Delicate Balance fits in nicely with Redtwist Theatre season

An unraveling of damaged souls

 

 

Redtwist Theatre presents

A Delicate Balance

Written by Edward Albee Directed by Steve Scott at Redtwist Theatre, 1044 W. Bryn Mawr (map) through October 24th  |  tickets: $   |  more info

by Allegra Gallian 

“The Redtwist 2010-11 season is about fear – how we try to understand it, cope with it and overcome it. It’s arguably the greatest driving force in the history of mankind,” said Redtwist Artistic Director Michael Colluci of the theatre’s new season.

Redtwist Theatre opened its season this past weekend with Edward Albee’s Pulitzer-Prizing winning play A Delicate Balance.

A Delicate Balance, directed by Steve Scott, opens on Tobias (Brian Parry) and Agnes (Millicent Hurley), an upper-middle-class couple, in their home. The couple discusses their daughter Julia (Jacqueline Grandt) and Agnes’s sister Claire (CeCe Klinger). Agnes and Tobias are burdened but obliged to their family members in need. Claire is an alcoholic and Julia has walked out on her fourth marriage.

The family is joined by Agnes and Tobias’s best friends Henry (Chuck Spencer) and Edna (Jan Ellen Graves). Harry and Edna are overly anxious and show up announced to stay with Agnes and Tobias after having to leave their home due to an unexplained terror they felt.

With a house full of unsteady people in one way or another, each person tiptoes around until breaking points are reached.

A Delicate Balance fits in nicely with Redtwist’s theme of fear as the characters face (or run from) their own demons both literally and figuratively. Edna and Harry have run away from home based on an irrational and sudden fear they both felt. Agnes confronts her fear of possibly going mad and Julia delves into her fear of losing her place in her parent’s lives. Each character at some point faces their fears out in the open in front of all the others, shattering pretenses and politeness in the way of truth.

Redtwist does not disappoint with this fine production.  It’s definitely worth a look-see.

A Delicate Balance at Redtwist Theatre, 1044 W. Bryn Mawr Ave., plays through October 24. Tickets are $25 to $30 and can be purchased through the theatre’s Web site.

 

Running Time: approx. 2:35 
Tickets: Thursdays, $25; Fridays & Sundays, $27; Saturdays, $30 (Seniors & Students, $5 discount)   URL: www.redtwist.org/Ticketsdelicate.html

Schedule:
Runs: Thu, Fri, Sat 7:30pm; Sun 3pm Please Note: There is no performance on Sat, Oct 23. There is an add’l performance on Sat, Oct 16 at 3pm
Closes: Sun, Oct 24

REVIEW: The Comedy of Errors (Court Theatre)

Graney’s adaptation brings the laughs, but lacks substance

 

Court Theatre presents

The Comedy of Errors

Written by William Shakespeare Adapted and Directed by Sean Graney at Court Theatre, 5535 S. Ellis (map) through October 17  |  tickets: $30-$60  | more info

Reviewed by Oliver Sava

Sean Graney’s The Mystery of Irma Vep (our review ★★★★) was one of the highlights of last season, with the seamless execution of the quick-change heavy script garnering huge laughs and multiple Jeff nominations for Court Theatre. With their new adaptation of The Comedy of Errors, it’s apparent that Court is trying to see if lightning can strike twice, with six actors playing 20 characters in another quick change extravaganza, but the script lacks the sophistication that made Irma Vep so memorable. In Graney’s hands, Shakespeare’s story of two sets of separated twins is taken to new levels of absurdity, building humor around the characters’ awareness of the plot’s implausibility. The jokes are very funny, but too much of the play’s substance is lost as the story essentially becomes a 90-minute running gag.

In the dilapidated town of Ephesus, Antipholus (Erik Hellman) and Dromio (Alex Goodrich) of Syracuse search for their missing twin brothers, separated from them in a shipwreck during infancy. Because of a feud between the two cities, they conceal their true identities, inciting mass confusion as they are mistaken for their counterparts. Hellman and Goodrich are the focal points of the production, playing both sets of twins, leading to some impressively rapid costume changes (see video example here) and backstage movement.

As the characters most bewitched by the events surrounding them, Antipholus and Dromio are also the most self-aware, often breaking the fourth wall to comment on the ridiculous nature of the plot they are in. When Antipholus calls out Dromio for interrupting him mid-soliloquy, this works. But when Goodrich constantly checks in with the audience to check if a joke landed, it gets old. These scenes are also when Graney returns to some of his Irma Vep tricks, with varying degrees of success. An audience participation segment as Dromio describes his beastly wife Luce (Elizabeth Ledo) works incredibly well to create a relationship with the viewer, but a song sung by Dromio later in the show seems out of place and odd for odds sake (Irma Vep used dulcimers, here it’s a ukulele).

 

As more time becomes devoted to meta-comedy and increasing the slapstick, less time is spent on the actual story and the characters’ relationships. The actors turn to exaggeration to differentiate their multiple roles, and in doing so the illusion becomes more important than the action. Steve Wilson is the major exception to this as Officer Jailor and Balthazar, with the Jailor’s unreturned love for Luciana (Ledo) garnering a vocal lament from the audience in the play’s closest thing to a “dramatic” moment. On the flip side, Wilson has amazing talent for slapstick, and the fate of Balthazar is of the funniest moments of the show.

As the play becomes more and more absurd, it becomes obvious that the story is just a launching pad for an endless barrage of meta-theatrical gags. By the end it feels like there are no stakes at all, and while it is fun to be along for the ride, there’s still a huge emotional connection missing. Granted, when the ride is Kurt Ehrmann in drag recounting his days at the mall getting his ears pierced, it’s worth it.

Rating: ★★½

 

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