WOLVES a Must See!

I haven’t left a theatre feeling entirely great in the past year. There have always been one or two major things that just bug me, sometimes a not so great script, sometimes an actor who should never have left drama school, sometimes a director who has gotten too conceptual and lost focus of the play. Whatever the case, full length modern drama has failed to impress me as of late, until seeing Kids with Guns production of Delaney Britt Brewers’ WOLVES at 59E59 Theaters.

WOLVES is a play within modern suburbia, and while a lesser skilled writer would turn this into a kitchen sink drama, Brewer has created a piece that glows and lifts off the page into an amazing world. Sets and lighting by Maruti Evans beautifully lend themselves towards the audiences’ imagination.

The physical specificity of the world and varying locations is so sharp and evocative, even with the minimal set dressings and stage pictures, I was fully engaged in the various locations as if they were really in front of me.

Josh Tyson and Elizabeth A. Davis work remarkably well together as their characters enter their three year period together. Tense and cautionary (yet with that suburban relaxed overlay) they are countered and balanced by Richard Saudek and Sarah Baskin, the hilarious and yet sad clown couple of the evening. One laughs most at the sad clown, but they work hard to keep you looking at the balloon in their hand and not at the tears streaming down their faces. Tyson, Davis, Saudek and Baskin make a wonderful quartet together and their scenes literally flow like music.

Megan Tusing, as the wrench in Tyson and Davis’ relationship, does a great job playing a heightened state and making it believable.

The scenes between Megan Hart and Doug Roalnd, as the sister and brother coping with their mothers death, are very touching and familiar. Some of the most heartfelt material of the evening and yet hysterically funny while still tragic. Brewer has mastered writing for the sad clown hero, and seems to like setting up opportunities for several of them to meet. Julie Fitzpatrick gives a star performance in the second and third acts with a massive character shift in between the two acts. Run to see her work, which resembles play.

A performance highlight was the onstage relationship between actors Elizabeth A. Davis and Sarah Baskin, who play old college friends. The two cultivate such a wonderful bond together, that you can at once see two old friends who have grown apart, trying to rekindle a friendship with shorthand tricks that worked in their college years, yet, neither really invested in a positive or negative outcome. In short, they’ve managed to completely encapsulate the suburban way of life in a single relationship and series of exchanges. Two extremely grounded, honest and active performances from two very talented actresses.

While the men are great in the piece, the women are absolutely incredible. If you have read this far and haven’t already booked your tickets to WOLVES, punish yourself and order now.

Running now through August 21st. Tickets over the phone at 212.279.4200 or online at 59e59.org.

Brit Bits 7:

The British are wonderful. We have many reasons to thank them, and Brit Bits 7 is one such reason.

A collection of 8 ten minute-(ish) plays "by, for or about the British", the production flew by before I knew it, and I wanted more. So in honor of the 8 playlets of the evening, I will provide 8 reviewlets (really? reviewlets? oh, well, I already typed it.)

The 3 Graces by Richard Manton-Hollis and directed by Paul D'Alessandris is based around a painting by Raphael, but in statue form. The three sisters played by Sarah Manton, Anna Frankl-Duval and Ruthie Stephens are wonderful, and god love them for staying in the same position for a full ten minutes and not so much as drop their arms an inch! Crisp, clear writing, simple staging and clear analysis of the text and three actresses rocking the art world by storm.

Small Favors by Bronwen Denton-Davis and directed by Stephanie Staes features Peter Cormican and Simon Pearl as a father and son devilishly trying to come to terms with life's end and unfinnished business. Although a little hard to hear all of the dialogue (this was a problem in several pieces, especially in such an intimate setting) the back and forth sparring between the two really sparks towards the end, and what you think will be a formulaic ending actually surprises and you see that the cat and mouse were merely moving the furniture out of the way before the big chase.

