Two Sisters

Sense and Sensibility

A New Musical

book, music and lyrics by Paul Gordon

directed by Barbara Gaines

“Know your own happiness. You want nothing but patience- or give it a more fascinating name, call it hope.”   ― Jane Austen, Sense and Sensibility

On last Wednesday I had the good fortune to attend a production of a new musical with some friends.  The production was by the Chicago Shakespeare Theater and the musical, based on a two hundred year-old novel, was Sense and Sensibility based on the novel by Jane Austen.
  
Austen wrote romantic novels and this is one of her best and the first with several to follow.  The musical followed the plot closely thus capturing the essence of the novel.  The story concerns two sisters:  Marianne Dashwood, the young, beautiful, passionate, and unreserved romantic;  and her older sister Elinor, prudent, pretty, and proper, with all the restraint of feelings of which Marianne had none. Their father dead, the sisters and their mother were about to be displaced from their childhood home of Norland by their half brother John, and his wife, Fanny.   He might have allowed the Dashwood sisters to remain at Norland, if only grudgingly, but his wife was determined to send them packing, especially once Elinor had begun a friendship with her brother Edward.  These characters are well-portrayed with music and songs by Paul Gordon (who has also written a musical based on Austen's novel Emma), somewhat reminiscent in tone to the music of Andrew Lloyd Webber (a bit derivative to my mind, but no matter).  

The story continues with their removal to a cottage in Devonshire where Marianne falls in love with a young man named Willoughby.  On the other hand she is also pursued by a dashing young officer, Colonel Brandon.  The remainder of the story concerns the relationships of the two sisters and how the complexities of love that develop are resolved (if you haven't already, read the novel).
The singers were superb, the staging was delightfully minimalist (a rare treat for a Chicago Shakespeare production), and the direction was brisk and straightforward.  In other words, you could not ask for a more entertaining afternoon of musical theater.  

The Craft and Art of Poetry

The Habit Of Art 
by Alan Bennett


"Auden   Do you always mean what you write?

Britten   In the sense that Shostakovich somestimes doesn't?  I think so.  Don't you?

Auden   I do now.  But I didn't always.  When I was young I used to leave meaning to chance.  If it sounded right I let the meaning take care of itself.  It's why I find some of my early stuff so embarrassing."

  -  Alan Bennett, The Habit of Art.



Reading a play is often more difficult than viewing a play. It is certainly different in many ways. Yesterday I had the opportunity to see the The Habit of Art By Alan Bennett as presented via a rebroadcast of National Theatre (of London) Live’s 2010 broadcast.  Alan Bennett’s acclaimed play The Habit of Art, with Richard Griffiths and Alex Jennings, was offered by the Music Box Theatre cinema as part of the National Theatre's 50th anniversary celebrations.

The story of the play is simple: Benjamin Britten, sailing uncomfortably close to the wind with his new opera, Death in Venice, seeks advice from his former collaborator and friend, W. H. Auden. During this imagined meeting, their first for twenty-five years, they are observed and interrupted by, amongst others, their future biographer and a young man from the local bus station. The actual play as written by Alan Bennett is a bit more complicated. It is staged as a play within a play, thus the audience sees the actors and the stage management perform a run-through of the play, late in its preparation for its formal presentation. This was somewhat more complicated in the reading than when viewing the play. One difference is the experience, when viewing the play, of the action of the play within the play seeming to evolve from the action of the characters who are making it happen.  This is difficult to describe, but it was quite wonderfully amazing when experienced.  
In addition to the main story of the Auden/Britten meeting the work of the actors is interrupted from time to time by discussions of changes to the script, questions of appropriate location of certain scenes and other issues that one might naturally encounter while preparing to stage a play. This aspect of the play was rather fascinating as the audience was provided a look inside the world of the theater. It reminded me a bit of the play "Noises Off!" by Michael Frayn in this aspect although it was not nearly as anarchic as that wonderful comedy. 

