Jocasta

Produced by Natural Theatricals                               Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â 

Reviewed by Debbie M. Jackson

Jocasta has the markings of a fine production in the making.  An adaptation of Oedipus set in the tropical West Indies in the 1890′s, the piece repackages the old adage-you can run but you can’t hide from your fate and destiny.  The pulsating rhythms of African drum beats and vocals echoing in the cavernous amphitheater serve as wonderful foreshadowing of ensuing clashes between cultures even before the scene begins.  It’s an intriguing concept, and we so want it work.  Unfortunately, for every mark it hits, the show slides back a step, misses opportunity for solid traction and thus never quite delivers up to its potential. 

It starts with a bang – a fight scene.  In an interesting bit of choreography, Jebe, a young plantation worker, well played by Cezar Remon, murders his overseer, Jason McIntosh, who gets off the floor and repeats the fight sequence with his killer, in a kind of slow motion reverse action, shadow box format enticing questions of “what if.”  It’s an interesting creative touch, but the magical moment is spoiled when the dead guy is pulled into duty to help change the set (which takes far too long) for the next scene.  The next passage with Gabou the griot, played by Terry Spann also has great potential-in full ritual fabulous costuming by Mio Hasegawa, eyes blanked out and rolled back, palsied trembling hands, he sets up Yebe’s voodoo-inspired trance but, once the young man returns to this world, the rest of the scene kept going indulgently.  This is just one example of many signs of inadequate direction by Gregory Stuart -there seemed to be no one at the helm to assure a solid pace and focus on this complex story.

Jocasta changes the traditional point of view from that of the son to that of the mother, and focuses on her life events and how she got into the awful mess.  The script tries valiantly to bridge extremely large gaps to provide motivation for Jocasta to take on the young lover in the first place.   It does a decent job setting us up through the discussions of the other characters, the befriended household maid, a family friend as potential love interest, with whispers and queries about the comings and goings of a young, black man visiting the household at night.  Roslyn Ward delivers a fun turn as Dodotte, the young servant girl the most realistic object of his attention, and Lolita-Marie as the trusted Cyrillia consistently displays scene-stealing strength.  Still, the gap becomes an unbridgeable chasm that a well bred woman would take on a poor young lover and a more ludicrous stretch since he is black. 

The script tries to tackles the issue from several perspectives, for example, using social commentary by pointing out that white men take on lovers of all classes, and trying to show Jocasta’s pure openness to life’s experiences.  The script even offers a psychological aspect to her attraction by having her recall the tiny brown face of her newborn before he was whisked away as stillborn.  Again, interesting and valiant efforts, but still not enough to offer any serious motivation for Jocasta’s actions. 

The most powerful concept in the Greek tale is Oedipus’ desperate attempt to escape the prediction of his fate, taking careful and deliberate steps to eliminate any possibility of committing the heinous acts that the gods have predicted –not just what will happen to him, but that he will commit through his own acts of will, and in his efforts to alter his destiny, he runs smack dab into them.  Instead, the script focuses on the sordid acts themselves without even a hint of interest in the underlying messages of control of one’s destiny or fate, thus missing the heart of the story and focusing on the Jerry Springer details, with unsatisfying results.

Finally, while the actors were acceptable, the weight of the ponderous (nearly three-hour) production hangs on the actress playing the role of Jocasta to pull it all together.  It’s a massive role with huge psychological stretches that demand a forceful presence from the time she steps on stage to her tragic end.  While comfortable enough on stage, Paula Alprin still comes off as rather stiff, the island accent was not believable, and her emotional range was limited to stark expressions of disbelief.  With all the missteps already in the production, most notably a woeful lack of direction, the lack of a captivating main character drags the whole evening.  By the end, you’ve felt the weight of a tragedy, but not for the right reasons.

Jocasta, playing at the The George Washington Masonic National Memorial
101 Callahan Drive
Alexandria, Virginia 22301
Main Voice – 703-683-2007

Through November 18^th.  Wednesday, Thursday and Saturday at 8pm, Sunday at 2pm and 8pm. Tickets:  $22. 703-739-9338  www.naturaltheatricals.com

  

Frankenstein by Jon Spelman – Round House Theatre, Silver Spring

Monster by Neal Bell – Rorschach Theatre                                 Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â  Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â 

Reviewed by Debbie M. Jackson

Frankenstein.  Monster. The name conjures up Boris Karloff, protruding neck nobs, and those monstrous boots.  It’s time to fill your mind with other possible images.   Two excellent productions featuring aspects of the Frankenstein story currently showing at the Round House Theater in Silver Spring and Rorschach Theatre offer complementary interpretations of the gothic tale, one is a more interior journey into the Creature’s psyche, the other is a rip roaring ride on his plundering trail. 

Spellbinding Jon Spelman brings the spirit and humanity of the famed character to life in his fascinating rendition of Frankenstein.  Accompanied by primer musician Jesse Terrill, Spelman relates the tale with such tenderness, compassion and honesty that it is downright transporting.  This production displays storytelling at its finest where, in the hands of a master, even doll props become magically real.  It’s a lost art — that such talent is right here in the metro area, in a story he adapted is a special treat. 

