"Out of Character" at Berkeley Rep

 

Berkeley Rep production photo by Kevin Berne

Solo shows can be interesting, especially when they provide a kind of deep dive into the mind of the writer/performer. Former Berkeley Rep artistic director Tony Taccone has had a strong track record producing successful solo shows, many going on to Broadway. But the ones I've found most satisfying at the ones that really dig into the personal story of a writer/performer, such as those he did with Rita Moreno and Carrie Fischer. That pattern continues with his latest effort, with actor Ari'el Stachel.

The Play

I kind of hesitate to call something like this a "play", but there is a narrative structure to it, and Stachel invokes so many different characters that it feels much like a play at times. But really it's a personal narrative about his lifelong struggle with anxiety. It's a wide-ranging story, from a childhood bouncing among schools, never quite fitting into any of them, morphing his own character in various attempts, always thwarted by perceptions of him or his family (especially his Yemenite father).

The show begins with a recounting of the night Stachel won a Tony Award for his role in The Band's Visit. It appears he spent much of the evening hiding in the bathroom, mopping the profuse sweat from his face. As we learn throughout, sweat is a big feature of his life.

And so is obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), which was diagnosed when he was about five years old. He learned to give it a name so he could talk to it. That proves to be a mixed benefit, as the OCD proves to be a persistent foil in his life.

But it's a fascinating story, set largely here in the bay area where Stachel grew up, that sheds a lot of light on both his particular challenges and the way people with mental health challenges have to face the world and themselves.

Another theme running through Stachel's story is that of race. As a Jewish child of Israeli and Yemeni parents, Stachel always found it difficult to find a place where he really fit in, and he discusses numerous aspects of that, particularly surrounding the 9/11 attacks, which he noted were perpetrated by people who looked like him and his family. Even here in the supposedly enlightened bay area, he encountered a lot of issues around that, and more later in his career in New York. There is a lot to unpack here!

The Production

As with any solo show, it comes down to the performer, and Stachel is engaging and talented. His frank exposition of some very difficult incidents and relationships is disarming and captivating. You find yourself rooting for him, while occasionally watching an oncoming emotional train wreck with foreboding.

I also note that Stachel proved resilient in an unanticipated way, as a medical incident in the audience (quite near our seats, in fact) caused an unplanned 10-minute intermission only about 15 minutes into the 80-minute show. But Stachel took it in stride, improvised a recap when the show resumed, and then dropped right back into the script. Of course, he's a pro and should be able to handle such things. On the other hand, he's in the middle of telling us about his lifelong struggle with anxiety, so one could imagine this tripping him up. But it went smoothly.

Also refreshing is his ability to admit both great failures and ongoing shortfalls. He has obviously made great strides in dealing with his OCD and anxiety, but makes sure to express the ways that it continues to impact his life.

The Bottom Line

I thought the show was excellent. It's a real insight into a very talented but often troubled life, and the hometown connection makes it all the more relatable. It's not generally what I go to the theater for, but if I'm going to a solo show, it should be one with real insight and impact, and this has all that and more.

It's a terrific chance to see a very talented performer, up close and very personal, and the show is scheduled to run through July 30th at Berkeley Rep's Peet's Theater. Several of the shows have post-show discussions scheduled on various aspects of race, theater, and mental health, so check the website for those dates if you're interested.

"Hurricane Diane" at Aurora Theatre Company

Aurora Theatre Company production photo by Kevin Berne

 It only took five years (with an intervening pandemic) before Madeleine George's play Hurrcane Diane made it to a bay are stage. Long-time readers may recall that I saw this as a reading at Shotgun back in 2018, where I predicted we'd be seeing it on a local stage before long. Obviously everything takes longer in a world with a pandemic, so I'm glad to see this didn't get lost.

The Play

In the large, it's the same play as five years ago, though it has been tightened up some. It's still a modernization of The Bacchae, with Dionysus (or here, "Diane") gathering/seducing a group of acolytes to restore Earth to a primeval permaculture, starting with the residents of a Monmouth County, NJ, suburban cul-de-sac.

The Production

As usual, a high-quality production from Aurora, taking advantage of the intimacy of the 3/4 thrust stage. Director Jennifer King keeps things hopping in the simplified suburban home setting (designed by Kate Boyd), where a kitchen island stands for all the furnishings, and French doors open out to the suburban gardens, represented only by colored lights (designed by Kurt Landisman).