The poetry of Auden is present in the character and he explains what he does succinctly and simply in the phrase "I have the habit of art." That being said, he has many other very human habits and the play highlights this very human side of Auden, as it does for Britten. The staging is exceptional and the acting superb with Richard Griffiths as Auden, Alex Jennings as Britten, and Frances de la Tour as the Stage Manager.
Alan Bennett’s play is as much about the theatre as it is about poetry or music. It looks at the unsettling desires of two difficult men, and at the ethics of biography. It reflects on growing old, on creativity and inspiration, and on persisting when all passion’s spent: ultimately, on the habit of art

View all my reviews

The Ides of March

Julius Caesar 

by William Shakespeare

Chicago Shakespeare Theatre 

Jonathan Munby, Director

"The fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars,

But in ourselves, that we are underlings."

-  Julius Caesar (I, ii, 140-141)

This is one of my favorite Shakespeare plays and one that I have read and reread over the years in addition to seeing several performances of the play. The classic story is informed by history as we know from Roman accounts about the life and death of Julius Caesar. Shakespeare adhered closely to the version of the story in Plutarch's Lives of the Noble Grecians and Romans. In comparing prominent figures from Greek and Roman history , Plutarch presented history as a compendium of the deeds of great men, portraying the characters with all the ambiguities and idiosyncrasies that were present in their lives. The writings of Marcu Tullius Cicero also informed Shakespeare. Cicero was a staunch republican and his dislike of Caesar preceded the conspiracy that led to his assassination, a conspiracy in which Cicero did not directly participate.  A final source for Shakespeare was the Roman historian Appian who chronicled the civil wars as part of his longer history of Rome. All of these sources inform the dramatic tension within this play adding an historical realism to Shakespeare's own dramatic genius. I especially like the relationship between Caesar and his wife. I also found the psychology of the characters, particularly Brutus, an important aspect of the drama. This helps make many of the characters from Brutus and Cassius to Mark Antony as memorable as the title character. It is one of the great Roman plays in Shakespeare's works, and it is both an historical and a dramatic achievement.

On this past Wednesday I attended a performance of Julius Caesar at Chicago Shakespeare Theater.  Under the direction of Jonathan Munby Chicago Shakespeare Theater produced the famous play in a contemporary setting with a stellar cast.  This was the third time I have seen Julius Caesar on the stage starting with a college production in the late 1960s and a previous production at Chicago Shakespeare a decade ago directed by Barbara Gaines.  This is one Shakespeare's three great Roman history plays that include Antony and Cleopatra and Coriolanus.  While they are history there is great drama and aspects of tragedy in each of them.  The current production included tremendous performances by John Light and Jason Kolotouros as Brutus and Cassius, respectively.  By the moment of each or their deaths they had effected me deeply, creating a sympathetic feeling that I had never experienced with these characters at precious productions.  The production enhanced its contemporary credentials by embracing modern technology through the inclusion of cell phones and Caesar had his own web site (www.CaesarForAll.com).  The set, lighting and sound were particularly effective in creating an intensity that carried the actors forward inexorably toward the bloody battles that ended with the triumph of Octavian and Antony.

Classic Comedy

Tartuffe 

by Molière

Damis:

"Good God! Do you expect me to submit

To the tyranny of that carping hypocrite?

Must we forgo all joys and satisfactions

Because that bigot censures all our actions?" 

-        (Tartuffe, 1.1.18)

Less than two weeks ago I attended a lecture on "Why Comedy is No Laughing Matter". The lecture tilted toward serious literature that includes humor and comedy as an important aspect. On Sunday past I attended a performance of a classic comedy that has serious ideas as an important aspect.  The BoHo Theatre: Bohemian Theatre Ensemble presented Tartuffe by Moliere as adapted by Ranjit Bolt.  The afternoon of theater was exciting as the excellent production kept a smile on my face when I wasn't laughing.  BoHo's ensemble proved that this classic is still able to speak to audiences in the twenty-first century.  The direction was crisp with efficient use of small theater space that allowed a theater-in-the-round format.  Best of all the acting was great with a particularly exceptional performance by Saren Nofs-Snyder as Dorine.  Daria Harper's portrayal of Mme. Pernelle was also worth mentioning as she was effective in the role of Grand Dame trying, without success, to keep her extended family under control.  For example in Act 1  she comments:

"Children, I take my leave much vexed in spirit.

I offer good advice but you won't hear it.

You all break in and chatter on and on.

