Regional Reviews: Washington, D.C. The Thousandth Night Also see Susan's reviews of Arguendo and Camp David Storytelling is at the root of theaterassuming that both the story and the teller are sufficiently engaging to captivate an audience. Marcus Kyd's character in The Thousandth Night, Guy de Bonheur, is an actor forced to tell stories to save his life, and both Kyd and his creation rise admirably to the challenge. MetroStage in Alexandria, Virginia, originally presented Carol Wolf's play in 2001 (with a different actor). In honor of the theater's 30th anniversary season, the work returns as part of a repertory with another one-actor play, Underneath the Lintel, which opens later this month. In Nazi-occupied Paris, Guy de Bonheur is a member of an acting troupe that performs tales from the Arabian Nights in a café. He has been arrested, charged with "propagating subversive materials," and put on a train to a concentration camp. However, saboteurs have bombed the railroad track just past a station, giving Guy an opportunity to fleeonly to come face to face with both French gendarmes and agents of the Gestapo. Guy uses all his performing skills to prove that he is no political threat, simply an entertainer, and that he should be released to resume his career. In a frenzy, he acts out the comic and fantastic stories from his repertoire, playing a range of characters with rapidly shifting facial expressions, changes in vocal timbre, and one or two small costume pieces. In his actions and his goals, he becomes like Scheherazade, narrator of the Arabian Nights, who forestalls her husband's intention to kill her by enchanting him with stories within stories. Under the sure-handed direction of John Vreeke, Kyd holds the stage with a vividly human portrayal. As Guy scrambles to save his life, under all the exaggerations and sly asides, he comes to understand human dignity and the need to stand up to tyranny instead of becoming the prisoner of one's own fears. MetroStage |