|
Regional Reviews: San Francisco Love and Information Also see Richard's reviews of Anything Goes, This Golden State - Part One: Delano and Choir Boy, Patrick's review of Eddie Izzard: Force Majeure and Eddie's review of Chinglish
One of Churchill's latest ventures is Love and Information, which opens American Conservatory Theater's brand new Strand Theatre on Market Street. More on the theatre a little later. Love and Information runs an intermission-less 100 minutes with a company of 12 actors presenting over 50 scenelets, most of which involve two characters, none of whom we will meet again. For as little as 30 seconds, these superb actors perform entire relationships, sometimes as strangers meeting for the first time and sometimes with deep personal histories. Most of the scenes consist of two unnamed people talking about relationships, which the "Love" part of the title suggests. Sometimes these people talk on a vast range of other topics, from mathematics and a hypothetical theory to the human response to love, misery, anxiety, heartache and melancholy, which is the "Information" part. Some of the scenes are just a few lines long while others can run to five pages of dialogue. Just to give you an example, there is a scene in which a woman confides to a young boy that she is not his sister, as he believes, but his mother. Love and Information is a humanist document in director Casey Stangl's stunning production, with a top flight cast that consists of Joel Bernard, Anthony Fusco, Cindy Goldfield, Dan Hiatt, Joe Holt, Rafael Jordan, Christina Liang, Sharon Lockwood, Leo Marks, Dominique Salerno, Mia Tagano, and Shona Tucker. These actors perform on a bare stage with table and chairs that they move around for each scene. There are large dazzling projections, thanks to Micah J. Stieglitz, on the wall behind the actors. It is a fascinating night of theatre at its finest. The brand new legitimate house is located at 1127 Market Street between 7th and 8th Street in San Francisco. It seats 283 people and the stark walls are a vibrant red. The theatre can be easily transformed to a cabaret setup featuring cocktail tables and open seating. The is also a huge lobby with a concession stand and tables and chairs for the audience to use while waiting for the show. American Conservatory Theater's Love and Information will play at the Strand Theatre through July 18th, 2015. For more information and tickets call 415-749-2228 or visit www.act-sf.org.
|