Icarus by Sam Peter Jackson and directed by Stephanie Staes is an enigma in the best sense of the word. Cailin McDonald and Frances Uku play two friends arguing about compliment protocol. Very witty, cleverly staged, my favorite actresses of the night, but which one plays Icarus? Or how does Icarus come into the story, if he does at all? Who flys too close the sun; is it the friend who doesn't give compliments freely, who soars to new heights by not listening to the adivice given her, or is it the friend expecting a compliment in return, taking for granted what the other person wants, to get their own way? Someone may have melting wings here, though maybe instead of the actors, it's the audience, charged with the responsibility not to fly too high to figure it out this quandry, but to accept and let it happen and see what develops. A fascinating and very funny performance!

Another Day in Paradise written and directed by Camilla Maxwell has one of the funniest scenes in the evening. Two travellers, played by Anna Frankl-Duval and Adriana Llabres, a la Lucy and Ethyl or Laverne and Shirley, have the worst sunburns you've ever seen. Hilarity ensues. Seriously, this is one of the best pieces.

Unmanned however didn't live up to everything else on stage. While Laura Stevens story seemed viable, the staging and pace of the piece seemed off and mildly stagnent. Directed by Paula D'Allessandris and featuring Lain Gray and Hannah Scott. One thing I will say, the actors did find a very nice, very truthful place and they had some really tender moments.

The Pilot by Chris Thorpe also directed by Paula D'Allessandris fared much better. Mia Moreland and Daniel Damiano were wonderfully cast in this mistaken plot comedy. Very simple staging, although Ms. D'Allesandris could have faced Mr. Thorpe a little more towards the rest of the audience, he was set facing pretty much away from the audience, while Ms. Moreland was clearly seen by everyone. In any case, he very much holds his own and both react against each other with perfect comic timing and absolute seriousness.

Bazelgate & Croxen written by Brian Pracht and directed once again by Stephanie Staes, was one of the most physically active of the pieces and certainly one of the shortest. Adam Jonas Segaller and Martin Ewens is a mix of farce and sketch comedy. The pace was quick, the delivery pitch perfect, and I don't think it could have been acted any better by any other actors.

My favorite piece of the night was the last, The Gesture by Paula D'Alessandris and directed by Camilla Maxwell featured Stuart Williams as the boyfriend who just doesn't know what girlfriend Emma Gordon needs out of the relationship. The story is a bit predictable but hilariously so, but so well directed and acted that everything about the story is enhanced and multiplied. And without giving too much away, honestly the funniest thing I have ever seen done with an ear in my life. Ms. Gordon's demanding shrill insistance perfectly sets Mr. Williams up for amazing comic reactions that every man in the audience can relate to, and both do remarkable work in the piece.

So there we have it! 8 reviewsicals, and one brilliant collection of short plays. Mind the Gaps production of Brit Bits 7 plays at the Manhattan Theatre Source now through June 18th. For tickets go to https://www.ovationtix.com/trs/pr/729955

Winter Shows at the National Theatre

Olivier Theatre (open seven days a week):

NATION: following His Dark Materials, Coram Boy and War Horse, the National stages Mark Ravenhill’s exhilarating adaptation of Terry Pratchett’s latest witty and challenging adventure story. Opening in the Olivier Theatre on 24 November, the production is directed by Melly Still and the cast is led by Gary Carr (as Mau) and Emily Taaffe (as Daphne).

Deborah Warner’s production of MOTHER COURAGE AND HER CHILDREN by Bertolt Brecht, in a translation by Tony Kushner, with Fiona Shaw in the title role, continues the Travelex £10 Tickets season in the Olivier until 8 December.


Lyttelton Theatre (open seven days a week):

A new play by Alan Bennett, THE HABIT OF ART, plays in the Lyttelton Theatre with Richard Griffiths, Alex Jennings and Frances de la Tour leading the cast, directed by Nicholas Hytner.
Limited availability: day seats and returns only. New public booking period opens 2 December.

David Hare’s THE POWER OF YES: a dramatist seeks to understand the financial crisis, directed by Angus Jackson, continues in rep in the Lyttelton Theatre.

Lee Hall’s award-winning play THE PITMEN PAINTERS returns to the NT on 2 December, following a UK tour.


Cottesloe Theatre (open Monday - Saturday):

Katie Mitchell directs PAINS OF YOUTH by Ferdinand Bruckner, in a new version by Martin Crimp.

