perfected an original avant-garde theater experience. After writing numerous plays to unimpressed critics – over 30 during his lifetime – 1984’s The Mystery of Irma Vep garnered Drama Desk and Obie awards for Ludlam and partner Everett Quinton along with a measure of financial success. Tragically, as with many creative professionals during the 1980s, the AIDS epidemic that decimated the arts community claimed Ludlam’s life in 1987. Fortunately his work remains, with fast-revolving humor revealing impossibly insane characters and plot twists. Two doors in a gothic, wood-paneled study repeatedly open and close with utter efficiency, allowing a pair of actors and a trio of behind-the-scene helpers to expertly recreate the ridiculous. The eight characters in the play, all performed by John McGivern and Christopher Tarjan incredibly portray Ludlum’s convoluted story, which questions the mysterious death of Egyptologist Lord Edgar Hillcrest’s son and his wife, Irma, after Hillcrest’s remarriage to the actress Lady Enid. Add the spinster housekeeper Jane Twisden, groundskeeper Nicodemus Underwood, a wooden leg, werewolves, secret dungeons and recently discovered Egyptian mummies, and you have hilarious surprises attracting attention every minute. While the story literally unravels, the skills of McGivern and Tarjan (and their seamless and elaborate costumes changes) hold the audience captive. McGivern delights as a primping and pampered Victorian woman while Tarjon’s fitting partner Lord Edgar responds. The evening accompaniment by Jack Forbes-Wilson as the Mad Gothic Organist transports the action to 1940’s film noir with ominous melodies. This production requires a host of expertise in every area, from David Cecsarini’s direction to stage technicians. The promise of great, difficult comedy demands precision to perform, and Next Act delivers. As one of the characters in the play so aptly describes, “It’s hard for people to believe in the supernatural, just hard enough to believe in the natural.” The Mystery of Irma Vep combines both – a supernatural story with the natural gifts of these actors and theater performances culminating in an entertaining production. Next Act ridiculously presents the unbelievable on stage so the healing power of laughter in life becomes unequivocally believable to those watching. VS Next Act presents The Mystery of Irma Vep at The Off-Broadway Theatre on Water Street until May 25. For tickets or information, call 414.278.0765 or visit Next Act online.
Apr 8th, 2008 by Peggy Sue Dunigan
Cymbeline
By Morgan Shelton Milwaukee Shakespeare Theater’s Cymbeline offers an appropriately layered artistic depiction of the play’s complex storyline. Cymbeline tells a story of fighting – whether it’s for love, power, revenge, land, spite or respect – through a string of sub-plots, each blending together and circling around a bubbling political scene. Posthumus, played by Wayne T. Carr, is a man of low birth who secretly marries the daughter of British King Cymbeline, Princess Imogen, played by Sarah Sokolovic. After learning of their marriage, King Cymbeline banishes Posthumus to Italy. There, the couple’s love is tested when Posthumus agrees to a wager with Roman soldier, Iachimo, testing his wife’s faithfulness. While Imogen passes the test, false reports cause Posthumus to sentence her to death. Meanwhile, Imogen’s stepmother concocts methods to win her son, Cloten, the throne. A late twist in the play, however, reunites King Cymbeline with his biological sons, whom were kidnapped at birth. As these sub-plots unravel, Britain and Rome turn from friends to enemies as Rome invades Britain and war breaks out. Just as Cymbeline’s numerous plots reflect some struggle or fight, the text of the play itself features competing storylines that ultimately unite. As these plots overlap and merge into each other, the audience learns the history of one character while hearing the fate of another. It’s fitting, then, that Director Jeffrey Sichel physically thrusts the audience into this world consumed by love, faith and deceit. The audience feels that circling effect when actors break the fourth wall, unraveling the play from all parts of the theater. The simple, yet symbolic set design offers a practical solution to scene transitions and visually reflects the connection between the characters and storylines. Misha Kachman, scenic and costume designer, overcame potential space limitations by creatively incorporating all parts of the studio into her work. The play’s strong cast is certainly equipped to handle the complexity of this production, and to add another twist, an interesting casting choice brings us an African-American actor as Posthumus. This decision obviously provides a deeper meaning behind to the King’s disapproval of Posthumus. Joe Foust as Cloten provides the ultimate comedic relief, crafting a character so likeable and sympathetic that his ultimate doom is almost unbearably tragic. VS To order tickets for Cymbeline, running March 22 – April 20, 2008, please call the Broadway Theatre Center box office at 414.291.7800 or visit milwaukeeshakespeare.com. Tickets range from $15-$50.
Apr 2nd, 2008 by Vital Archives