It's like a madhouse with the keeper gone." (1.1.5)

  As with all his plays, Moliere's Tartuffe is a comedy of ideas wherein the author uses humor, ridicules stereotypical, yet recognizable types to make a serious statement about his world. In the case of Tartuffe, which I first read more than four decades ago in a comparative literature class at the University of Wisconsin, there is a central character whose religious hypocrisy upends the lives of those around him. The hypocritcal character of Tartuffe and the critique of religion presented in the play resulted in its being banned after very few performances. The play survived, however, as demonstrated by its inclusion in the university curriculum three centuries later and its continuing presence on the stage. Tartuffe, along with a handful of Moliere's other great comedies are still worth reading and rereading for their insights into human foibles that are with us to this day.


Tartuffe by Moliere

Classic Musical Theater

Everything Was Possible: 

The Birth of the Musical "Follies" 

by Ted Chapin

"I dim the lights

And think about you

Spend sleepless nights

To think about you

You said you loved . . . . me

Or were you just being kind

Or am I losing my mind"

  Last week I saw a production of Follies at the Chicago Shakespeare Theater. The direction and ensemble was excellent with a few standout numbers and only minor flaws (the sound system). The performance so excited and intrigued me that I picked up this book at the Chicago Public Library. If you love musical theater you will not be disappointed reading it for Ted Chapin provides unique insights into the creation of a what is now, forty years later, a classic musical.                   
  Stephen Sondheim (music & lyrics), Harold Prince (director & producer), and James Goldman (book) were all in or entering the prime of their careers and Michael Bennett who choreographed the show was soon to reach the peak of his too short career. All the elements of the creation are told with fascinating detail that could not be provided by any one else, for as a production assistant (gofer) Ted Chapin had access to all and a chance to participate and listen to many illuminating conversations. From the days preparing the scenes in the very location where the scenery was being built to the tryouts in Boston and back to Broadway for the opening the Chapin shares the odyssey in which he had a close if somewhat small hand. The results of the work of the creators and cast are the stuff of musical theater history, but seeing the musical performed forty years later here in Chicago confirmed for me that this is a classic of the American theater. Ted Chapin's book is a great way to share in the birth of that classic.  
  "Lord knows at least I was there," goes a Sondheim lyric from Follies.  In Everything was Possible, we all are there -- at the birth of a musical that shimmers to this day.

Intellectually Intense Drama

RED

by John Logan

"Silence is so accurate."


"These pictures deserve compassion."


Rothko:  "Now tell me, what do you see?  
Ken:  "Red."

Yesterday I attended a production of John Logan's Tony Award-winning play Red at the Goodman Theatre.  Directed by Robert Falls and starring Edward Gero as Mark Rothko and Patrick Andrews as Ken, his apprentice/assistant.  This was a brilliant and scintillating intellectual tour de force for the actors as Logan drew upon a famous moment in the life of  Mark Rothko to explore the nature of the artist and creativity.  Alongside this exploration was the juxtaposition of the relationship between Rothko as mentor and Ken as apprentice.  Their relationship metamorphosized over the scenes representing the passage of two years in their lives.  From a nervous somewhat intimidated young man in the first scene Ken reaches a point when he demonstrates that he has learned from the master in the climactic scenes.  The sorcery demonstrated by Rothko consisted of a foundation of intellect with a patina of bravura bullying whose shell is finally pierced by both his apprentice and his own penchant for meditating upon the meaning of art and his life in art.  The dialog was intense with moments of relief when Rothko meditated on his art, but even in these moments the intensity built as the  short (100 minute) play built inexorably to its climax.  The climax was all the more powerful because it combined the impact of several levels of the story -- the artist and his art - his life in art, the artist and his patrons, and the artist and his apprentice.  Brilliantly acted, with engaging music -- staging that highlighted the art and culminated with a breathtaking use of lighting to end the play.  I cannot remember the last time I was moved both intellectually and emotionally by a drama as much as I was by Goodman's production of RED.