Diane (Stacy Ross) makes a big entrance as the smug, confident Dionysian goddess looking to put the band back together, as it were, recruiting some adherents so she can reclaim the planet before human destruction is irreversible. In turn, she visits and recruits Carol (Rebecca Schweitzer), Renee (Leontyne Mbele-Mbong), Beth (Gianna DiGregorio Rivera), and Pam (Luisa Sermol), who live in the four homes on the cul-de-sac, and who gather periodically for coffee and commiseration. Each are challenging and spectacular in their own ways.

Needless to say, Diane finds her job less easy than it was "back in the day", but it's really fun watching her work each of her candidates in various ways. Ross is a joy on stage, and she's obviously having a good time playing Diane with her tongue firmly planted in her cheek. All of the housewives are fun in various ways, with particular kudos to Rivera, whose Beth is somewhere between vulnerable and gullible, and Pam, who really bring the New Jersey to the role.

Through all of this, George's trademark dialogue rings very true, and it's fun to listen as well as to watch as things unravel.

The Bottom Line

I enjoyed the show a lot. It's well written (even better than I remembered from the reading) and the cast and staging are top-notch. The show runs through July 16th at Aurora's downtown Berkeley theater. I highly recommend it!

"Hamlet" at Marin Shakespeare Company

 You already know I'm a sucker for Hamlet. Not just my frequent-flyer status when Shotgun did their "Hamlet Roulette" several years ago, where I ended up seeing about 18 different variations on their version with actors drawing their roles right before curtain. But lately, of course, seeing The Motive and the Cue and Fat Ham have rekindled the old interest. Plus there is other personal connection here, so, more Hamlet!

The Play

As usual, I won't bother summarizing a classic play such as this one. But here I should note that this is a pretty unique interpretation of the play, as envisioned by Jon Tracy, the new artistic producer for summer shows at Marin Shakespeare Company. Jon is a friend of mine, and also a deep thinker about theater and such, so I was interested in seeing his take on this play. Among other things, he endeavors to make sure all the characters (except the ones he edited out) have real character, real stories. And he definitely gives agency to some of the characters who normally just seem to go along for the ride.

I don't want to spill the beans on some of the changes (though you can learn about a number of them in the mainstream press reviews), but suffice it to say that it's a unique and provocative take on Hamlet.

The Production

At over 2.5 hours, it seems a little silly to call this a "trimmed-down" version of the play, but it is very much that. Entire scenes and plot lines (Fortinbras? What Norwegians?) are excised, and other scenes are kind of mashed together, but for the most part it works, and it maintains the messages that Tracy and the company want to focus on. 

Several things I found very effective: Bookending the play with the grave digger worked really well (and it really helps when the grave digger (Lady Zen) has an amazing voice. Breaking Hamlet's many soliloquies into smaller pieces, interspersed with action that makes them clearer. And in one case, having Hamlet (Nick Musleh) share the soliloquy with Ophelia (désirée freda), making it much richer and also adding to our understanding of both characters and their relationship. And playing with expectations generally, especially around the way characters die. I mean, it's still Hamlet, and lots of them are going to die, but this version changes up the way some of those happen, and it works well.

Some things work less well. The set (by Nina Ball, of course) is quite simple, featuring a large table and some moveable chairs. But rotating the table between scenes is time-consuming and distracting. Also, since when does a king (e.g., Michael Torres as Claudius) move furniture? It makes more sense when Polonius (Richard Pallaziol) is staging a room for his boss or for some particular meeting or use. But other times it just makes no sense in the context of the play. And of all the adjustments to spotlight characters and their stories, Laertes (Rinabeth Apostol) comes out on the short end. If anything, I have less understanding of his behavior in this version than I normally do in Hamlet.

But overall I thought the production was good and interesting. It didn't feel like it went on for over 2.5 hours. It was fun and kept us thinking and talking about the production for days.

The Bottom Line

I think this is well worth seeing. If you're not well versed in Hamlet, some bits of it might be confusing, but the crowd we saw it with seemed very pleased, and we enjoyed it greatly.

The play runs through July 16 at the Forest Meadows Amphitheater at Dominican University in San Rafael. The Amphitheater is quite nice, by the way. This was my first visit, and one of the regular attendees pointed out lots of recent improvements to the amphitheater.

Well worth your time. Go see Hamlet!

"The Road to Mecca" at Z Below

 

Production photo by Kevin Berne

This show kind of sneaked up on us. I admit I don't pay close enough attention to what's playing at Z Space and Z Below, but when a friend mentioned that there was an Athol Fugard play going up at Z Below, it seemed like a great idea.I haven't seen a lot of Fugard's work, but I always find the stories fascinating, so this was an easy choice.

The Play

I didn't really know much coming into this, but the more I learned from the program and some online poking, the more interesting it became. Most specifically, finding out that the play was inspired by the life of an actual person was super intriguing!

