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Regional Reviews: San Francisco The Taming of the Shrew, Auctioning the Ainsleys and
Director Robert Currier's adaptation is Pirates of the Caribbean meets Shakespeare with a little of Dumb and Dumber thrown in for good measure. Yes, this is one silly production, but it is an audience-friendly version for families to be introduced to the Bard's work. The play takes place in Cocomo Island, West Indies, during the age of pirates. Christopher Sly (Gary Grossman), an old, peg-legged tar looking like Robert Newton in Treasure Island, comes out onto the stage to give a prologue. There's a lot of "yarr matey," "avast" and I think I heard "scurry dog." Taming of the Shrew is part Marx Brothers, part Abbott and Costello and maybe something that would go great on the old television series "Laugh In." However, it is all marvelously over the top, and the audience at the performance I attended had one great entertaining evening. Darren Bridgett is the damnedest pirate captain I have ever seen, and he is a scream as Petruchio. It looks like as if he has been at the gin bottle too much, and that is what makes this performance hilarious. Cat Thompson is splendid as Katharina. She plays the role bold but not as bitchy as other actresses who have taken the part. She is very good with a sword, too. William Elsman gives an engaging performance as Lucentio, almost on the fey side. Mark Robinson pulls out all stops in hilarity playing his servant Tranio. He sports what could be a French-Spanish-Italian accent, if that is possible. Julian Lopez-Morillas steals scenes with wheezy intonations as the old man Gremio. There is a very large cast of lords and ladies speaking with exaggerated enunciation, and pirates straight out of the The Pirates of Penzance. The supporting cast doesn't disappoint either, with every member well suited to his or her part. Giving extravagant performances are Stephen Klum, Alexandra Matthews, Paul Stout, Camilla Ford, Lucas McClure, Melissa Arleth and Nick Dickson. There is music, dancing, and all sorts of fun goings-on on the stage during the two-hour and 30 minute, fast-paced production. One criticism I must mention. In the important scene in the second act where Petruchio and Katharina are returning to her father's house, director Robert Currier has put the scene on the extreme left side off the stage on a small hill. It's great for those sitting in the immediate area, but the audience on the right side has no idea what is going on. Abra Berman does a splendid job with outlandish costumes for both the gentry and the pirates. They are the hit of the show. Darren Bridgett wears the craziest wedding outfit I have seen in years. Choreography by Cynthia Pepper is audacious and fun. The set by Mark Robinson is excellent, with a large pirate ship on the extreme left side of the stage where much of the action occurs in the second act. The Taming of the Shrew plays in repertory with Travesties through September 26th. Shakespeare's Antony and Cleopatra will open on August 20th and play in rep through September 25. For tickets call 415-499-4488 or visit www.marinshakespeare.org. Photo: Morgan Cowin
TheatreWorks recently kicked off its new season with the world premiere of Laura Schellhardt's Auctioning the Ainsleys at the Lucie Stern Theatre through August 8th. This is a quirky play about people and the objects that own them. The characters remind me of those in plays by Jules Feiffer or Christopher Durang as they are more like caricatures than actual actual individuals. The Ainsleys are a very dysfunctional family whose late father was an auctioneer. This comedy is about an obsessive note-taker and a family who have a fixated desire to keep every memento of their lives. The matriarch Alice (Diane Dorsey) hires Arthur (Lance Gardner) to record the history of the family and the meaning of items she has collected before time and age wipes out her memory. It appears she cannot remember one item she has ever collected. As her last act, Alice endeavors to release her four adult children from their overwhelming attachment to the material world by putting the Ainsley Auction House itself on the block. It appears these weird kids have never left the confines of their self-infected mansion. They just don't want to leave their possessions unattended. She introduces Arthur to her children by means of objects: a stapler, a teakettle and a blank slate. These are precise links to her memories of people. The children each have their own fixation to objects. Daughter Annalee (Molly Anne Coogan) has a staple fetish. She staples everything, including receipts to her clothing. In one scene she even clips her clothes to the desk. Amelia (Jessica Lynn Carroll) lives in the carriage house and spends her days accumulating such mementos as dishes, cups and a teapot into coordinated sets. Every single thing must be perfectly matched, and in this way she believes she will find a perfect life partner. Aiden (Liam Vincent) hates untidiness so much that he lives in an empty room. There are no chairs, no mirrors and not even a writing instrument. He is one messed up young man. In one scene Arthur accidentally brings a crystal vase into his room and Aiden throws a fit. These three have become prisoners of their own psychoses. Alice has one more child, Avery (Heidi Kettering), who has been