defunkt theatre **Photo credit: Grace Carter**August 28 - October 3, 2009
Review by peanutduck
Such a loose-narrative descent into Kafka’s nightmare requires precise intentions. Instead, this translation of literal and figurative journeys over treacherous country roads only tangles into impenetrable knot. Production felt still in playing-with-ideas stage; acting company insecure; stage pictures messy; choice of naturalistic acting style malapropos. Meaning behind playwright’s doctor multi-casting?
9 comments:
Anyone have any idea who the director or cast are? Or is it a closely-guarded secret?
not a closely guarded secret.
danika stochosky is the director
the cast is:
lara korbin
nick schultz
nick sherbo
aubrey jessen
eleanor cohn-eichner
joel harmon
devo granmo
wow! did we see the same show?
I really liked the acting ensemble, the everyman aspect of every actor playing the doctor role was engaging, the production felt fully realized...maybe there was an off night or something?
Fun, lively, enjoyable show. Some opportunities for grandeur missing--the horses were silly instead of demonic, for example, and the lighting was occasionally confused. Uniformly good acting. Flirts with the awful depths of Kafka in a smart way that avoids misery and produces a good show.
tarnation,
I'd like to hear a further explaination of how the lighting was "occasionally confused". I'm not being snarky, I'm genuinely intrigued.
You know what, this was a pretty good show. My head hurts right now from the scratching that ensued after reading the comment that the ensemble was "insecure." As far as the structure of the show, or the looseness, or whatever, so what? People of the theatre are notorious for refusing to just be entertained at the theatre. I think if you're trying to feel smart by talking Kafka and dissecting the narrative to the point of overcriticizing, you're missing an opportunity to have a great time at the theatre. Why not sit and enjoy the outstanding costumes, the beautiful lighting design, the visual gags, the unbelievable sound design, the general weirdness, and, the uncanny character work of Miss Lara Kobrin (along with pretty tight ensemble work and great characterizations from the entire cast)?
Overall the lights did a good job. Very effective creation of space. The Kafka story had its own mood and environment that were nicely supported.
Sometimes the transition from the Kafka story to the outside story wasn't very well defined. The non-Kafka light kept changing into new looks that didn't seem to reflect an overall story. Without a pattern this eventually became distracting and hurt the show's momentum.
One look didn't seem to work at all. It first came about half-way through and returned a few times. It featured a strong green light house center filling in a general low light wash. The clip lights were very reddish because of their low level; the red and green mixed to orange; without strong shadows or colors everything seemed only dim. The actors were trying to create a menacing environment and the lights didn't seem to help them.
One thing my initial comment didn't get across was my desire for the light design to take some of the same liberties with lighting that the script did with plot.
This says they play through the 4th and their website says through the 3rd. Anyone know if they are doing a show this Sunday?
This was a typo on my part.
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