"Ivanov", one of masterful Russian playwright Anton Chekov's early works, catches the titular middle-aged character as he tries to wade through his midlife crisis with a wife dying of tuberculosis, a farm rapidly falling into bankruptcy and himself being the key subject of gossip in a comedy only a Russian could write.
While most American adaptations of Chekov are given the death-wish description of "boring" the production of "Ivanov" currently running as part of PICT's "Chekov Festival" plays with all the verbal fast-paced wit of a Noel Coward play with all the heady melancholy of Hamlet. This achievement is largely due to the expert hand of director Andrew S. Paul, who stages the piece as farcefully as possible, and succeeds.
Truth be told, the supposrting characters steal the show. Alan Stanford as Count Shabelsky is a great commanding presence coupled with a downright graceful command of the language. If the play was named for the character with the most work done, it could very well be called "Lebedev", played by Martin Giles. Giles creates a blustering, put-upon father figure and friend that shakes with hilarious comic tension. While young talent Katya Stepanov gives a great performance as Sasha, the "other woman" who is more young and naive than malicious. Stepanov gives the veteran actors, or even a stage full of actors, a brash, brave challege to overcome.
That being said, Ivanov himself, played by David Whalen is a bit of a quandry. While it's probably silly to expect that every character in a Russian comedy be funny, Whalen's Ivanov all but sucks the comedy out of the room every time he appears. His anger isn't fun, but scary. His sadness isn't convincing, but wallowing. And, seeing someone throwing themself a two-hour pity party doesn't inspire empathy, but more annoyance.
Granted, "Ivanov" is a bit of a crapshoot for an actor. We see the character talking more than actually doing anything. But, one of the good things about the ambiguity of "Ivanov" is that it leaves a lot of room for strong choices. Is Ivanov a master manipulator who started believing his own lies (as the townspeople say)? Is he a great man who really is misunderstood (As Sasha says)? Is he too stupid or self righteous or bumbling to be either (As various others say)? Any interpretation would be acceptable, and hilarious.
And maybe that is why the character of Ivanov in PICT's production falls flat, he's not enough of any. Fortunately though, the rest of the play moves with witty banter, hilarious characters and enough "comedy-of-manners" type situations to suit any comic needs. If you have never seen a Chekov play, or still need convincing as to their entertainment value, the "Ivanov" at PICT should not be missed.
Tickets for PICT's production of "Ivanov" can be purchased here:
https://picttheatre.secure.force.com/ticket/
-The Eponymous Theatre Critic, like most theatre critics, can be found staying up too late and drinking far too much. But, eight glasses a day takes some doing if you have to squeeze them in all before midnight.
Wednesday, August 8, 2012
Monday, July 30, 2012
"Henry V" by Bakerloo Theatre Project
"Henry V" is one of Shakespeare's most performed history plays. It chronicles the war led by the formerly-infamous playboy Henry "Harry" the Fifth to regain the crown of France and follows the growth of Harry into manhood.
To call the recently-closed production of the Bakerloo Theatre Project "Henry V" is a bit of a stretch. The play is cut down to a two-hour show where the scenes seem to have been chosen fro either a) comedy or b) infamy. All the funny scenes are present, and all the famous speeches included, meaning Bakerloo has created an almost "Rosencrantz & Guildenstern" style show where Henry V himself is almost an afterthought.
Certainly the best performances from the ensemble cast come in the descriptive monologues - often cut from modern productions - where Shakespeare invokes the audience to imagine the locations and create the scenes of horses, pomp, war, etc. The cast shows a remarkable and beautiful connection to the language and, in these moments of directly connecting to the audience - in fact, whenever the gifted cast is given a large monologue to revel in - succeed where other points of the show fall flat.
The ensemble cast consists of Lauren Diesch, Parag S. Gohel, Brittany Proia, Jake Staley, Aaron Jefferson Tindall and Joseph McGranaghan as Henry V.
In chopping the play apart, or showing only the "greatest hits" of Henry V - in its original form a five-act all-night affair - director William Addis upsets the emotional journey of the play without providing a new outlook or constructing the play to make it something new.