The Cold War Redux

A Walk in the Woods

by Lee Blessing

Yesterday I attended another smashing production by TimeLine Theatre Company.  Directed by Nick Bowling and featuring TimeLine Company members Janet Ulrich Brooks and David Parkes. This was a tale of two arms negotiators who literally went for "a walk in the woods".
   The events of the play were inspired by the real-life talks between Paul Nitze and Yuli A. Kvitsinsky, who were involved in talks to limit intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces between 1981 and 1984.  Lee Blessing wrote the play which was first produced during the 1986 National Playwrights Conference and subsequently produced on Broadway in 1988 and was nominated for both a Pulitzer Prize and Tony Award.  The TimeLine production is unique in the casting, for the first time, of a woman in the role of the Russian negotiator.  Janet Ulrich Brooks was very convincing with her estimable Russian accent in this demanding role.  No less demanding is the role of the American negotiator and David Parkes (who I admired in his roles as Thomas More and Martin Heidegger previously with TimeLine) was also up to the challenge.  There were moments of both great humor and seriousness in the play and it was not until the final minutes that I felt a release from the tension that had built on stage.  The staging with beautiful transitions of the seasons between the scenes and the perfect lighting were also outstanding aspects of this production .  But the original music by Andrew Hansen must be singled out as it was exceptional.  
   Within the space of two hours on a stage in Chicago I and the rest of the audience were transported to the Cold War era and the mountains of Switzerland.  It was history theater at its best.

Real Men and Real Art

The Pitmen Painters

by Lee Hall

"Real art belongs to everyone."

A theater production depends on many different aspects of the performance. The quality of the play, the actors, the staging, the direction, and the intangible essence that brings everything together -- all of these contributed to the brilliance of the production that I was fortunate to see as TimeLine Theatre Company opened its latest production this past weekend. The playwright, Lee Hall, has brought the skills that he demonstrated so well with Billy Elliot to his play, The Pitmen Painters. Using those skills he has created literate and entertaining drama that explores the meaning of art and its ability to change lives.  
I found the direction and acting of the production were up to the high standards I have come to expect from TimeLine. Standouts in the excellent ensemble were Dan Waller who, as Oliver Kilbourn, demonstrated the breadth of emotion and power that embodies becoming an artist while Andrew Carter was perfect as the Art Professor, Robert Lyon. This play is about hard working men, coal miners, who in a straightforward way want to learn about more than the depths of the pits, extending their education and in the process find they have talent of which they were not aware. The loyalty of these men for each other and for their work also impressed me as they stood together in the new (to them) world of art. The production was helped by the intimacy of TimeLine's  Wellington Avenue venue as you felt like you had become part of the miners' world. The humor and camaraderie of the pitmen demonstrated another reason to believe in the aspirations of this hardy band of fellows. The resulting evening of theater is another example of the exceptional entertainment that has become the hallmark of TimeLine Theatre Company.

A Play About Friends - and Best Friends

The Homosexuals
by Philip Dawkins

Another Saturday evening and it is time to take in another play.  This week I attended a performance of The Homosexuals presented by About Face Theatre at the Victory Gardens Theater on North Lincoln Avenue.  The sold-out audience that I joined saw a play about a young gay man from Iowa who arrives in Chicago at the beginning of the first decade of the twenty-first century with literally nothing, no place to stay, no job, no friends and, importantly, no support from his family back in Iowa.  But he meets another young man in a candy shop and is invited to a party at which he meets a group of people who will become his friends - some best friends - for the the decade.  The playwright presents the story through vignettes in the life of the boy, Evan (played by Patrick Andrews), told in reverse chronological order.  It is a tribute to Patrick's acting ability that he succeeds in convincingly making the gradual transition from the first scene set in 2010 to the final one which depicts his arrival at the party in 2000 as a nervous young man from Iowa.  Nervous though he surely is, but he knows himself well enough to have made it to Chicago even as he still has difficulty discussing this knowledge with others.  The rest of the ensemble under the direction of Bonnie Metzgar was excellent as they also captured the changing momentum as scene by scene Evan's relationship with his friends changed and as his experience with some of them as lovers changed as well.  I was also impressed with the seamless scene changes that had the look of quiet ballets of movement as the scenes were set up.  
Prior to attending the play I had heard it compared favorably with Mart Crowley's The Boys in the Band, an  ensemble about gay men from an earlier and very different era (an era I remember well as I saw the film version as a young gay man in college).  But after seeing the play performed I found myself comparing it to Terrence McNally's 1994 play, Love! Valour! Compassion!  The relationships depicted seemed much more like the latter play although this too is from a different era albeit one closer to our own.  Dawkins even incorporates a reference to it as part of Evan's somewhat nervous comments about his background at the party where he encounters or rather is inundated by the gayness and gaiety of his new friends.  This play successfully incorporates references to contemporary gay life and in doing so provides a marker for gay culture of the Millennials (born after 1980) while entertaining those of us from earlier generations with witty dialogue and plenty of laughter.

