Regional Reviews: St. Louis Blood Reigns: The War of The Roses Also see Richard's review of Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike
Nowadays, we don't even blink if a show's just 100 minutes long, though we may blanch if we see there's even one intermission in the programimplying a whole evening's commitment. All our recently acquired short attention spans must be wreaking havoc with concessions revenues. And here there are two short breaks: just enough time to stretch your legs, before the next round of genuinely appalling palace intrigues. Director Christopher Limber has freed his actors to tell the story of Henry VI (and Joan of Arc, and eventually Richard III) with great style serving side-by-side with absolute realism. Jeff Loyd is magnificently, gently regal as Henry, and Maxwell Knocke is deliriously dangerous as the Duke of York (father to Richard III). There are consistently great performances at every level of the production, and fine technical work, too, for a company that has in the past struggled with unevenness. The story is necessarily sprawling, re-worked from Shakespeare's Henry VI Parts I, II and III: streamlined and integrated by Michael B. Perkins, Robin Weatherall and director Limber, into something just modern enough to be free-flowing, but with the tremendous heartbeat of the original Shakespeare, thrumming forcefully all along. Maggie Wininger is beautiful (and occasionally duplicitous) as Margaret of Anjou, daughter of the king of Naples, taken to wed Henrybut with a secret romance to the Duke of Suffolk (before she even sets an elegant foot on English soil), played by a naturalistic Ben Ritchie. It's all a ruthless soap opera, though at a much better clip than any daytime drama. Of course, everyone has an angle. But it's all worked out without the faintest smirk or sneerexcept, perhaps, for the French, and the Plantagenets. And what else would you expect from the like of them? Joan of Arc is there, the shimmering Katie Warnusz-Steckel; and Margeau Baue Steinau makes for a formidable witch, conjuring a fearsome wraith before she's banished, and her noble husband (Jared Sanz-Agero) is ruined as well. Before we go any further, I should probably say the many swordfights seem to be underwritten at great expense by Lloyd's of London. And they have apparently made very certain that absolutely no one will be injured, in any way whatsoever. Swords are drawn with great frequency, but ironically it's the only time the pace and action ever flag. The daggers that so often find their ways into the backs of unsuspecting noblemen are delivered with a lot more panache. So, if you happen to show up 45 minutes late, and miss most of the big war with France, well, blame it on me. My admiration for Carl Overly Jr. continues to grow: among other roles, he's great as the populist Irish hero Jack Cade, hilarious and pandering to the mob, just as King Henry quits his cross-channel war, only to end up mired in Richard II's costly exploits on the Emerald Isle, all over again. It's a kind of kingly karma, after Henry's grandfather wrested Britain away from R-II, lo those many scenes ago. Teresa Doggett, the Welsh-born actress, sets a fleet but ferocious tone as Warwick, another duke who makes a lot of hard choicesand manages to out-man several of the actual males on stage, without ever seeming to try. Charles Heuvelman is wickedly genteel as the Bishop of Winchester. This is a remarkably strong cast from top to bottom, and the pace is excellent, notwithstanding all that tentative swordplay. The very youthful Alex Bollini is fine as the young Edmund, and Dan Haller makes a great young Prince of Wales. Tim Callahan is perfectly heroic as Talbot and (later) acrid as the glowering Buckingham. Josh Saboorizadeh seems perfectly suited to be the handsome, cocky Dauphin of France, and later (the future, doomed) Clarence. Andrew Bayer is imposing as a young Allen Rickman-type in various rolesthen much later, he seems very nearly oafish as an ostensibly young Richard III. Mr. Bayer's own final moment in the spotlight, crooked and craven, is exceedingly delicious. And gleeful noises, along with sighs of guilty pleasure, could be heard all around the audience as he delivered us to the doorstep of his own high drama, and completed this great epic too. I never say "don't miss it," but ... don't miss it. Through March 29, 2015, at De Smet Jesuit High School, Ballas Rd. just north of Ladue Rd. For more information visit www.stlshakespeare.org. The Cast Artistic, Administrative and Technical Personnel Photo by Kyra Bishop
|