So, we have an older (~70) woman living by herself in a small, remote town in South Africa in 1974. New Bethesda is a conservative, religious town mostly populated by Afrikaners, and Miss Helen has been something of an outcast in the community since her husband died and she started making art in her yard. The cement sculptures she populates her yard in are meant to indicate a move to "Mecca", or more broadly, "the East". No one in town knows quite what to make of Miss Helen or her Mecca.

Enter Elsa, a young British woman who was just passing through. She became friends with Miss Helen and appreciated her artwork, then moved on to Cape Town where she now teaches. The play commences with Elsa returning, unannounced, to Miss Helen's home, in response to a disturbing letter she has received from Miss Helen.

In the first act, Elsa and Miss Helen have a bit of a reunion interspersed with some verbal jockeying and difficult discussions. It appears the local church is trying to get Miss Helen to move to a retirement community for her own good, but Elsa suspects there is more to it, and that Marius, the pastor, is up to something.

In act two, Marius arrives on the scene and all three characters have some deep, difficult discussions. A lot gets dredged up from all of them.

It's not a big play, but it's deep, and the characters get well into the role of the individual versus the interests of the group, the rights of the indigenous "coloured" peoples, and much more. It's very personal for all of the characters, but with much wider implications. The interplay of "love" and "trust" is a big key to it all.

The Performance

The set is really evocative: an eclectic space with lots of candles and little art pieces in a fairly rustic home. The design by Erik Flatmo, lighted by Kurt Landisman, with props and set decoration by Leah Hammond, is really evocative. It's a small, homey space, but very particular to this character, Miss Helen (Wendy vanden Heuvel). Miss Helen has terrific rapport with Elsa (Kodi Jackman), though it's also very clear that there is much being left unsaid for much of the play. The staid, reserved Marius (Victor Talmadge) is both an outsider to the women's more familial relationship, but very much the establishment of the local community. It's a pretty complex dynamic for such a small set of people, but the actors do a good job with it. Director Timothy Near seems to have a good feel for Fugard and the South African culture, and it comes through in the performance.

Both vanden Heuvel and Talmadge have occasional difficulty with the Afrikaner accent, but both handle it well enough most of the time to keep it from being a distraction.

The Bottom Line

The material was dense and sometimes difficult, but ultimately it was a pretty gripping and emotionally interesting story. All three characters are interesting, and the production is visually appealing. All in all, it was a satisfying evening at the theater. Unfortunately, the show is closing on June 30th, so you've probably missed it. But it's worth keeping an eye open for shows at Z Space, and particularly those by Weathervane Productions, which presented this show.

"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.

"The Wizard of Oz" at ACT

 

ACT production photo by Kevin Berne

Normally I wouldn't go far out of my way to see a production of The Wizard of Oz. It's a well-worn story that has become almost a parody of itself, so one must tread carefully. But this production featured a bunch of my friends in the cast, as well as a number of other well-known and respected local actors, so it seemed like it ought to be fun.

The Play

Really? Am I going to summarize L. Frank Baum's classic story (adapted by John Kane for the Royal Shakespeare Company) here? If you don't know the story in some form, you probably have no business reading this. Dorothy and her little dog, Toto, run away from home in Kansas just as a tornado hits, transporting them to the land of Oz, where Dorothy makes friends and enemies on her way to solicit assistance from the eponymous wizard in order to return home.

The Production

As you can deduce from the production photo, it's a very colorful production. The designers and crew obviously had a field day with this one, and I'm sure it's not a coincidence that the performance schedule fell right in the middle of Pride month in San Francisco. It's campy and a bit raucous, clearly influenced by artists such as Taylor Mac, but not in a way that would prevent it being a kid-friendly show. And indeed, there were plenty of families with children in the audience, along with a goodly contingent from Pride activities. In short, a cross-section of San Francisco and Bay Area life.

Dorothy (Chanel Tilghman) has an incredible voice, but I don't think she quite pulls off the childlike quality needed for the character. We need to feel like this is a child in trouble, who needs to get back home, but mostly she comes off like kind of a petulant teenager. Toto is a puppet. Dorothy's companions in Oz (Danny Scheie as the Scarecrow, Darryl V. Jones as the Tin Man, and Cathleen Riddley as the Lion) are all very strong and sympathetic in their portrayals, with Scheie getting to be quite snarky at times. 