A Day of Theater:

Play Reading in the Morning and Comedy at Night

 Yesterday was a day filled with drama and comedy for me.  I spent the morning at a reading of two short plays based on the work of Proust by Joel Rich, formerly an instructor at both the Newberry Library and the Basic Program of Liberal Education.  Joel has been teaching and lecturing on Proust for many years and these two plays, The Lady in Pink and Proust and Dreyfus, are demonstrations of his knowledge and love of the work of this author. 



 After a break for lunch and an interlude of surveying (my condo building is updating its survey plat) I hopped on the number eight Halsted bus for a ride to 18th Street on the south side of Chicago for an evening of comedy at the Dream Theatre.  I was glad that I attended both morning and evening productions for they provided superior entertainment. 

Wild Flowers

The evening theatrical event was a new play from the pen of John Enright, Wild Flowers produced by Barely Concealed Productions.  I was very impressed with all aspects of the production.  The play was entertaining both due to the presence of interesting ideas and believable characters.  
The Dream Theatre is an intimate setting for this romantic comedy that presents a young woman whose United States citizenship has come into question due to doubts about her birthplace.  Into the mix comes a stranger with whom she discovers she has been engaged with via the internet in on-line games with their identities hidden behind avatars.  Add to the stranger's advances an amorous boss whose scheming is apparent to all but the young woman at the center of the play, a surprise visit from a delightful Russian mother who may be a spy, and you have all the ingredients necessary for an entertaining evening.  What sets this play apart is both the writing and acting.  Each of the actors performed well however I found Hasket Morris as Jason Bolton and Denise Smolarek as the mother, Yuliana both stood out in their respective performances.  Denise almost stole the show when she was on stage with her delightful Russian accent and her uncanny ability to read the minds of the other characters (perhaps not so uncanny in the case of her daughter Maggie) -- she always seemed to know what was going on and what had just occurred the moment before she entered the stage.  Haskett portrayed the character of Jason with an almost perfect mix of shyness and geekiness under girded by the bravado of his online avatar, Thunderbolt.  I found the internal battle within his character as interesting as his struggle in wooing Margarita.  Their journey from nervous and contentious strangers to a relationship that I would compare to one like Bulgakov's Master and Margarita was one of the best aspects of the play. 
I thoroughly enjoyed the evening of comedy and, based on their laughter and applause, so did the rest of the appreciative audience.  

Chicago News History

The Front Page

by Ben Hecht and 
Charles MacArthur

Yesterday I attended the latest production of TimeLine Theatre Company, The Front Page by Ben Hecht and Charles MacArthur.  This is not the sanitized film version of Hecht and MacArthur's famous comedy but the original stage version originally produced in 1928.  Even so,  with the current changes underway in the newspaper business and Chicago politics this play seemed just as timely as it was in the twenties.  It was directed by Nick Bowling with the same energy and imagination that he brought to The Farnsworth Invention last year and Frost/Nixon earlier this season.  The story was based in real events and the connection with the Chicago of the late 1920s is palpable.  The comedy was  non-stop  and action-packed with an ensemble that filled the stage with the excitement of a newspaper reporters' room.  The ensemble of actors was excellent with P. J. Powers and Terry Hamilton outstanding in the central roles of Hildy Johnson and Walter Burns.  I enjoyed the performance from the moment I sat down in the theater in the round setting till the last phone stopped ringing on stage.  This has been a great season at TimeLine, but I think they left the best for last.  The season is ending with a classic newspaper comedy that is simply a blast!