Touted as being truer to Mary Shelley’s concept in the original script, the production focuses on the character’s quest for meaning, friendship and love.  Though identified as “the Creature” from the onset, the character starts out with the sweet innocence of a child, and Spelman skillfully portrays his humanity with touching tenderness.   His warm, melodic voice captures the cadences, early speech patterns and old eloquent phrases of Shelley’s writing.  

Early days of the monster are particularly poignant as he tearfully discovers his own visual repulsiveness by others’ terrified reactions to him.  In Spelman’s portrayal, his beautiful rendition of the poetic language, accompanied by whimsical violin passages, defines the creature’s basic goodness and his painful period of self-discovery.  Following Mary Shelley’s concepts (after providing wonderful asides about her own life, friends and loves) Spelman reflects the creature’s evolving character, his aching need for companionship, his valiant attempts to become worthy, and finally the monster he becomes after a lifetime of rejection.  The piece is a mirror of what can happen to anyone if rejected enough and treated as a monster.  

The direction by Nick Olcott shows a perfect evenhandedness in relating the creature’s moods, his growing sense of self, and spiraling discontent.  The set, devised by Olcott and Spelman of dark foliage, dangling vines and large leaves in the background places you directly in the woods.  The exquisite light design by Justin Thomas adds to the tale by offering subtle warmth during tender moments while showing the stark fiery rage of the monster at his menacing worst.   This production at the Round House Theatre – Silver Spring stage is an excellent reflection of the company’s reach into the local artistry-with hopefully more success stories to come.

Rorschach’s Monster, on the other hand, is as far from warm and fuzzy as dark night is to smiley face day.  Even before a character emerges on that stage, the sights and sounds of this terrific production hint of ominous events to come.   The opening music sets the dark mood with the atonal chords of an organ, creaking sounds, a moan or two, and of course, the obligatory claps of thunder.  The back of the set is draped in black and off-white gause-like fabric that works wonders with the impeccable lighting designed by Andrew F. Griffin.  And then there is the treacherous looking stage, raking downward precariously with such uneven slats that I wondered just how the actors would be expected to even walk on it.  I sure didn’t expect the nearly acrobatic tumbles, the running jumps, the plunging fist fights, murderous lunges, even carrying a body or two before nights end.  But this is vintage Rorschach, where I should know by now to expect the frightfully unexpected.  

More akin to the traditional story as also seen in Synetic’s version earlier this year, the story belongs to Dr. Frankenstein who describes how he has followed the creature to the ends of the earth – the frigid Arctic-to destroy him.   While he is telling the tale to a doomed shipwrecked sea captain, the Doctor slowly becomes part of the scene he describes while the captain continues to look on, transfixed.  In such moments, director Randy Baker bends time and place by merging the past into the present in the same scene-now we’re the ones transfixed.  The entire production cackles with such moments of creativity, and Baker’s bloody fingerprints are on every scene.  He keeps a laser-like focus on character-development, amazing use of space, even eerie lighting cues, all while commandeering a rollicking 90-minute show. 

While an abbreviated evening is always appreciated, the self-imposed time-specifications rushed the pacing just a little to my taste.  With so many cherishable moments, there was no time to dawdle over the Creature’s emerging sense of self-awareness, or wonder about the Doctor’s possible homoerotic inclinations, or fully appreciate the nuggets of unexpected humor that sparkled in the script and delivery.   The body count kept racking up before our eyes as the creature did away with those close to Victor Frankenstein until the final showdown between the master and his reviled creation.  It’s quite a match.

The entire cast delivers top-notch performances.  Robert Rector as the creature, is a work of art. From the moment the Doctor carries him in over his shoulder wrapped in burlap like a sack of potatoes to the closing scene, Rector commands every scene that he is in.  His exquisite physicality is evident whether he’s slithering beneath the set, darting out of range, or immersed on a killing rampage.  And even with pasted on ears, dark cavernous mouth, and blood-streaked face, he’s simply stunning to behold.   Lily Balsen as love interest Elizabeth is also extremely effective in her role.  With beautiful dark-set eyes rendering camera-ready expressions, she offers an enchanting counterpoint to her lover’s gruesome experiments.  Jeremy Goren as Victor Frankenstein may have been having an off night, lacking the interior intensity and drive to compel his actions and seemed to be going through the motions.  Still, he has the makings of a fully committed lead, as evidenced in his perfectly rendered and breathtaking final scene.

Frankenstein.  Now you have no excuse to have only one image stuck in your head, with these two masterful interpretations of the creature, his deliberations of humanity and fate.  It’s time to give Boris some company clunking around up there in those boots, and I don’t mean Elsa Lanchester — that’s a whole ‘nother story.

Frankenstein

Round House Theatre Silver Spring

through November 12
8641 Colesville Road
Silver Spring, MD

Thursday-Saturday at 8pm; Sunday at 3pm

Tickets: $25 – $35

www.roundhousetheatre.org

Monster

Rorschach Theatre performing at
The Sanctuary Theatre
Casa del Pueblo Methodist Church
1459 Columbia Road NW
Columbia Heights, Washington DC

OCTOBER 31 – NOVEMBER 26
Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays at 8pm

$21.50

www.rorschachtheatre.com