Dr Seuss’s THE CAT IN THE HAT, adapted and directed by Katie Mitchell for
3–6 year-olds, opens in the Cottesloe on 16 December. Limited availability: day seats and returns only. The show will transfer to the Young Vic from 28 January.

Bijan Sheibani’s production of OUR CLASS, a new play by Tadeusz Slobodzianek, in a version by Ryan Craig, continues in rep in the Cottesloe Theatre. Cast includes: Edward Hogg, Lee Ingleby, Sinead Matthews and Justin Salinger.

A Dream Is to Be Had Here

After an acclaimed 2007 debut at the Ontological Hysteric Theatre Incubator, The New York Innovative Theater Awards honored the original production with Best Set and nominations for Best Ensemble, Best Performance, Best Sound Design, and Best Costumes.

photo credits: Ryan Jensen

Dreams leave as quickly as they come, and the shortest of them are usually most profound and more difficult to grasp upon waking.

This was my experience with Company SoGoNo's production of Art of Memory playing at 3LD Art and Technology Center.

Conceived and Directed by Tanya Calamoneri, written by Lisa Ramirez and performed with Heather Harpham and Cassie Terman, these four women create a remarkable ensemble together. Playing off of each other with such ease and grace, they at once take command and 'on our imaginary forces work.' Art of Memory is evasive and immediate, attainable and timeless.

This is both a discovery play and an imagination play, but like real dreams, the discovery will not arrive until the imagination has been indulged.



Part of the splendour comes from behind the scenes, by the technical staff. Sean Breaults' set design is a stunning work of art, with more specificity in scenic elements than I have ever seen. Live glass music and sound collage by Miguel Frasconi is not to be described, but felt viscerally deep within you. Along with Bruce Steinberg's exceptional lighting design, Mioko Mochizuki's decayed decadence in costume and Video/Animation created and Installed by Matt Tennie, James Short, Antonio Frasconi and Michael Woody, this production team certainly earns the many awards they've brought home.

I would run to see this again.

Theatre magic has come alive again, and we need to experience it once more.

To understand you need to soften your focus with this play--you cannot take it head on and analyze it. Pay more attention to shapes and sounds than specific faces and words.

When I left the theatre I didn't know what I thought of the piece, but the more and more I feel it play around in my head, the more profound and meaningful it becomes.

Art of Memory plays July 16th-August 2nd at 3LD Art & Technology Center, 80 Greenwich Street at Rector (1/R/W)

For Tickets please visit http://www.3ldnyc.org/

Acorn Jones Interviews THAT'S SHOWBIZ!

Actress Abigail Hardin, Director Marc Eardley and Composer / Book Writer Colin Chaston (who co-wrote That’s SHOWBIZ with Tony Clout) took time to answer a few questions regarding the production.

Acorn Jones: Abigail, how long have you been involved with the show?

Abigail Hardin: This is the American premiere of THAT'S SHOWBIZ! so this incarnation is my first involvement. On the first day of rehearsal Colin told us that we had permission to make these characters our own, which is a wonderful thing to hear. It has been an amazing collaborative experience. Half-way through the rehearsal process we decided to take my character in a totally different direction. We decided to enhance certain comedic elements of the script. It's been a fine line of making big, fun, choices while trying to hold onto some level of depth. Ultimately, Sophie Lee is a recognizable ditzy diva, but like many real life celebrities, she is a crafty business woman that did not get where she is now without talent.

AJ: And how do you see your character; how closely would you say your personalities liken?

AH: I play Sophie Lee, a young superstar diva who has risen out of nothing to become a performing sensation. She is not the brightest bulb, but she knows how to turn on the charm. There are elements of Sophie that exist in me, in an altar ego way. She is an exaggeration; she doesn't edit herself which can get her into trouble. Ultimately I think Sophie is looking for validation in the play. She comes on the show to prove her talent and lay claim on the bright career that is ahead of her. She has a determination and an unabashed belief in herself that is refreshing and contagious. If anything, playing Sophie has brought out my own playful side and enabled me to be a little bit grander in my every day life. And a little determination never hurt anyone.

AJ: What do you enjoy most about playing Sophie Lee?