The Conquest of the South Pole

by Manfred Karge

On Sunday afternoon I attended a performance of the final play of Strawdog Theatre Company's  2010-2011 season.  It was an adaption of a 1986 comedy by German playwright Manfred Karge, but it could have been about out of work men in 2011 America.  The comedy fantasy, directed by Kimberly Senior,  is based in real-life concerns about the problems of endemic unemployment. The play focuses on four young men in a small German town, who stave off the despair of joblessness by re-enacting Amundsen's expedition to the South Pole in an attic.  The attic belongs to Braukman played with intensity by Tom Hickey (who I enjoyed in his recent performance in The Master and Margarita) and he and his friends never leave that attic.  The references to both Amundsen and Shackleton's famous expeditions yielded a dream-like hope where there was little to hope for.  The ensemble acted out a fantasy of deprivation in Antarctica that mirrored their own lives where for most of the play the only person with a job was Braukman's wife.  While the background of the playwright lies in a Brechtian approach to drama I thought of some of Shakespeare's famous fools when viewing the antics of Frankieboy played by Joel Ewing whose role as a dog in the expedition demonstrates most directly some of the child-like playfulness that engages the audience as the fantasy unfolds.  While it takes some imagination and the scenes are a bit uneven at times I found the myself laughing and enjoying the attic journey more often than not.  The production was filled with poetic wit and energy that belied the seriousness of the characters' plight.  I left convinced that their fantasy could promise a better day.

The Madness of George III

by Alan Bennett

On Wednesday last I attended the Chicago Shakespeare production of Alan Bennett's play The Madness of George III.  It was the best play of the season at Chicago Shakespeare from my vantage point.  Starting with the tremendous performance by Harry Groener in the lead role everything was outstanding for the afternoon dramatic performance.  The direction of Penny Metropulos, the ensemble, the set and the music came together for a delightful afternoon of comedy.  It certainly helps to start with the words of Alan Bennett, which were presented perfectly.  
Focusing on some historical facts regarding King George III (infamous in America for presiding over our independence and in Britain for the loss of the colonies), Bennett created a play focusing on the question that had arisen of need for a regent as the symptoms of his disease made him appear to be going mad.  With the political machinations of the the Whigs and Tories in Parliament and the desire of his eldest son to control the throne, the suspense built throughout.  The addition of courtiers, court doctors and his loyal Queen provide a mix of relationships that were a bounteous source for comic developments.  


I enjoyed seeing fine performances from familiar actors including Kevin Gudahl, Erik Hellman and Alex Weisman.  But I relished those by actors new to me including Richard Baird as the Prince of Wales and Nathan Hosner as William Pitt.  The music of Handel was present throughout and added to my enjoyment.  There are few playwrights that can present comedy through the delight of witty wordplay any better than Alan Bennett.  Thanks to Chicago Shakespeare for this production.

The Goat or, Who is Sylvia?

By Edward Albee

“One must let the play happen to one; one must let the mind loose to respond as it will, to receive impressions, to sense rather than know, to gather rather than immediately understand.”  -  Edward Albee

The Remy Bumppo Theatre Company calls itself "Think Theater" and I can think of no better way for it to demonstrate the resolve that suggests than with their current production of The Goat or, Who is Sylvia? by Edward Albee.  There is no playwright who has been better at  challenging his audiences to do just that - think - about his plays and the nature of theater than Edward Albee over the past fifty years.  Ever since The Zoo Story in the early sixties he has been stretching the bounds of theater;  all the while both honoring tradition and reinventing it.  Nowhere is that better seen than in this play.


The current Remy Bumppo production, under the direction of James Bohnen, is up to the challenge and, I hope, will draw audiences that are as well.  The cast includes strong  performances from Annabel Armour and Nick Sandys, whom I have seen on the Remy Bumppo stage before, but also from Michael Joseph Mitchell and Will Allan.  I was impressed with the ability of the ensemble to maintain the tensions and emotions that are on display from the moment that Stevie and Martin have their opening conversation.  The attention to detail of this production is noteworthy as the apparent order present at the opening is slowly turned to chaos by the tragic action of the players.  This play is tragic in a classic sense and I was reminded of this by the notion of a fall -- for in this play the characters, especially Martin, have the hubris to think they have a perfect life until, literally with a glance and a look, the perfection comes undone and they realize in some tempest-tossed scenes that it may have never been there.  Seemingly shocking, the reactions to Martin are among the most thought-provoking parts of the play.  And that is what is so great about this production, for Albee's play is brought alive on the stage and I will not be able to stop thinking about what it all means for a very long time.  