I guess my main qualm about the show is its self-awareness that creates a bit of distance. Director/choreographer Sam Pinkelton lets the cast get playful, which is fun, but as a result the show lacks a certain earnestness that would help sell the story to the audience. By continually breaking the fourth wall (e.g., Courtney Walsh as the Wicked Witch keeps encouraging us to boo her), we're taken out of the story line, which probably contributes to the overall lack of cohesion. The cast is obviously having a ball, but by endlessly reminding us that they're putting on a big, fun show for us, we never get to enjoy the show itself, the story they are ultimately trying to tell.

The Bottom Line

It was great fun to watch, and clearly a lot of fun to put on. But I can't help feeling that they missed an opportunity to do something more. By assuming that we all know the story, so they can just play and camp it up, they miss the chance to actually let us learn something from the story itself. Because the whole reason the Wizard of Oz is a timeless classic is that there is an underlying story there, and I think that got lost in the effort to throw a big, campy party.

So I really enjoyed watching my friends putting on a show. I just wish the director and company had shown a little more respect for the story they were telling, instead of just leaning into the costumes and props and effects. There really is something useful to be conveyed by the script if they'd remembered to give it that level of care.

Fun. Glad I went. Wish it could have been a bit more substantial under all that color and glitter.

"Let the Right One In" at Berkeley Rep

 

Berkeley Rep production photo by Kevin Berne

As part of our rushing around, trying to catch up on all the local shows in our subscriptions before they close, we scrambled in to see Let the Right One In at Berkeley Rep just before it closed. Clearly, I had not been paying much attention, as I went in knowing essentially nothing about this play, or the movie it was based on. I suppose had I been better prepared, my reaction might have been different, but overall, I think my impression is valid.

The Play

The play is an adaptation by Jack Thorne (yes, the same one who wrote The Motive and the Cue, which we just saw in London!) of the Swedish novel and film by John Ajvide Lindqvist. Though I had never heard of either, apparently the film is kind of a cult classic, but in a genre I don't pay attention to. So I found myself pretty baffled by a lot of what was going on.

It turns out this is a vampire story (though they carefully avoid using that term for some reason). Oskar, a 12-year-old, bullied social outcast meets Eli, who appears to be about the same age, in the playground outside his home. Eli sort of presents as female, but really falls into the non-binary category, and indeed, self-describes as neither a boy nor a girl, but "nothing". Eli lives with Hakan, who it turns out has been harvesting people in the woods to provide blood for Eli, which causes terror among the locals.

When events finally catch up with Hakan, Eli needs someone new to rely on, and coincidentally, Oskar needs someone to protect him from the bullies. A match made in, um, Sweden, I guess.

I've never been a fan of vampire stories or horror movies much, though I realize they have wide appeal. I get the whole vampire as metaphor for queerness thing, which is fine. I just don't enjoy watching all the gore and bullying and such. But that's what we've got. I probably would have opted out of seeing this show had I realized what it was, but since I saw it, you get to read my reactions.

The Production

This is a well-done show. The set by Christine Jones is elegant in its simplicity, though the locals seem to spend a lot of time pondering the trees and snow, considering they live there all the time. Director John Tiffany seems to want to make sure we notice that everyone is aware that there are trees and it's snowing. And groups of actors seem to spontaneously start dancing in unison (with movement choreographed by associate director Stephen Hoggett). As I have doubtless mentioned often, I'm not a big dance fan--I don't really understand it--and it doesn't seem to add much to the show, though many people seemed to enjoy it. Similarly, the weird contortions of Eli (Noah Lamanna) apparently evoke "vampire" in the minds of those in the know. I mean, it's impressive and I guess well done, but I'm sure there are other ways to convey the otherness and the physical cravings of a hungry vampire. But subtlety is not a hallmark of the horror genre.

So anyway, it's hard for me to see the relationship between Eli and Oskar (Diego Lucano) as anything but another instance of someone taking advantage of Oskar's weaknesses. 

The Bottom Line

I feel like this is happening a lot lately, but this seems like yet another show that appeals to a particular audience (which is good), but not to me (which is fine). I wish I'd known that going in, since I might well have foregone this particular experience, knowing that it's something I generally dislike. On the plus side, it was nice to see a lot of people in the theater that are not generally there. And indeed, a friend who ushers at Berkeley Rep confirms that they're pulling in a much younger audience for this show. That's great!

But unlike a show such as last week's Yerma at Shotgun, where I can appreciate the show on some levels, this genre just feels very exclusive. Although I can appreciate that some audience members like seeing this kind of story, and maybe even relate to some of the characters, I struggle to see what anyone else (i.e., me) is supposed to get out of the experience. But this is why I keep going to the theater: new experiences, new questions. It's not always pleasant for me, but it's interesting to see what people are doing and think about why and how.

But I'll pass on the horror/vampire play next time.