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Regional Reviews: San Francisco Collapse, The Seagull and Clybourne Park
Body Awareness is an attracted little comedy with lots of heart. The playwright reveals a delicate touch with comedy mostly devoid of poetic eccentricities, meta-theatrics and the smarmy characteristic of many of her generation. In their home on a small Vermont college campus, feminist professor Phyllis (Amy Resnick) and her partner Joyce (Jeri Lynn Cohen) are hosting guest artist Frank (Howard Swain), a male photographer who specializes in female nudes. The couple is having problems counseling Joyce's 21-year-old son Jared (Patrick Russell) who they believe is suffering from Asperger's syndrome (one character in the play says, "Asperger's—that's like a lack of empathy, right?"). Jared is an amateur lexicographer who reads the Oxford English Dictionary line by line and hopes to be a professional editor of dictionaries. His unfriendly probing questions about human relations and sex arise not from uncaring observation but because he has a deep need to be loved and respected. What makes this an appealing play is that the adults around Jared don't have very strong answers to any of his questions. Body Awareness challenges how we see ourselves and how we define ourselves. Director Joy Carlin has assembled a remarkable cast of four distinguish Bay Area actors along with a remarkable set by Kent Dorsey that vividly conveys the sense of a claustrophobic household. Amy Resnick and Jeri Lynn Cohen are excellent as Phyllis and Joyce. One can see that these two are as trapped by their relationship as they are by the winter weather outside. They give ardent performances as they explore for the first time, themes of annoyance and imagined betrayal. Patrick Russell is outstanding as Jared as he explains in his many outbursts, "I'm not angry. I'm surrounded by imbeciles," referring to Phyllis and Joyce. Howard Swain is charismatic as the free spirited photographer Frank. He is spiritual to a fault and even persuades his host to light Shabbos candles at dinner even though it's Tuesday and none of them are Jewish. It is a tour de force of wonderful acting. Joy Carlin's direction is smooth and she brings out not only the comedy but the drama as well in this 90-minute play. Body Awareness plays through March 11th at the Aurora Theatre, 2081 Addison Street, Berkeley. For tickets call 510-843-4822 or visit www.auroratheatre.org. Photo: David Allen
Arms and the Man is in the tradition of the novels of Victorian England and is a panorama of the entire society at that time. It's a play on marriage, on class warfare and a look at the modern woman of that time. The play is written with the tongue firmly planted in the cheek and is intentionally melodramatic. Shaw has created a comedy of manners that stings as much as it chuckles. Center Repertory Company of Walnut Creek recently presented an appropriately overemotional production of this satire of the British in the Victorian age with splendid "operetta" melodramatic acting on the part of the actors under the capable direction of Nancy Carlin. Much of the actors' actions and movement reminded me of the Oscar Strauss operetta The Chocolate Solider; only the songs were missing. The play takes place during the time of the 1885 Serb-Bulgarian War in the bedroom of Raina Petkoff (Maggie Mason), a young Bulgarian woman engaged to Major Sergius Saranoff (Gabriel Marin), one of the heroes of the war. One night, Captain Bluntschli, a Swiss mercenary solider in the Serbian army, bursts through Raina's bedroom window and firstly threatens her, then begs her to hide him so that he is not killed. Raina complies, though she thinks him a coward since he does not carry pistol cartridges but chocolates. When the battle dies down, Raina and her mother Catherine Petkoff (Lisa Anne Porter) sneak Bluntschli out of the house disguised in an old housecoat. All of this touches off the second act which is filled with comedic scenes involving mistaken identities, ironic behavior, wit and general satire. This production featured some of the finest actors in the Bay Area. Maggie Mason dazzled as Raina Petkoff. Her external innocence was belied by an inner wit and inquisitive, almost cynical nature. One could say she was precocious in a good way. Gabriel Marin, in an outfit straight out of The Student Prince and a wildly shape mustache, was perfect has the uneasily heroic Sergius. He balanced the outward acceptance of his gallant appearance with the inner refusal of it with razor precision. It was a great performance of Victorian acting. There was much comedy relief by Michael Ray Wisely as Major Petkoff and Lisa Anne Porter as Catherine. They strikingly parodied the British upper classes of the time. Wisely played the Major as an appealingly gregarious old man while Porter gave a solid performance and her facial expressions were very entertaining. Kendra Lee Oberhauser gave a sassy performance with gestures and penetrating looks as the servant who flirts with Sergius. The other servant, Nicola, was played by Aaron Murphy who did a fine portrayal of a stooge while deploying his master to believe he was dependable. Andy Gardner presented a good portrayal of a Russian officer in a small role. Craig Marker as the professional Swiss soldier vividly portrayed the opposing perspective of Sergius' charge to Raina and at the same time wooed her with Swiss efficiency. He gave a great understated performance. You could say he was the straight man for the clowns in this comedy. In the end she called him her "chocolate cream soldier." Bravo to Kelly James Tighe for a beautifully detailed set of a Bulgarian living quarters in the 1880s and to Victoria Livingston-Hall for opulent gowns and dashing soldiers outfits. Sound designer Lyle Barrere and lighting designer Kurt Landisman showed precise timing with the sound and lights. Nancy Carlin and the cast did not change one word of Shaw's sparking comedy but they made this a care-free comedy that would please most theatre audiences. Arms and the Man played through February 25th at the Lesher Center for the Arts, 1601 Civic Drive, Walnut Creek. Coming up next is Neil Simon's farce Rumors opening on March 30 and running through April 28th. For tickets call 925-943-7469 or visit www.centerrep.org. Photo: www.kevinberne.com
Higher, Carey Perloff's drama about a spirited architectural competition, had its world premiere at The Children's Creativity Museum, formerly the Zeum Theatre, through February 25th. Higher is a look into the world of architecture, much like Theresa Rebeck's What We're Up Against. The two-hour drama shows not only the nobleness of the trade but also the shallowness of the experts. The drama is full of comic and sharp one-liners and the theme's foundations generate vivid tension especially in the second act. The play is about the need to remember the past in a culture that is fixated with the present. It's a well construction piece of theatre. Two American architects drive into a high stakes competition to design a memorial in Israel. They are also in love but they don't know that they are vying against one another. Higher whisks the audience from New York studios to the Sea of Galilee as the architects confront their own past in a race to make their mark on history. Mark Jackson's direction was tense, and there were excellent performances by the cast. Rene Augesen as the driven and forcefully engrossed young, go-getting architect, and Andrew Polk as her lover, the famous architect Michael ("Billionaires without borders") who prefers the high paying clients of Dubai, gave fine performances. Ben Kahre was excellent in the role of Michael's son Isaac, a chef. Concetta Tomei in the role of the wealthy widow Valerie who is funding a proposed memorial on the shores of Sea of Galilee for victims of a terrorist attack on an Israeli bus gave an enjoyable performance. Alexander Crowther was good as Jacob, the son of one of the men killed at the site. He imbued the character with a significant defenselessness that could have come out clearer. Erik Flatmo designed a handsome minimal set for the intimate theatre and the audience got to be up close and personal for the passionate exchanges and pointed dialogue. David F. Draper's sharp costumes were also an asset to this production. Higher ran through February 25th at The Theatre at Children's Creativity Museum, 221 Howard Street, San Francisco. Running now is Wajdi Mouawad's Scorched at American Conservatory Theater, 415 Geary Street, San Francisco, through March 11. For tickets call 415-749-2228 or visit www.act-sf.org
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