Russian Magic

The Master and Margarita

From the Novel by 
Mikhail Bulgakov

Adapted by Edward Kemp

"Love leaped out in front of us like a murderer in an alley leaping out of nowhere, and struck us both at once. As lightning strikes, as a Finnish knife strikes! She, by the way, insisted afterwards that it wasn’t so, that we had, of course, loved each other for a long, long time, without knowing each other, never having seen each other… "   —  Mikhail Bulgakov 

The Strawdog Theatre Company production of The Master and Margarita captures the magic of the original novel and places it on stage for all to see. From the adaptation by Edward Kemp to the direction by Louis Contey, whose work I have previously admired at Timeline Theatre, to the large ensemble of actors required for this amazing production everything came together yesterday afternoon in a most mesmerizing way. While there were many aspects of the production that I enjoyed, the most important aspect for me was the humor demonstrated repeatedly throughout the play -- humor that I did not fully appreciate from my previous reading of the novel. I will soon be rereading the novel and look forward to finding some of that humor which I missed before.
But the real center of the production was the magic, whether literally during the magic show scene or the dramatization of the magical realism of the novel or the magic of the theater that is always there when actors bring a story to life upon the stage. This center was made possible by the way the stories of the Master and Margarita, his play about Pontius Pilate, and the ongoing battles with the brutes and buffoons of the Soviet Bureaucracy were melded and held together through the insightful direction of Louis Contey. Among the actors I was most impressed with the intelligent performance of Ian Maxwell as Pontius and Stravinsky, and with the tongue-in-cheek and almost spritely performance of Danny Taylor as Fagott. Tom Hickey was appropriately magisterial in the Mephistophelean role of Woland and Justine C. Turner was a magical Margarita.  The focus of the whole ensemble was successful in creating the magical characters in every scene that this play demanded. Suffused with the aura of Faust's Mephistopheles, this late afternoon of dramatic comedy became an enjoyable dream sequence of magic that reminded me why I love the theater.

God of Carnage

by Yasmina Reza

"This is the worst day of my life."

Bad people doing bad things, but in a very witty way, was how I described the characters in Aldous Huxley's novel, Point Counter Point in my review in October, 2008. The same description applies to the four characters in Yasmina Reza's play, God of Carnage, that is currently playing at the Goodman Theatre in downtown Chicago. More than one hundred years after Oscar Wilde's brilliantly witty comedy we have award-winning (Tony, Olivier, Moliere) comedy with wit, but without the soul. Not since attending Moliere who gave us The Misanthrope have I seen such misanthropic characters on stage. While I was yearning for some wisdom to show itself to reward the pain being endured on the stage -- both Veronica and Annette exclaim the comment quoted above -- there was little on the stage that approached anything other than sheer Bacchanalian chaos.  However, Euripides this is not.

The evening was made bearable by beautiful acting from the ensemble, great direction by Rick Snyder, an efficient set, and a well-constructed play.  The skill with which the ensemble slowly raised their passions and the ensuing chaos I would compare to the gradual and inexorable increase in sound of a Rossini crescendo. That the playwright succeeded in her presentation of comedy with wit and thought is a tribute to Reza, but this is a world that I would want to stay away from. The only thing more violent than the passions on stage last night were the missiles reigning down on an insane North African dictator thousands of miles away. The verbal missiles and bombs on stage made for comedy, but it was a comedy filled with laughter that left a bad taste in my mouth.

The Cripple of Inishmaan

"Not a word. Not a word. Not a word. . . . "

From the opening scene  of this brilliant play by the Irish playwright Martin McDonagh I was impressed by the humor -- a humor based in the honesty of the characters in this small town on the western coast of Ireland.  These were characters who spoke their mind and in doing so often spoke the truth which brought laughter when it did not hurt too much.  
The production by the Druid and Atlantic Theater Company from Ireland now playing at the Chicago Shakespeare Theatre is excellent in all its aspects from direction to set to acting.  The drama, while filled with comic moments whether from the droll commentary by Eileen and Kate, Billy Craven's pixilated "Aunties",  who run the local general store or the spurious seriousness of JohnnyPateenMike who cares for his drunken mother and makes it his mission to share "news" with the locals of his neighborhood, is ultimately serious in the desire of young Billy,  known as cripple Billy, who is searching for love and for escape from the torment of just about everybody in the town and from the memory of his dead parents.  His parents deaths are shrouded in mystery as is much of what occurs in the play, for nothing, it turns out, is exactly what you think it is or expect it to be.  And that is one of the strengths of this play.  For McDonagh upsets the audience's expectations and in the process creates a nuanced and emotionally moving drama without the sentimentality that could have easily developed.  Billy is engaged in a seemingly Sisyphean task but the coming of Hollywood to the neighboorhood of Inishmaan gives him his one chance to escape.
The germ of an idea for the play was apparently based on a real incident when a film company from America came to this area to make a film titled "Man from Aram".  The image of the actors on stage staring out at the audience as they watch the resulting film in the second act of the play is one of the many memorable moments and along with revelations and realizations of the main characters helps bring this play to a meaningful and effective conclusion.  I have seldom seen such a powerful dramatic performance in my years of play-going.