It's not so much that the audience doesn't know where in the geography of Europe they are, but where we are supposed to be emotionally in the story. We barely saw Harry in the first act, why should we care about him in the second? What is Harry's journey if his second-act persona is equal to the first? These funny characters in the first act, where are they in the second? Why were we shown them at all?
The production also lends itself a certain un-earned pomp. The traveling memorial "Eyes Wide Open" (see picture) is channeled in the opening and closing moments of the play. But, within the performance, the horrors of war are kept remarkably...light?
We see funny soldiers -sometimes nervous- but not horrified or shell-shocked. A dialogue where a captain irefuses to speak up for a soldier about to be hanged is done in a comical lisp and pleasant demeanor. The production ends with a happy, hopeful marriage arrangement between the love-sick Harry and the charmed princess Katherine of France, and then everyone begins to remove their shoes and line them up.
There is a true disconnect between what actually happens on the stage and the storyline that was pieced together. Similarly, in a production where everyone dresses in fatigues and Iraq memorials are discussed in the program, there were no battles, no choreography and no use of sound. The entire production was less than bare-bones with no set and barely any props. The entirety could move to a field and be performed largely unchanged.
And the sin in all this is, rather than use the absence of things to make inpirational, relevatory choices that illustrate better than physical objects ever could, the production simply chooses to ignore them, leaving us with a disjointed, slow-moving, almost stream-of-conciousness "Henry V".
- The Eponymous Theatre Critic can be found using words aren's used in High Society - outside of a kennel.
To call the recently-closed production of the Bakerloo Theatre Project "Henry V" is a bit of a stretch. The play is cut down to a two-hour show where the scenes seem to have been chosen fro either a) comedy or b) infamy. All the funny scenes are present, and all the famous speeches included, meaning Bakerloo has created an almost "Rosencrantz & Guildenstern" style show where Henry V himself is almost an afterthought.
Certainly the best performances from the ensemble cast come in the descriptive monologues - often cut from modern productions - where Shakespeare invokes the audience to imagine the locations and create the scenes of horses, pomp, war, etc. The cast shows a remarkable and beautiful connection to the language and, in these moments of directly connecting to the audience - in fact, whenever the gifted cast is given a large monologue to revel in - succeed where other points of the show fall flat.
The ensemble cast consists of Lauren Diesch, Parag S. Gohel, Brittany Proia, Jake Staley, Aaron Jefferson Tindall and Joseph McGranaghan as Henry V.
In chopping the play apart, or showing only the "greatest hits" of Henry V - in its original form a five-act all-night affair - director William Addis upsets the emotional journey of the play without providing a new outlook or constructing the play to make it something new.
It's not so much that the audience doesn't know where in the geography of Europe they are, but where we are supposed to be emotionally in the story. We barely saw Harry in the first act, why should we care about him in the second? What is Harry's journey if his second-act persona is equal to the first? These funny characters in the first act, where are they in the second? Why were we shown them at all?
The production also lends itself a certain un-earned pomp. The traveling memorial "Eyes Wide Open" (see picture) is channeled in the opening and closing moments of the play. But, within the performance, the horrors of war are kept remarkably...light?
We see funny soldiers -sometimes nervous- but not horrified or shell-shocked. A dialogue where a captain irefuses to speak up for a soldier about to be hanged is done in a comical lisp and pleasant demeanor. The production ends with a happy, hopeful marriage arrangement between the love-sick Harry and the charmed princess Katherine of France, and then everyone begins to remove their shoes and line them up.
There is a true disconnect between what actually happens on the stage and the storyline that was pieced together. Similarly, in a production where everyone dresses in fatigues and Iraq memorials are discussed in the program, there were no battles, no choreography and no use of sound. The entire production was less than bare-bones with no set and barely any props. The entirety could move to a field and be performed largely unchanged.
And the sin in all this is, rather than use the absence of things to make inpirational, relevatory choices that illustrate better than physical objects ever could, the production simply chooses to ignore them, leaving us with a disjointed, slow-moving, almost stream-of-conciousness "Henry V".
