Arts :: Theater
A little bit of history repeating by Brian Jewell
contributing writerWednesday Apr 16, 2008 The marvelously inventive and unpretentious Rough & Tumble theatre company, whose motto is "theatre that doesn’t suck," has been sadly quiet in recent years. So it’s a delight to have them back on the scene with a new show, Ocean of Air. And even though the production is more cute diversion than triumphant return, it was enjoyable enough to remind me of everything I like about the company, even though it also reminded me that setting out to not suck doesn’t set the bar very high.
A whimsical tale of adventure and daring young men in their floating machines, Ocean of Air is based on the true story of the first around-the-world zeppelin flight. Unless you’re a steampunk fan or history buff, you may not know or recall that before zeppelins became irrevocably associated with the Hindenburg disaster, they were serious rivals to the airplane in the new field of aviation. Ocean takes us back to the 1920s, when scientists and pilots were testing the limits of the sky; in this case with the history making - and more importantly for the fledgling zeppelin industry, publicity making - intercontinental flight of the Graf Zeppelin. Kitted out with the latest high tech gear (which amusingly, mostly consists of two steering wheels and a radio, at least in this spare production), the airship’s crew must contend with bad weather and bad vibes amongst its complement of diplomats and reporters.
This sounds like the stuff of high adventure, but too often the show feels like a forgotten drawing-room comedy as the characters gently banter and flirt. Rough & Tumble has embellished known facts with romances and an emergency landing, but even a white squall raises the excitement only momentarily, leading to nothing worse than spilled coffee and a talent show to while away the hours while the crew makes repairs. The slow pace doesn’t help, especially when the action comes to a halt while the cast executes perfectly choreographed set changes with solemn precision. The talented and quietly charming ensemble is a treat, particularly Kristin Baker as a sassy reporter, Irene Daly as a frazzled investor, and Rodney Rafferty as a dissolute smooth talker. And pay attention to the subtle work of James Barton, who approaches the line of parody without ever crossing it as the square-jawed pilot whose eyes are often fixed on some distant point. Ocean never really delivers the thrilling skyjinks you’d expect, but with its economic stagecraft that suggests the majesty of the Graf in flight, or the splendor of The Northern Lights, it does often evoke the quiet wonder of gazing at the starry night sky.
Travesties
Oscar Wilde’s witty farce The Importance of Being Earnest has been heaped with accolades over the years. It’s been called the funniest comedy in the English language, and even one of the few perfect plays in any language. Trust Tom Stoppard, our modern master of wit, to think he can improve on perfection. No, really, trust him; he’s up to the task. So is director Diego Arcienagas of Publick Theatre, who has brilliantly realized Travesties, Stoppard’s wild remix of Wilde.
Travesties also takes inspiration from a historical footnote. In Zurich in 1917, three significant figures rubbed shoulders: artistic revolutionaries James Joyce (who was writing Ulysses at the time) and Tristan Tzara (one of the founders of Dadaism, precursor to Surrealism) along with the literal revolutionary Lenin. Also in Zurich at the time was Henry Carr, a minor British diplomat who serves as the focal point of the play, which begins with Carr in his dotage. Carr shares his self-serving "senile reminiscences" with the audience, but he can’t seem to get his facts straight. His memories come to frenetic but fragmented life, with scenes starting and stopping and repeating, and lines and plotlines from Earnest bleeding into the Russian revolution, as Carr struggles to understand some of the major forces of the twentieth century.
It definitely helps if you know Earnest well, if only to catch the clever references. And of course, one of the show’s biggest but subtlest jokes is how much intellectual content Stoppard has grafted onto Wilde’s forcefully silly play, turning the "serious comedy for trivial people" into a sort of intellectual slapstick. The horrors of war, class struggle and the role of art in society are major themes here; yet just as Wilde laughed at the very notion of propriety, Stoppard refuses to take modernism seriously. Even on paper this is a hilarious show, and the Publick production ramps up the silliness. Characters drop trou, dance the can-can, and imitate cuckoo clocks one moment, then casually toss off pages-long monologues full of twisty wordplay the next.
The boundless energy and perfect comic timing on display from the entire cast is breathtaking. Nigel Gore is especially impressive as Carr; he’s wonderfully fluid as he slides from center stage to supporting character, from young to old, and from peevishness to passion. Kudos too for Alejandro Simoes and Lynn Guerra, who manage to stand out in an ensemble of scene stealers as the manic Tzara and the saucy Gwendolen. Some recent local productions of other Stoppard plays reminded what a challenge his daffy, dense work is to produce; don’t miss this change to see it done right.
Ocean of Air plays Thursday - Saturday at 8 p.m. through April 27 at The Factory Theater, 791 Tremont St., Boston. Tickets $15. Info: 866-811-4111 or www.theatermania.com. Travesties plays Wednesday and Thursday at 7:30 p.m. and Friday and Saturday at 8 p.m. through May 3 at The Boston Center for the Arts, 539 Tremont St., Boston. Tickets $35. Info: 617.933.8600 or www.bostontheatrescene.com.
|
|
|
Email
Print
Share
