"Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?" at Oakland Theater Project

 

Oakland Theater Project production photo by Ben Krantz

This is a play I like, though it's often tough to watch. I saw it multiple times a few years ago at Shotgun Players, so got a good feel for the text. I really need to see the film version, given my recent exposure to Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor in another context.

Anyway, this show falls in the category of plays that are rather unpleasant to watch, but the writing is so good and so insightful that it's worth watching four people's lives implode before you.

The Play

I don't have a lot to add to what I said about the play when I saw it at Shotgun in 2016, except to say that I appreciate the writing even more now. Edward Albee crafted this play brilliantly, and it still holds up now, sixty years later.

The Production

This being Oakland Theater Project, the house is small, so it's a pretty intimate experience. The set by Dina Zarif is simple, but evokes the atmosphere of a mid-century modern design. It's stark and white and rectilinear with steps and informal seating. And of course, the bar, right in the center. I quite liked the mirror behind the bar as a statement, both about the period and about the nature of the play.

Two things I note about the casting: One, during Albee's lifetime, he insisted that all the characters in the play were white, and therefore must be played by white actors. I gather his estate has eased up on that, as both of the men in this cast are black. I think that opens up the dynamics of the characters in interesting ways, and I'm glad to see that theaters are now allowed to explore these matters (and give the opportunity to play these amazing characters to actors previously excluded). Two, in the Shotgun production, all four actors were people I know quite well, so there was always some cognitive dissonance in seeing them play these quite extreme roles. Seeing the play again with actors I don't know, I had a different level of distance from them, and was able to interrogate the roles differently. So that was interesting.

All in all, I thought the play was well done. It's a very difficult text, but director Michael Socrates Moran does a good job of keeping the action where it needs to be. All four actors (Lisa Ramirez as Martha, Adrian Roberts as George, Wera von Wulfen as Honey, and William Hodgson as Nick) did a solid job, drifting steadily into intoxication. I've been really impressed with Roberts' work lately, having seen him in OTP's The Tempest last year (pre-blog revival) and mere weeks ago in Aurora's Cyrano.

The Bottom Line

I really like the play, and OTP's little black-box garage space works remarkably well for a show like this. I thought the production as a whole was quite competent, though some of my compatriots felt the costuming was not sufficiently accurate to the period. But that aside, I thought the interpretation of Albee's work was very solid, and on the whole well worth seeing.

OTP has been a very reliable source of quality theater in the east bay of late, particularly when Moran directs. I really look forward to their work, though I'm generally not enamored of the theater space.

"Is God Is" at Oakland Theater Project

 

OTP production photo by Ben Krantz

We almost missed this show because we were out of the country, but friends convinced us to squeeze it into our schedule, and that's a good thing. It's a very interesting, intense play, and it features som really strong actors.

The Play

This is the Bay Area premiere of a show that has done well elsewhere, including Off Broadway and London's West End, so this is kind of a big deal for little Oakland Theater Project and their very intimate performance space. Aleshea Harris's script portrays twins, Racine and Anaia, who were badly burned and scarred as small children by a fire that killed their mother. Or so they thought, because the play opens with Racine revealing that she's had a letter from their mother, who is alive but dying, and wishes to see her daughters. So they hit the road to see her, learn the story of the fire, and receive a mission to seek vengeance on their father.

The play then follows them as they track down the father (including his new family) and come to grips with whether and how they can fulfill the quest given by their mother. The twins each have their own issues to deal with: Anaia is the more visibly scarred, as her face was terribly burned, making her more reclusive. Racine's injuries are to her back, shoulder, and arm, so it's easier for her to hide them. But she also has a much more aggressive outlook, so the two twins definitely don't see the world and their paths the same way.

It's an interesting and often intense script that involves questions about how and whether one can take control of one's life and its narrative, to shat degree one owes any allegiance to a parent who has been entirely absent from one's life, and to what lengths one will go to reach vengeance, and whether revenge can bring peace.

The Production

As noted earlier, OTP's performance space is tiny. I think it has about 60 seats, but it's basically a black box theater built in a small commercial garage. They do some pretty cool things with the space, but for this show in particular, set designer Karla Hargrave has created a backstage area, so the actual stage is quite small and surrounded on three sides by seats. So the show is very much in your face. There is no avoiding the scars on the twins and their mother, and any violent actions are right there. Director William Hodgson takes advantage of that to maximize the impact of the action scenes, but there are also a lot of tense moments between actions, and you can just see the thoughts behind the faces as the expressions change and characters wrestle with choices.

Particularly outstanding in the cast are the twins, played by two really outstanding local actors, Rolanda D. Bell (Anaia) and Jamella Cross (Racine). I've seen Bell in three very different roles over the last year, and she's been terrific in all three--very impressive range. Anthony Rollins-Mullins (Scotch/Man) is also quite impressive, particularly as "Man".

The Bottom Line

I thought the show was very powerful and intense. A friend with us who had seen the show previously in New York felt it was less effective in the up-close setting than it had been on a traditional stage. I can't speak to that, but I thought it was extremely effective here.

I don't really have a lot to add, since I can't get too specific about things without spoiling the show. But it was well worth seeing, both for the play and for some really good performances. The show runs through April 23rd, so there are still chances to catch it, and I would advise doing so if you can.