- The Eponymous Theatre Critic can be found using words aren's used in High Society - outside of a kennel.
Saturday, July 28, 2012
"Candida" from Bakerloo Theatre Project
"Candida" by George Bernard Shaw is a love triangle dramady set between a Socialist preacher, his upstanding wife Candida and a young poet who thinks he has what Candida truly needs to be happy.
Bakerloo is a new theatre company in town. Recently transplanted from NYC, the company seeks to bring young artists (of all types) from across the country to re-interpret classic works. Their inaugural season consists of "Henry V" and "Candida" and is currently being housed at Future Tenant. They offer free tickets to any middle-school or high school students.
There is a great sense of ensemble and comic timing in the cast. The genius of the performers comes acorss in the little intricacies and movements that everyone involves in whether they are the focus of the scene or not.
In particular, Parag S. Gohel as the young poet with a nervous conidition but a love-lorn heart, Eugene Marchbanks. It is wonderful to see an actor inhabit the language, emotions and physical body of a character. Gohel's Eugene is a sweating, somewhat blubbering near-adolescent who somehow manages to completely threaten and disturb Candida's husband (played by Jake Staley...who looks a dead-ringer for a reincarnated Anton Chekov). And, what's more, the audience believes this physically weak specimen when he does it.
Similarly, Lauren Diesch , provides a precise portrayal as the put-upon secretary Proserphine Garnett. The character is professional and pointed in her language and restrained in her actions and Diesch succeeds in giving the character a whole body as well as rich inner fantasy life we know exists but the character never gives voice to.
The titular role, played by Brittany Proia, is either fully revealed to us or fully realised in the play's final scene, but for the most part Candida herself seems to walk on a cloud. Whether this is because she has two men constantly referring to her as "angel" or because Candida is trying to purposefully stay above it all is up for debate, but it might do well for her to come down and let herself be seduced a bit.
The play on the whole takes awhile to get rolling, but builds to an intimate, honest exploration of marriage, need and purpose in life. Although maybe it is that the world of the play has a little trouble finding itself. The opening moments involve characters reading Shaw's detailed stage directions from a prompt book about other characters, a convention that disappears and the play proceeds as typical plays do. And two randomly choreographed scene changes to top 40 hits are amusing but seems misplaced and a bit distracting (if not obvious).
However, the play moves. The two-hour show glides by with lots of laughs and, if the worst criticism involves the questioning of a dance sequence with overcoats, then Bakerloo is on a great start to asserting themselves in the Pittsburgh community.
"Candida" closes tonight 7/28/2012, but tickets for Bakerloo's "Henry V" can be purchased here:
http://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/254839
- The Eponymous Theatre Critic has been on a government-induced hiatus. It seems there is a limit on how many times one can use the word "avocado" before having to pay the piper...
Bakerloo is a new theatre company in town. Recently transplanted from NYC, the company seeks to bring young artists (of all types) from across the country to re-interpret classic works. Their inaugural season consists of "Henry V" and "Candida" and is currently being housed at Future Tenant. They offer free tickets to any middle-school or high school students.
There is a great sense of ensemble and comic timing in the cast. The genius of the performers comes acorss in the little intricacies and movements that everyone involves in whether they are the focus of the scene or not.
In particular, Parag S. Gohel as the young poet with a nervous conidition but a love-lorn heart, Eugene Marchbanks. It is wonderful to see an actor inhabit the language, emotions and physical body of a character. Gohel's Eugene is a sweating, somewhat blubbering near-adolescent who somehow manages to completely threaten and disturb Candida's husband (played by Jake Staley...who looks a dead-ringer for a reincarnated Anton Chekov). And, what's more, the audience believes this physically weak specimen when he does it.
Similarly, Lauren Diesch , provides a precise portrayal as the put-upon secretary Proserphine Garnett. The character is professional and pointed in her language and restrained in her actions and Diesch succeeds in giving the character a whole body as well as rich inner fantasy life we know exists but the character never gives voice to.