AH: This has been a wonderful process! As a young actress it has been a privilege to step into Sophie Lee's mighty shoes. I often get stereotyped as the young innocent which is the exact opposite of who Sophie is. Sophie is loud, demanding, grand and pure fun. It is fun to be able to strut myself and be a larger than life persona.

AJ: Are there any challenges to playing a character far outside of your own personality?

AH: The difficult moments are making sure that Sophie doesn't become a pure caricature. The challenge lies in maintaining this level of high comedy while still being true to Sophie's vulnerable and sincere moments.

AJ: Marc, according to the program notes you intend to take the show further and elaborate on it more. I was wondering if you could describe some of the changes you look forward to making in future incarnations of the show.

Marc Eardley: When this show moves forward, the potential exists to take it in directions Theatre hasn’t explored yet. My thought is to truly make it like a live taping and making the audience really feel like a part of the show and that they are seeing things home audiences would never see, the behind the scenes stuff which happens at the same time as the on screen work. The most interesting parts of the story are what happens off screen so, I want cameras flying overheard capturing certain expressions and screens facing the audience so they see what the “home audience” would see and how it’s funny what’s happening around that small “box”...What we’ve created is essentially a farce, poking fun at Show Business and celebrity and talk shows while staying away from being cynical or negative and it’s a very exciting idea.

AJ: For both Marc and Colin, how has the experience with this production influenced your thoughts about further changes and future productions?

Colin Chaston: I'm loving my experience in New York. The pool of talent we're working with is outstanding. I believe musical theatre is a collaborative process, so should a producer come in for this, which is what I would like, I'll be very happy to work with them and make changes for future productions.

ME: Well, we are aggressively pursuing investors who see our vision and embrace it. As for changes, the script has come a VERY long way in a short amount of time but I foresee a healthy process of dramaturgy before us. The core idea can’t change and the characters are fun, as are the crazy plot twists, so I see it being more about specific moments; which work and which don’t and things like that. It’s all about the actors and me pulling it off the page in the right way.

AJ: Why did you want to write / direct this story, and what does it represent to you in today's world / is there a parallel to draw from?

ME: Originally I was only supposed to choreograph the show, but Colin saw that I had a high concept for what it could be and he handed over the big chair. I hope he’s happy with the direction I’m going. I think he is! And, oh my, the parallel to the world today smacks you in the face. Our society’s obsession with fame and beauty and money and gossip is front and center in the script in a big way. I mean, one character is aging and being replaced by a younger version and she denies it and hates it! Can’t get more contemporary than that.

CC: The show was originally titled Czarinas. The idea was to draw a parallel between today's stars and royalty of yesteryear. Kira Czar was Catherine the Great, of Russia, Sophie Lee (Sophie Augusta in the original) was Catherine's name when she was a German princess, before she became Catherine. Beau Cortez (originally Greg Orlov) was one of Catherine's many lovers and he killed Peter Mano, Catherine's husband.

One of Catherine's famous quotes has survived in the current show. "I shall be the world's greatest monarch (star) that's my trade and the good Lord will forgive me for whatever I have to do, that's his." However the original concept went over people's heads at the workshop performances in 2004. I decided to drop the parallel and focus on the celebrity talk show culture, believing it would be fun to have a talk show host who wasn't restricted by contracts and who could pretty well ask any questions and go to any place he liked. Many stars are actively seeking to protect their privacy while at the same time manipulating the press, which to me, reeks of double standards.

Thank you Abigail, Marc and Colin! I’ll be seeing the show this weekend and offering my thoughts here at Art Corrupted Collective. In the mean time, for more information visit http://janskiproductions.com or www.midtownfestival.org

The Joys of Fantasy or Our Town Revisited

review by Acorn Jones

Ordinary Theater Company is anything but ordinary. I recently saw their production of The Joys of Fantasy at Twelve21’s 8,000 square foot venue. Joys is a remix of a remix. The company presented Our Town Revisited back in April, but had to change the title for their New York run, especially as there is a production of Wilder’s Our Town currently playing off Broadway.

Ordinary Theaters’ Artistic Director, and director/writer of Joys, Mitchell Polin had an interesting concept to work with in revamping Our Town, but ultimately had a little too much going on. The original play itself is very minimalist, performed without sets, but set on a bare stage, with environments suggested to us by a Stage Manager / Narrator / God figure. It is a subdued and guided exploration of the value of life, and how we spend the time we have within that life.

