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Corteo, by Cirque du Soleil
Reviewed by Tim Treanor
Let’s get some things clear at the outset. There is nothing in the world like Cirque du Soleil. Watching Cirque, you will see men and women do things you thought were beyond human capability. [Read more...]
By Fiona Zublin
Orange Flower Water - Didactic Theatre
At Sunday’s performance of Orange Flower Water, two women behind me were arguing the merits of a black box space. One loved its possibilities, its blank slate qualities-the other was annoyed by its limitations of space. Didactic Theatre Company uses their black box expertly. With Orange Flower Water, they have a play and a production filled with misery, presented up close and without reservation.
Craig Wright’s play is well written, agonizingly so, and well acted by the four-member cast. Two couples tragically coincide when David (Frank Britton), married to prim choir teacher Cathy (Dana Edwards) falls in love with sad-eyed Beth (Helen Pafumi), giving her an excuse to leave her boorish husband, Brad (Cesar A. Guadamuz.) This is a drama about adultery, yes, but complicated by love, faith, and responsibility. The actors are wonderfully honest in their portrayals of four people caught in a terrible situation, acting the way people always do.
The space is, as previously mentioned, miniscule. Do not sit in the front row; the actors may step on your feet. But it serves its purpose, enhancing the intimacy of an already intimate piece without detracting from demands of set or movement. These people are confined by their lives, so it follows that they are confined by their playing space. It is not insignificant that half the stage is occupied by a double bed. Director Patrick Crowley has adeptly directed his actors, never crude or maudlin despite the tendency of certain seems to run in those directions.
Wright’s drama is tender and sad, reminding us that people run from unhappy situation to unhappy situation seeking something new, something better. Sometimes they find it.
Orange Flower Water runs through November 12th at the DC Arts Center, 2438 18th St NW, Washington, DC. Thurs – Sat at 7:30. Sunday at 3 pm. Ticket price: $15 – $20.
Call 202-249-0782. www.didactictheatre.com
Listen here.
Crestfall - Studio Theatre Crestfall, currently playing at Studio Theatre’s Secondstage, written by brazen young Irish playwright Mark O’Rowe fulfills the historical legacy of rock solid story telling, cut with a piercingly modern and urban edge. [Read more...]
Never The Sinner – Actor’s Theater Of Washington
In 1924, two teenagers, Nathan Leopold and Richard Loeb, committed murder for no reason. They were intelligent-both had IQs placing them well above “genius”-and bored, and rich. They have fascinated the world ever since, and make for great drama. They inspired Alfred Hitchcock, Meyer Levin, and a playwright named John Logan. His play, Never the Sinner, has the potential to be a transcendent work of theater, blending the immortal words of historical figures like Clarence Darrow with scenes of his own invention.
The play follows the real-life murder trial of Nathan Leopold and Richard Loeb, two young men preoccupied with the Nietchzean idea of the ubermensch who decided to see if they could commit the perfect murder. They couldn’t: they were caught and charged. Logan’s play follows their intense, intricate homosexual relationship, perfectly displaying how Loeb’s easy charm and sociopathic tendencies blended with Leopold’s unmatched genius and need for love to create a murder plot. Leopold and Loeb have fascinated dramatists and filmmakers since their trial because their crime was so unwarranted, their motives so murky. They are modern-day Iagos, and, like that Shakespearean villain, always leave an audience slightly unsatisfied: we want to know what drove them to murder, and no answer arises.
Actor’s Theater of Washington’s production of Never the Sinner takes risks. Director Jeffrey Johnson has condensed the cast, originally comprised of eight, down to three: Leopold (Ashley Ives), Loeb (Joe Brack), and one everyman who represents the rest of the world (John C. Bailey.) This, like many of Johnson’s directorial choices, is both excellent and counterproductive-it does distill the play into a pure examination of one relationship, but the script’s limitations actually require Ives and Brack to play various other roles, heightening confusion and disrupting the play’s universe. Bailey is more successful in some roles (Clarence Darrow) than others (Richard Loeb’s girlfriend), but he manages to differentiate between his many characters. One rather confusing directorial choice involves Bailey seemingly reading his lines-and some stage directions-from a page.
Ives and Brack both offer good performances that may evolve into excellence once they have settled into their roles. Ives in particular possesses a shy creepiness that perfectly offsets Brack’s all-smiles performance as the charismatic Loeb. Each of these roles is an actor’s dream, but neither actor has quite risen to the outstanding standard established by Logan’s script. Yet. Director Johnson possesses a striking sense of movement and tone that is invaluable to his stylish staging.
Last night, Never the Sinner was worth seeing, but it was not transcendent. The potential is there, and I hope they achieve it.
Never the Sinner plays at the Source Theater (1835 14th St NW) October 20 – November 19 Thursday through Sunday evenings. Tickets: $25-30. For reservations, call 800-494-8497 or purchase tickets online:www.atwdc.org.
One Response to “Never The Sinner is Not Yet There”
This weekend (Fri., Sat., Sun.) is “pay what you can” so come out and see the show!
Hattiesburg High students will travel to Washington, D.C., to present a performance of “The Katrina Project: Hell and High Water,” an emotional journey into the hearts and souls of Hurricane Katrina’s survivors, at the historic Lincoln Theater. [Read more...]
The Bluest Eye – The Hottest Ticket
Toni Morrison’s “The Bluest Eye” - Theater Alliance
By: Debbie Minter Jackson
Developed in Chicago and on its way to New York City, The Bluest Eye is having its East Coast premiere at Theater Alliance amidst plenty of advanced press and serious buzz, all well deserved, by the way. [Read more...]
How to Fill a Wild Bikini
Produced by Teatro de la Luna
by Rosalind Lacy
With a play entitled How To Fill a Wild Bikini, I confess I sat down expecting a bedroom farce. But I came away emotionally moved by something far more profound, thanks to a wonderful actress from Uruguay- Graciela Rodriguez.
Miguel Falabella is a Brazilian playwright who h
by Joel Markowitz
Girl in a Goldfish Bowl, Woyzak and Tintypes
I have a bone to pick with all you theatre goers in this area, for it’s hard to scale down my intense disappointment that a beautifully written Canadian play that worked so swimmingly well on a small stage, in an intimate theatre tucked away on North Royal Street in Old Town Alexandria, played to half a tank and barely held its head above water during its run this month.
What happened? [Read more...]
The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui, For Bertold Brecht, theater was always a sort of sermonette disguised as a circus act. When he was at his most speculative and general – Threepenny Opera comes to mind – his plays were like the planet Jupiter, huge and cold and gaseous. But when he was specific, as he was in The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui, he was ingenuity personified, and his work approached high art. This is a gorgeous play, and Catalyst’s production does it full justice. [Read more...]
American Theatre Wing Interviews