The titular role, played by Brittany Proia, is either fully revealed to us or fully realised in the play's final scene, but for the most part Candida herself seems to walk on a cloud. Whether this is because she has two men constantly referring to her as "angel" or because Candida is trying to purposefully stay above it all is up for debate, but it might do well for her to come down and let herself be seduced a bit.
The play on the whole takes awhile to get rolling, but builds to an intimate, honest exploration of marriage, need and purpose in life. Although maybe it is that the world of the play has a little trouble finding itself. The opening moments involve characters reading Shaw's detailed stage directions from a prompt book about other characters, a convention that disappears and the play proceeds as typical plays do. And two randomly choreographed scene changes to top 40 hits are amusing but seems misplaced and a bit distracting (if not obvious).
However, the play moves. The two-hour show glides by with lots of laughs and, if the worst criticism involves the questioning of a dance sequence with overcoats, then Bakerloo is on a great start to asserting themselves in the Pittsburgh community.
"Candida" closes tonight 7/28/2012, but tickets for Bakerloo's "Henry V" can be purchased here:
http://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/254839
- The Eponymous Theatre Critic has been on a government-induced hiatus. It seems there is a limit on how many times one can use the word "avocado" before having to pay the piper...
Thursday, May 31, 2012
"Private Lives" from Pittsburgh Public Theatre
"Private Lives" is the quintessential Noel Coward romp through "only hurt the one you love" antics set in high-society mannerisms. Amanda and Elyot, divorced, end up in the same hotel in adjacent rooms with their new spouses, Victor and Sibyl (respectively). Upon seeing one another again, Amanda and Elyot realize they are still very much in love...or in "love to hate".
As always, the Pittsburgh Public turns out a fantastic team of acting professionals. There's a lot of zany antics in "Private Lives", and the result threatens to de-rail at any moment. But, even when they're chasing each other around the room hurling furniture decor, the cast's performance is clean and precise. It makes the comedy, largely a show of clever one-liners, all the more funnier for their skill.
Michael Brusasco (Elyot Chase) and Victoria Mack (Amanda Prynne) 's pairing turns out to be the basically amoral and ultimately selfish couple. However, the performers are so adapt at their charming sophistication, the audience ends up rooting for them no matter what their characters do. We're happy if they're in love one minute, and equally happy with her smashing a gramaphone record over his head. Quite frankly, there's no absolutely terrible couple we'd like to see end up together more.
Laird Mackintosh (Victor Prynne) and Amanda Leigh Cobb (Sibyl Chase) also round out the excellent ensemble as the unlucky in love civilians who get caught up in the tornado that is Elyot and Amanda. These performers create whole, individual characters that stand opposite of yet perfectly in sync with their more overt (though maritally short-lived) spouses. Each provides their own comic flair in roles that could simply be outshined by the leads but never are in this fantastic ensemble gambol.
In a play manners, the set can sometimes be neglected, leaving the actors with little to play with but the words. Thsi production avoids that gaff, giving even the simplest scenes lots of doors and props and obstacles that must be jumped over or cuddled on or evaded when thrown. This creates unique and intricate staging that feeds into the energy of the language - meaning the massive amount of talking never gets boring and we can't wait for the next line.
- The Eponymous Theatre Critic runs through a meadow of memories. And, wheverever you are, don't despiar. Today is the color purple.
As always, the Pittsburgh Public turns out a fantastic team of acting professionals. There's a lot of zany antics in "Private Lives", and the result threatens to de-rail at any moment. But, even when they're chasing each other around the room hurling furniture decor, the cast's performance is clean and precise. It makes the comedy, largely a show of clever one-liners, all the more funnier for their skill.
Michael Brusasco (Elyot Chase) and Victoria Mack (Amanda Prynne) 's pairing turns out to be the basically amoral and ultimately selfish couple. However, the performers are so adapt at their charming sophistication, the audience ends up rooting for them no matter what their characters do. We're happy if they're in love one minute, and equally happy with her smashing a gramaphone record over his head. Quite frankly, there's no absolutely terrible couple we'd like to see end up together more.
