On Stage
Annex Scores, Anansi Charms, and Adrian Changes the Subject
Tools
Annex Theatre at the Rendezvous
Through March 22.The prospect of watching a florid Jacobean play in a tiny theater in the back of a bar may not sound like an exciting way to spend a weekend night. Unless, however, that play has been adapted by Bret Fetzer, dynamically directed by Carys Kresny, and performed by a cast beyond reproach.
Stranger Personals
In Thomas Middleton's The Changeling, noblewoman Beatrice (Susan McIntyre) has fallen in love with a man other than the one she is to marry. Desperate to find her way out of the marriage contract, she enlists disfigured servant Deflores (John Bianchi) to murder her fiancé. Having carried out the foul deed, Deflores demands payment of her virginity. Originally a straight tragedy where everyone winds up dead because of their moral plundering, The Changeling's ending is here boldly altered by Fetzer. The focus moves from fidelity in the eyes of the Church to fidelity in the eyes of those who, despite the consequences, act out of love.
Mr. Fetzer has also adapted the root idea of "the changeling" (someone secretly exchanged for another) beyond what Thomas Middleton intended, and into the realm of sexual identity. Tomazo (Montana Von Fliss), a simple, distraught nobleman in the original, becomes a woman posing as a man who also desires her brother--the murdered groom, Alonzo. Isabella (Julie Rawley) is changed from a doctor's wife to a chambermaid with a secret penchant for spankings and blindfolds. For both characters, it is their hidden sexual desires that motivate them rather than that dusty old notion of familial honor. At times these deviancies (including bits featuring the word "cock" and the Jackson 5) begin to tip the play toward late-night theater fare, but director Kresny smartly keeps the cast from going campy.
And finally, Matthew Smucker should be given a damn trophy for set design. Taking a cue from the line "these women are the ladies' cabinets/Things of most precious trust are locked in 'em," Smucker's created a kinetic sculpture with dozens of doors that keep the actors sailing through this fine production. GREGORY ZURA
Anansi the Spider
Carter Family Puppet Theater
Through Feb 23.Anansi the Spider follows the adventures of the titular character in his megalomaniacal quest for power, riches, and notoriety. According to the program, Anansi stories come from West African folk tales, while similar stories pop up in other countries, featuring local animals like Brer Rabbit and extending to such contemporary characters as Drinky Crow and Wile E. Coyote. This show of puppet theater is aimed at kids and their parents--a family audience--and I was a little apprehensive about attending without a kid. I don't suffer from pupaphobia (fear of puppets) or arachnophobia (fear of spiders), but I do have a mild kinderphobia (fear of kids) when it comes to other people's children--there's nothing more unnerving than being surrounded by a large group of small, anonymous children and their fleece-clad parents when you're lacking a small ambassador of your own.
My fears vanished as soon as the show started. Performed by the thoroughly entertaining, creative, and incredibly talented Paul Mesner Puppets, Anansi the Spider and his wonderfully defined co-stars (Ayami the Sun and Story God, Turtle, Deer, and Elephant are particularly well crafted and eye-catching) ruled the stage as they told their tales. Trickster Anansi occasionally received his comeuppance when his pranks would backfire. Yet half of the time our storyteller escaped unpunished and was (gasp!) rewarded for his devilish deeds, which included home-wrecking, assassination of character, and kidnapping. Director Paul Mesner keeps his lead character oscillating between hero and antihero throughout the show, and this tactic brings a well-paced, fluid energy to the performance. In addition, brilliant live African drumming by the amazingly inventive Kofi Anang provides an essential anchor and direction for the show. LINDSAY MARSAK
All the Great Books (abridged)
Reduced Shakespeare Company
Through March 2.And another thing about that damn Michael Jackson interview: the title. Living with Michael Jackson. Sounds like Living with Syphilis. "Next on Living with Michael Jackson, survivors share their painful stories." Don't tell me THAT wasn't deliberate. Salacious, indeed.
Now I'm not saying I believe Jackson's mad paranoiac claims that a worldwide industry conspiracy is sullying his name because he's black, because, well, he isn't. But grilling the poor misguided beast over and over about his ostensibly "weird" ostensible "face" (admit it--he wasn't so bad, once you almost got used to looking at him) and the "strangeness" of his scandalous single fatherhood? For Christ's sake, people! If body modification and breeding outside the nuclear family unit are topics of concern for you, you're retarded and have been living facedown in a ditch on Mars.
(Noticed that I haven't even peeped about ACT's production of the Reduced Shakespeare Company's All the Great Books (abridged)? Good.)
Of course his kids are whiter than Carol Channing's pubic bush. So is he! The freaky fruit doesn't fall far from the freaky tree. And grilling him about the mysterious mother's ethnic background was just tacky. Try doing that to your receptionist sometime. You'd have the EEOC on you like Michael Jackson is on... the floor, sleeping, when that 12-year-old is in his bed. He said so.
(But what about All the Great Books (abridged)? Fine. Picture it: Announcer says, "Oliver Twist!" Enter guy in pseudo-Victorian orphan drag, cue up Chubby fucking Checker, and please don't make me go on.)
It's just so darn difficult to hate Michael now! He seems like such a nice person. (Like the cast members of this play, I bet. "I'm sure they are all very nice people"--the inevitable predecessor to and apologia for a really scathing review. But this isn't a really scathing review, so no apologies.)
From what I could make out under that damn scarf, "Blanket" Jackson (who I've taken to calling "Dingleberry" for obvious dangly reasons) looks Chinese. Who gives a crap? And another thing.... ADRIAN RYAN
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