trained by her late father as a fast-talking auctioneer. She left home 15 years ago because of a family secret which is revealed toward the end of the comedy. She has come home to auction the house. The cast is very good. Liam Vincent again gives a terrific performance, boring down into the character's idiosyncrasies. He has impeccable timing, especially in Aiden's loss of words when talking to the other characters and when there might be a romance brewing between Aiden and Arthur. Diane Dorsey gives a skilled performance as the off-beat matriarch Alice. Jessica Lynn Carroll is sprightly as Amelia, in a somewhat Kristin Chenoweth-type performance. Molly Anne Coogan is a hoot with a staple gun in hand. Heidi Kettenring's Avery seems to be the only normal person in the brunch. Kettenring gives a good account of herself in the role. Lance Gardner is delightfully meticulous in the role of Arthur. At the performance I attended, several of the actresses had some problems with the clever zingers by the playwright. The punch lines were lost by their timing. However, I am sure this was later straightened out. Scenic Designer Annie Smart has devised a capricious revolving two-tiered set, along with a Tiny Alice model house that comes from the rafters of the theatre on several occasions. She also did the costumes for the production. Cliff Caruthers brings some jaunty music sounding a little like a Danny Elfman score for the changing of scenes. Director Meredith McDonough keeps a light touch on the actors. Auctioning the Ainsleys could use a little more polish if an Off-Broadway production is planned. There could be more background on the relationship that Alice had with her deceased husband and on why she has not retained a good memory of her children. The production played at the Lucie Stern Theatre, Palo Alto, through August 8th. Their next production will be Adam Guettel's The Light in the Piazza opening at the Mountain View Center for Performing Arts, 500 Castro Street, Mountain View on August 25th.
Boxcar Theatre is dedicated to supporting bold presentations of American classics. The company and its directors utilize dynamic imagery, physical movement and innovative storytelling in their productions. They have taken on the Herculean task of presenting three Tennessee Williams classics in new streamlined versions. The first of these is a 90-minute production of Cat On a Hot Tin Roof. I have seen many productions of the dysfunctional family fighting over an inheritance in the Mississippi Delta, going back to the original at the Morosco Theatre during the spring of 1955 starring Barbara Bel Geddes, Ben Gazzara and Burl Ives, and the revival at the Eugene O'Neill during the spring of 1990 with Kathleen Turner, Daniel Hugh Kelly and Charles Durning. The Oregon Shakespeare Company did a superb production this season. When I first heard that Boxcar Theatre were doing a fast-paced 90 minute production of a drama that usually runs two hours and half, I thought it could not be done. However, director Jeffrey Hoffman and company manage to keep the Tennessee Williams flavor in this drama. Large swatches of the dialogue have been taken out, but the director has been able to keep the guts of the play intact. The small stage is cluttered with furniture, and audience members are sitting next to Maggie and Brick's bed, her dressing table, and the antique couch of Big Daddy's house. On opening night, we were next to the bed. This is the most intimate performance I have seen of the play. Lauren Doucette dominates the first scene as the frustrated Maggie, while Brick, beautifully underplayed by Peter Matthews, has very little to do but slowly sip his Jim Beam. Ms. Doucette gives a solid performance as the irritated wife. You sometimes want Maggie to shut up and let Brick say something. Generally, there is an intermission to let the audience breathe and be prepared for the big confrontation between Big Daddy and Brick. In this production it comes rapidly after the first scene. Peter Matthews comes into his own in this war of words with an excellent performance as the weak-willed Brick. He becomes more stupefied as he uses the alcohol to cut the pain of living in close quarters with Maggie. Michael Moerman as Big Daddy gives his all with the brutal roughness and volcanic vulgarity of the Mississippi plantation owner who believes his cancer is in remission. The final scene about the inheritance of the plantation is well done, thanks to the performance of Suzan A. Kendall as Big Mama with a powerful Southern accent. She shines in this role. Brian Jansen as Gooper, Hannah Knapp as Mae, and Andy Strong as Doc Baugh give good performances. Much of this section has been cut but it is still a powerful scene. Director Jeffrey Hoffman has added a character, with the appearance of Brick's dead friend Skipper played effectively by Seth Thygesen. He appears as a ghost in several scenes. The major scene where Brick confronts the ghost is played on the extreme left corner of the stage and many in the audience sitting on the right side cannot hear Brick's dialogue. Cat On a Hot Tin Roof will be playing in repertory with A Streetcar Named Desire and The Glass Menageries through August 28 at their located at 555 Natoma Street, San Francisco. For tickets call 415-776-1747 or visit www.boxcartheatre.org.
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