Laird Mackintosh (Victor Prynne) and Amanda Leigh Cobb (Sibyl Chase) also round out the excellent ensemble as the unlucky in love civilians who get caught up in the tornado that is Elyot and Amanda. These performers create whole, individual characters that stand opposite of yet perfectly in sync with their more overt (though maritally short-lived) spouses. Each provides their own comic flair in roles that could simply be outshined by the leads but never are in this fantastic ensemble gambol.
In a play manners, the set can sometimes be neglected, leaving the actors with little to play with but the words. Thsi production avoids that gaff, giving even the simplest scenes lots of doors and props and obstacles that must be jumped over or cuddled on or evaded when thrown. This creates unique and intricate staging that feeds into the energy of the language - meaning the massive amount of talking never gets boring and we can't wait for the next line.
- The Eponymous Theatre Critic runs through a meadow of memories. And, wheverever you are, don't despiar. Today is the color purple.
Sunday, May 6, 2012
"Dutchmen" from Bricolage Production Company
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Tuesday, April 3, 2012
"The Electric Baby" from Quantum Theatre
"The Electric Baby" is a drama about the interconnections between children, parents and the stories that bind us. When a couple have a child who shines like the moon, like the moon the boy attracts awe, stories and people in search of light in the darkness.
There is an odd complexity to "The Electric Baby" that makes it fascinating. If you enjoy reality, there are cab drivers, lottery tickets, car accidents, etc. If you enjoy magic, there are babies that glow like the moon, folk tales that tell the future and a whole lot of Fate. However, the "magical realism" that the show amounts to is something unique (and probably not what the term "magical realism" means to you). And "unique" is what Quantum Theatre does very well.
Robin Abramson as the Romanian wife and mother Natalia is captivating. From her first lines to the heart-breaking conclusion, she magically spins home remedy yarns, the Romanian interpretation of African fairy-tales and theatre rules with strength and ingenuity.
Her Nigerian husband, Ambimbola, played by Monteze Freeland is also a charmer. Alternate funny-man and philosopher, Freeland steals scenes with his graceful performance. Through amazing skill, Freeland and Abramson pull off an amazing feat and form one of the strongest bonds in the production - one that can be felt although the characters almost never meet onstage.
The supporting cast, Laurie Klatscher and John Shepard as Helen and Reed Casey, an older couple who lost their eldest daughter years ago, Ruth Gamble as the young waitress/call girl with a heart of formica and a poison tongue, and Nick Lehane as an ever-changing series of male characters, also work with great ability, but the play is at it's best when it centers on the mystical foreign parents and the stories they use to cope with their "electric baby".
The set is hypnotic and clunky all at the same time. Quantum Theatre is a roving theatre company that utilizes found spaces. The room, a found space at the Waldorf School in Pittsburgh, features hand-painted walls decorated in an assortment of birds and mythical figures while the ceiling is done up like the sky all set against tall windows that reveal the actual night sky. What makes the site clunky are the series of "mini-stages" that were built. These provide levels and some set locations. However, the virtue of a found space is that it is located, not created for a production - altering it to include a set "stage" playing space seems - in this eponymous opinion - to take the "found" out of the "found space".
When all is said and done, "The Electric Baby" is a great reminder of the "magic" of theatre. There are no projections, on-stage tricks, "magic" that requires lots of technical aptitute - just a mystical use of language and relationships that hits on something fantastical but real all at the same time.
Tickets for "The Electric Baby" can be found here:
http://www.quantumtheatre.com/season/the-electric-baby/
- The Eponymous Theatre Critic writes for a variety of seedy, low-reputed, forgetful, fact-negligent Marxist papers that are heavily circulated through car wind-shield wipers in Portland, Oregon.
There is an odd complexity to "The Electric Baby" that makes it fascinating. If you enjoy reality, there are cab drivers, lottery tickets, car accidents, etc. If you enjoy magic, there are babies that glow like the moon, folk tales that tell the future and a whole lot of Fate. However, the "magical realism" that the show amounts to is something unique (and probably not what the term "magical realism" means to you). And "unique" is what Quantum Theatre does very well.
Robin Abramson as the Romanian wife and mother Natalia is captivating. From her first lines to the heart-breaking conclusion, she magically spins home remedy yarns, the Romanian interpretation of African fairy-tales and theatre rules with strength and ingenuity.