Joys on the other hand introduces a rock band, and loses all form of text and the dual stage manager character seems to have no control over the story. With the original play set in a small town, Grover’s Corners, the play now takes place in New York City.

My main problem with the show was that throughout the first act the actors were whispering their lines to each other to a point where I couldn’t understand what they were saying. Part of this is due to them being drowned out by the band, but I honestly don’t think the band could play any softer. I understand the need for intimate moments, but if we can’t hear you, we can’t hear the play, so what’s the point of being here?

There were some wonderful moments too. During the second act, Caroline Gart and Teri Incampo share a few scenes together, and the actresses work well off of each other. These scenes were spontaneous, fresh, and the subtlety of performance was remarkable considering how much distraction they were set amongst.

Susannah Berard also has some nice moments in the performance and she does well holding her own on stage. I didn’t really understand the reasoning for the past and future version of her character, her other half played by Claire Kavanah. They both played their parts well, but I missed the reasoning for the device.

Over all is an interesting play, but I think would be better off as a music video/film. Tungsten 74 wrote some great music for the piece, and I think what the production is trying to attempt would work much better on screen and the explosive rock and roll nature can be better harnessed and used for their benefit. I think the play has potential, and just needs a little more tweaking. In the mean time, it’s a good experiment and a great concept.

The Joys of Fantasy runs July 8th-25th, Wednesday-Saturday at 8 PM. Twelve21 is located at 12 West 21st St, between 5th and 6th Ave. Tickets are $20 and available at 212.409.8662 or http://www.ordinarytheater.com/

National Theatre presents live broadcast of Phèdre, starring Helen Mirren

composed from Press Release

On the evening of June 25th, the National Theatre audience for Phedre will number many thousands. In dozens of venues in Europe from Ireland to Scandinavia, Iceland to Estonia, theatre goers will share the agonies of Racine’s driven characters at precisely the same moment. A short time later, taking time zones and satellite orbits into account, these audiences will be joined by others in the United States and Canada, Australia, New Zealand and South Africa. They will all be taking part in an experiment, NT Live, which will beam the action, as it happens, from the National’s Lyttleton stage to some 270 participating cinemas.

The pilot season of NT Live launches tonight, Thursday June 25th with Nicholas Hytner’s production of Phedre, by Jean Racine, in a version by Ted Hughes. Helen Mirren plays the title role, with Dominic Cooper and Margaret Tyzack also leading the cast.

Nicholas Hytner, director of the National Theatre, who is himself directing Phedre, was delighted that things fell into place just when they did: “The technology’s there, the will’s there, the money’s there and here is a great play with a great stage actress, Helen Mirren, who happens to have a massive cinema profile. But you know, the good thing is there is nothing more purely theatrical then French classical tragedy. It obeys the classical Unities. There’s very little physical action in Phedre, but it is action-packed emotionally and psychologically. It has no scenic spectacle in it. Yet eight characters come into passionate conflict with each other and all change completely. And it offers one of the two or three greatest parts ever written for women.”

Being “theatrical” in the best sense of the word, with everything delivered verbally, Phedre makes the most of the experience of theatre on screen. The long description of a terrifying sea monster would be made visual on film. But Hytner says, “I can guarantee to you that you could spend a million dollars a second on computer-generating that monster and it would not be as scary as it is described in the play.

The state of unrelenting heightened emotion is a challenge for English actors. “Racine”, says Hytner, “goes straight for extremes, he is only interested in the five per cent of time when feeling is most intense. Generally what we do [in the British tradition] is we get at the extreme by playing something else. In other words we play the subtext or rather we play the text and let the subtext emerge”. The example he gives is Romeo and Juliet where the lovers’ passion emerges amid comic and social scenes. For Racine most of this would be irrelevant.

