Josh Harrimon is a theater connoisseur. He also hopes to write the first play performed in space.
October 2008
October 22, 2008
Dark Series Surprise
I attended the Mad Horse Theatre's 'Dark Night Series' in anticipation of the opening play, Harold Pinter's 'One for the Road,' but found the final piece, 'Cloudhoppers,' written by South Portland playwright Brent Askari, worthy of more room in the Epiblogue.
The Wednesday night show also featured David Mamet's 'Mr. Happiness' as the second in the three-play series.
Directed by Chris Horton, the first two plays slugged their way through strange, surreal worlds where reality is defined more by the speakers than the situations--fitting for election time. "Everything is true if you believe it," states Peter Brown playing the radio host for 'Mr. Happiness.'
Though performed together, 'Cloudhoppers', written and directed by Askari, takes a very different approach. It is a tragi-comedy about two corporate travelers stuck in an airport because of a weather storm. Rather then defining their realities, the two find solace in each other's attempt to understand their realities. The two find a bond in their desperate need for self-affirmation not only in their existence, but in evidence that their hands are even on a rudder of existence.
'Cloudhoppers' succeeds wonderfully in its contemporary feel, both its use of cell phones and modern dialog that is brief and punchy rather than lengthy and premeditated. The play drags slightly with extensive props but makes up for it with the brilliant performances of Lisa Muller-Jones and Craig Bowden, who own the parts they play.
The ending is a bit askew, slipping into the surreal that it has so strongly avoided. But the final scene of an airport riot is forgiven in the honesty that the characters convey towards themselves and each other.
The opening of the truly bizarre and ominous 'One for the Road' and the follow up with 'Mr. Happiness,' where a radio host expresses the need for the semblance of happiness rather than being true to one's self, is balanced in the end by the sad, but uplifting poignant 'Cloudhoppers'.
I, for one, look forward to more Mad Horse Theatre productions and future plays by Brent Askari, and I think the series proves that the quality of theatre in Portland is not defined by the size or the wallets of the theatre companies.
The Dark Night Series also shows at 7:30 p.m. on Oct. 21 thru 22 in the upstairs of the Portland Stage Company's building on 25A Forest Avenue. I learned the hard way to make sure you are at least ten minutes early for their shows. For other upcoming Mad Horse Theatre productions, visit madhorse.com.
Conversions
It is no simple task to overlay the movements of Wall Street and corporate takeovers to the vast imperial conquests of militaristic cunning undertaken by the Romans under Julius Caesar. However, the Portland Stage Company has shouldered the task with a modernization of Shakespeare's play that runs through mid-October.
The production, under the direction of Lucy Smith Conroy, works within Shakespeare's original language and presents the cast in modern suits with armed escorts. On Friday night, Sept. 26, there were standout performances by Kevin Kelly as Caesar and Sally Wood as Portia. Kelly was well cast and strong on stage in his words and silences while Wood was shining in her passionate speeches and contagious consternation over Brutus' mind-frame.
Julius Caesar, played by Kevin Kelly, is contemplative in thought just before being stabbed to death by wary Roman Senate members at the Friday night Portland Stage Company performance. (Photo by Bob Keyes)
The choice to create Cassius as a woman, a role performed aptly by Rebecca Watson, was an inventive and enjoyable twist.
The cast, however, had the difficult task of performing a balancing act between old-world language and the presentation of a contemporary setting$a task fraught with strong winds. Numerous films have attempted such a feat and achieved only very moderate success. Several years ago, I saw MacBeth presented during the still current war in Iraq and it floundered heavily at times, overcome by the difficulty.
Shakespeare's language is old and unnatural but extremely exact. It is loaded with intent, depth and passion that is difficult to portray when a language's nuances are foreign. This the hardest part about presenting Shakespeare on film: presenting his work as it was when he wrote it, contemporary and raw.
Ironically, the hill seems to become even steeper on stage, the props less generous. Actors and actresses are forced to understanding the extreme weight of these characters in the way they think, act and speak; and then adapt it into a modern coalition of weight words.
Friday night's performance struck me as an effort still working this balance. The "E tu Brute" and Caesar's calling for fatter men around him or the Soothsayer yelling "Beware the Ides of March" did not pack the weight and intensity that the moments allow.
When the cast talks about their 'swords,' which are small daggers, I wonder what it would look like if they had guns instead? What if the language altered its lingo? What does conquest mean to modern ideals? What would an ideal emperor be able to perform? I think the production could have created more depth if it had explored these questions with more freedom.
'Julius Caesar' explores the fundamentals of absolute power corrupting absolutely and asks what human contains the restraint to hold great might. It is a powerful observation of man's own confusion on how to self-govern.
The performance will be running until Oct. 19. For more information, call 1 207 774 0465 or visit portlandstage.com.
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