Her Nigerian husband, Ambimbola, played by Monteze Freeland is also a charmer. Alternate funny-man and philosopher, Freeland steals scenes with his graceful performance. Through amazing skill, Freeland and Abramson pull off an amazing feat and form one of the strongest bonds in the production - one that can be felt although the characters almost never meet onstage.
The supporting cast, Laurie Klatscher and John Shepard as Helen and Reed Casey, an older couple who lost their eldest daughter years ago, Ruth Gamble as the young waitress/call girl with a heart of formica and a poison tongue, and Nick Lehane as an ever-changing series of male characters, also work with great ability, but the play is at it's best when it centers on the mystical foreign parents and the stories they use to cope with their "electric baby".
The set is hypnotic and clunky all at the same time. Quantum Theatre is a roving theatre company that utilizes found spaces. The room, a found space at the Waldorf School in Pittsburgh, features hand-painted walls decorated in an assortment of birds and mythical figures while the ceiling is done up like the sky all set against tall windows that reveal the actual night sky. What makes the site clunky are the series of "mini-stages" that were built. These provide levels and some set locations. However, the virtue of a found space is that it is located, not created for a production - altering it to include a set "stage" playing space seems - in this eponymous opinion - to take the "found" out of the "found space".
When all is said and done, "The Electric Baby" is a great reminder of the "magic" of theatre. There are no projections, on-stage tricks, "magic" that requires lots of technical aptitute - just a mystical use of language and relationships that hits on something fantastical but real all at the same time.
Tickets for "The Electric Baby" can be found here:
http://www.quantumtheatre.com/season/the-electric-baby/
- The Eponymous Theatre Critic writes for a variety of seedy, low-reputed, forgetful, fact-negligent Marxist papers that are heavily circulated through car wind-shield wipers in Portland, Oregon.
Saturday, March 24, 2012
"M.I.A." from Pittsburgh Playhouse
"M.I.A" follows the family of a soldier who is currently "Missing In Action", but is most likely dead. The soldier's 40th birthday lands on the weekend his conservative, patriotic father is accepting a "Man Of The Year Award" from the local VFW. While the family has in many ways moved on from the death of the eldest brother, when the youngest son declares his desire to enlist, the family is torn between patriotism and keeping a child safe.
The show, while "emotional" is labored. The script is populated with lots of talking over miniscule, low-stakes events - some of which have nothing to do with the story. Characters ask the most obvious questions about each other. Because why would a father, on the weekend he is receiving an award from the VFW M.I.A. Commitee, on the birthday of his son who went M.I.A., seem distracted?
And it's not that the performances are bad. Larry John Meyers as Frank Schooler - the father who might have taught his boys too well - and his real-life wife Holly Thuma as Emmy Schooler bring the chemistry and are believably married onstage. Justin Mark DeWolf delivers a young man who is torn between allegiance to his family and allegiance to what he believes makes a man (and delivers what could be the best monologue in the show). The supporting cast, Tommy LaFitte and Daina Michelle Griffith are equally skilled in their craft.
What makes everyone suffer is that the characters are basically archetypes. There's the housewife who cooks well, the career woman growing distant from her husband (but who never seems to leave her parents' house...), the wise-talkin' Democratic black man who keeps the Republican white man in check with witty banter. However, the play does succeed in keeping the focus off the politics and on the humanity, even if the characters are clear-cut from the first scene.
Also characters talk about two things: the father and the missing brother. There's also no real discoveries revealed throughout the piece, so there's very little driving action that propels the story forward. And the "surprises" can be seen coming from a mile away. The ending becomes some version of "A Christmas Carol" with the ghost of the dead son appearing - played by Justin Fortunato - in a performance that makes you wish the character had been used better than "The Ghost of Christmas Past".
One consistently nice thing about Pittsburgh Playhouse is the attention they give to set design. Even in the studio space, whenever you go to see a production there you know the stage is going to be unique and transformed for every given show. In "M.I.A", the set is a sand colored and textured blank slate with benches, tombstones and dinner tables seemingly growing from the sandscape.