Racine is concerned not just with passionate feeling, but more particularly with its destructiveness. Nicholas Hytner says: “Racine had one big subject: love is a disease. In his plays whenever anyone falls in love they slide inexorably into disaster, it tears them apart, their hearts explode into a million pieces. It doesn’t end well.” In Phèdre the gods are clearly a metaphor for human emotion and yet, for Hytner, “If you act in the plays you are required to believe that the gods exist. It’s no use playing Phèdre unless you believe you are descended from the Sun.”

Ted Hughes’s visceral translation is, says Hytner, “like a pane of glass, simple in a different way from Racine.” The alexandrines (rhyming, 12-syllable couplets) of the original cannot be successfully rendered in English, but Hughes has found a style using images and sometimes “an almost Medieval English way with alliteration” to match Racine’s intense simplicity.

Helen Mirren is relishing the role’s demands. “There are no lulls. You just have to commit to it. There will be no relaxation. I don’t think I’ll be seeing the inside of my dressing room at any performance, but also [the play] is so intense that you don’t want to be too far from the stage, to get disengaged from it; you want to stay in the zone.”

Mirren observes that her character “comes from a family where the women have been very unblessed in love. Her mother fell in love and arranged to have a sexual relationship with a bull [which resulted in the Minotaur, half-man, half-bull]. Lust and sexual energy are rampant in her family. At the beginning of the play she is literally dying of love. Hippolytus is her stepson but within that world that is entirely inappropriate and considered incestuous. She tries to behave very well, but fate is inescapable.”

If Phèdre’s fate is in the hands of Venus, the goddess of Love, Mirren says that nevertheless it is “an incredibly recognisable state. When we fall in love, especially if we have the misfortune to fall in love inappropriately, we feel it is more a curse than a blessing and it’s something that you struggle with and fight. It’s a wonderful play, because although it is very heightened and in this world of gods and goddesses, it is still psychologically very recognisable.”

Ted Hughes’s translation of Racine is, she says, “magnificent - so simple, so accessible, but it has poetic force. It is expressive and visceral, but at the same time it comes out like naturalistic dialogue.”

Dominic Cooper, who played Dakin in Alan Bennett’s The History Boys, plays the object of Phèdre’s overwhelming desire, Hippolytus. From the first, he is described as “proud”.

“Before I step onstage, in each scene”, says Cooper, “I remind myself of Hippolytus’s pride and try to figure out where that stems from.” He has thought about what it was like to grow up as the son of Theseus, seeing how his father, an acknowledged hero, but also a cruel philanderer, behaved. “He has wonderful memories of him, of being entranced by stories of his heroism but he does not want to be that man. He is a frustrated young man, kept where he cannot break free, allowed to hunt in the forest but he has never been able to go to war. His father, although a brute, is still a hero to him. The treatment of his mother, an Amazon, appals him. The story is that she was butchered by Theseus at his wedding to Phèdre.”

At the beginning of each performance, Cooper says he undergoes “shudders of anxiety” as he contemplates the journey ahead and resolves to take it a stage at a time. “There is rarely any time to be off the boil, which makes it terribly exciting to play.”

He thinks NT Live is unlike any previous attempt to capture theatre on screen, and he is looking forward to it. “It’s going to be a challenge and, of course, being live, we actors are never going to be able to see it.”

PHÈDRE will be followed on 1 October by Shakespeare’s ALL’S WELL THAT ENDS WELL with Clare Higgins; on 30 January 2010 (a Saturday matinee), by NATION, based on a novel by Terry Pratchett, adapted by Mark Ravenhill; and, in early 2010, Alan Bennett’s new play THE HABIT OF ART with Michael Gambon, Alex Jennings and Frances de la Tour.

Broadcast details in the New York City metropolitan area follow:

The Director's Guild Theatre – Thursday, June 25 at 7:30 PM

Monmouth University, NJ – Thursday, June 25 at 7 PM

Brooklyn Academy of Music – Thursday, July 9 at 7 PM

Film Society of Lincoln Center Walter Reade Theater – Monday, July 6 at 4 and 8 PM

Fairfield University, CT – Saturday, July 11 at 2 PM

Shakespeare Theatre Company (DC) – Monday, June 29 and Monday, July 13 - 7:30 PM

Cinema Arts Centre (Long Island) – Friday, July 24 at 7:30 PM

For further details of venues and screenings, visit http://www.ntlive.com