Sunday, October 15, 2006

Betrayal

Imago Theatre
October 15, 2006; closes October 15, 2006

Very. Precise. Controlled. And. (Pause.) Evenly. Metered. Claustrophobic to point of holding one’s breath during silences. In some ways, Imago’s stripped stoicism helps focus on what’s said, not how; here mostly succeeding as cogitative exercise. How would it play when emotions are closer to the surface? Helpful sound, film elements.

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

Some of Portland's best actors in a well-directed show.

Anonymous said...

You know, one of the reviews said almost the exact same thing...and..um...I believe one of the actors is from NY. So, the Portland part can't possible be true.

Anonymous said...

I wrote that review. Peter Campbell is from New York (though he's been out here before), but Maureen Porter is a graduate of PAC and Todd Van Voris is a member of Theatre Vertigo. And they are both excellent actors.

Anonymous said...

One of the better shows to hit the PDX stage recently.

I'm not a huge Pinter fan, but this was a good show given the material.

Watching over-indulged first-worlders whine about their precious alienation seems a little out of synch with current global zeitgeit. I mean, what do these people have to be so unhappy about? Let's keep it in context.

Todd Van Voris was really good.

Imago always manages to create a very distinctive feel. The wacky sliding screen was fun!

Anonymous said...

Well, they sure were Acting, up there... and everyone could see it. (Pinter's a lot of fun, but especially when you're not shown what's going on behind the curtain.)

In re: the previous comment -- in the 21st century, are we only allowed to experience emotion according to our race? Wow.

Anonymous said...

I don't think the 'previous commenter' said anything about race. Class and privelege, maybe. Either way, it's pretty hard to separate your experience of the world from your race OR your class. Sometimes when you surround yourself with people like you it can seem like this isn't the case, but step outside of that for a moment and it's brutally clear. So what I'm saying is, yes, your reactions, thoughts and emotions to a play, to a film, to music, to life are going to be tangled up with your place in the world, with how you were raised, with how people treat you. Sad, perhaps, but true.

Anonymous said...

The screen was cool, but why is it always something like the screen, the falling walls, the tilting stage, the working garage door that's cool about Imago's work and not the performances themselves?

Anonymous said...

I didn't even catch that Todd Van Voris was in this. Crap. I usually try to catch shows that have Theatre Vertigo actors in them.