What really transforms the space are the lighting elements. Fantastic visuals of sand flowing and wind whistling help disorient the audience and the characters so dream sequences, nightmares actually have a complete change from the "real world".
Now, let it be said that "M.I.A" is NOT the worst constructed show to be given a full production in Pittsburgh this year - not at all. But, it seems to be a plague among Pittsburgh theatres that shows which have a strong connection via writers, marriages, professional relationships to the theatre/people involved are the ones being performed.
That is fine, it really is. It's a part of having a theatre community, but is it too much to ask that these world-premieres - which are on the road to becoming full-fledge, well-paced, stand-alone shows - get a few staged readings? Maybe some developmental workshops? Just so someone has the chance to say, "Hey, the first 45 min of this show is nothing but exposition to set up the Act 1 curtain...maybe we could integrate that better?"
TIckets for "M.I.A." can be purchased here:
http://www.pittsburghplayhouse.com/Tickets/ordertickets
- The Eponymous Theatre Critic enjoys aliens, but only half as much as robots. That being said, robots are liked only one fourth as much as mutants, but hey, no one is perfect.
The show, while "emotional" is labored. The script is populated with lots of talking over miniscule, low-stakes events - some of which have nothing to do with the story. Characters ask the most obvious questions about each other. Because why would a father, on the weekend he is receiving an award from the VFW M.I.A. Commitee, on the birthday of his son who went M.I.A., seem distracted?
And it's not that the performances are bad. Larry John Meyers as Frank Schooler - the father who might have taught his boys too well - and his real-life wife Holly Thuma as Emmy Schooler bring the chemistry and are believably married onstage. Justin Mark DeWolf delivers a young man who is torn between allegiance to his family and allegiance to what he believes makes a man (and delivers what could be the best monologue in the show). The supporting cast, Tommy LaFitte and Daina Michelle Griffith are equally skilled in their craft.
What makes everyone suffer is that the characters are basically archetypes. There's the housewife who cooks well, the career woman growing distant from her husband (but who never seems to leave her parents' house...), the wise-talkin' Democratic black man who keeps the Republican white man in check with witty banter. However, the play does succeed in keeping the focus off the politics and on the humanity, even if the characters are clear-cut from the first scene.
Also characters talk about two things: the father and the missing brother. There's also no real discoveries revealed throughout the piece, so there's very little driving action that propels the story forward. And the "surprises" can be seen coming from a mile away. The ending becomes some version of "A Christmas Carol" with the ghost of the dead son appearing - played by Justin Fortunato - in a performance that makes you wish the character had been used better than "The Ghost of Christmas Past".
One consistently nice thing about Pittsburgh Playhouse is the attention they give to set design. Even in the studio space, whenever you go to see a production there you know the stage is going to be unique and transformed for every given show. In "M.I.A", the set is a sand colored and textured blank slate with benches, tombstones and dinner tables seemingly growing from the sandscape.
What really transforms the space are the lighting elements. Fantastic visuals of sand flowing and wind whistling help disorient the audience and the characters so dream sequences, nightmares actually have a complete change from the "real world".
Now, let it be said that "M.I.A" is NOT the worst constructed show to be given a full production in Pittsburgh this year - not at all. But, it seems to be a plague among Pittsburgh theatres that shows which have a strong connection via writers, marriages, professional relationships to the theatre/people involved are the ones being performed.
That is fine, it really is. It's a part of having a theatre community, but is it too much to ask that these world-premieres - which are on the road to becoming full-fledge, well-paced, stand-alone shows - get a few staged readings? Maybe some developmental workshops? Just so someone has the chance to say, "Hey, the first 45 min of this show is nothing but exposition to set up the Act 1 curtain...maybe we could integrate that better?"
TIckets for "M.I.A." can be purchased here:
http://www.pittsburghplayhouse.com/Tickets/ordertickets
- The Eponymous Theatre Critic enjoys aliens, but only half as much as robots. That being said, robots are liked only one fourth as much as mutants, but hey, no one is perfect.
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