Julia Child

To Master the Art
by Willam Brown
and Doug Frew

Last night I attended the latest production of TimeLine Theatre Company, To Master the Art by William Brown and Doug Frew. You do not need to know how to cook to appreciate the aroma of food and the warmth of Julia Child and her friends on display in this fine production. I found myself alternately laughing and almost in tears from the Proust-like involuntary memories triggered by the sights, sounds and aromas of this play. The whole ensemble gave fine performances, but I found the performances of Terry Hamilton, Juliet Hart, Joel Gross and Anne Wakefield exceptional as they succeeded in their supporting roles.  At the conclusion of the evening  I was left with the feeling that for a couple of hours I had been transported into the Paris of Julia Child.

Drama of Freedom

Night and Day

by Tom Stoppard

"I felt part of a privileged group, inside society and yet outside it, with a licence to scourge it and a duty to defend it, night and day, the street of adventure, the fourth estate." (Night and Day, Act 1)






Tom Stoppard's play. Night and Day, was first performed at the Phoenix Theatre, London, on November 8, 1978.  The current production by Remy Bumppo proves that this play has the staying power to speak to us today.  Directed with the vision of experience by James Bohnen, the whole ensemble was more than capable in presenting an outstanding two hours of drama.  I particularly enjoyed the strong performance of Linda Gillum in the complex role of Ruth.  


Stoppard always provides a wealth of witty word play, but in this case the production added the spark that is needed to take the words beyond mere caustic cerebral commentary and make them come alive with meaning for the audience.  This play, although more than thirty years old and based on the currents events of its day still was able to speak to issues today;  issues centering on the theme of freedom, both of the press, the world, and personal relations.  James Bohnen commented in Remy Bumppo's "Field Guide" of background information, the play "seems to center on three struggles about freedom: freedom of the press; freedom of a country; personal freedom (Ruth's struggle)."  Remy Bumppo has shown once again that they are more than capable of presenting "think" theater with meaning and value for an appreciative audience.

Chekhov Classic

The Sea Gull
by Anton Chekhov

"The point is, my friends, there's no use being theatrical. None whatever. The whole thing is very simple. The characters are simple, ordinary people."








On this day in 1896 Anton Chekhov's The Seagull, the first of his masterpieces, premiered in St. Petersburg. 
The opening night was such a disaster that by Act Two Chekhov was hiding backstage from the jeering, and by 2 a.m., after hours of walking the streets alone, he was declaring, "Not if I live to be seven hundred will I write another play."


Yesterday I saw a performance of The Seagull at The Goodman Theater directed by Robert Falls.  It was a distinctive production with minimal props on a rough hewn diagonal set across the open space of the Goodman's Owen Theater.  The cast had several actors whom I had seen in previous performances, two of whom I knew from their work at Timeline Theatre.  The not so classic comedy/drama was well-received, as it has been for the century-plus since its opening night flop.  The individual characters were well-portrayed and gradually came together to create a microcosm of humanity that was in every sense Chekhovian.  It was not hard to see how the first audiences for this play might have been confused by the atomised almost chaotic appearance of the tale of lovers and strangers set in this small Russian summer retreat.  The simple ordinary people are not what audiences expected in the last decade of the nineteenth century and even today some of us would prefer stories of superheroes saving the day.  The Goodman production sometimes goes over the line and lets bombast interfere with the playwright's goal of a pianissimo production, but this is the exception and the combination of good acting and simple clarity prevailed.  The result was an afternoon of gentle comedy and human foibles combined with dramatic resolve on display as imagined by one of the masters of the theater.