REVIEWS
Reviews page 1"Poona the Fuckdog: and other plays for children"
"A Midsummer Night's Dream"
"The Fever" and Man With Shotgun
"The Iceman Cometh"
"Bleacher Bums"
"Insignificant Others...A Love Story"
"Stop Kiss"
"Macbeth II"
"The Caucasian Chalk Circle"
Tangy
Hydeware offers a rollicking night of indecent satire that's no dog
BY DENNIS BROWN
feedback@riverfronttimes.com
Gather around, boys and girls, it's storybook
time. Once
upon a time in the far-off
Hold on. Is it Do, as in "by all means"? Or is it
"Doo," as in "watch where you're stepping"? One of the many
pleasures of Jeff Goode's evening of structured anarchy,
Do you want morality tales? They're here. Do you prefer withering satire? You'll find it lurking behind the next shrub. (That's "shrub," as in the popular pejorative for our current president, hilariously brought to life here by Richard Strelinger.) How about a little science fiction? When aliens from outer space stumble into the play, they of course want to be taken to our leader. The problem is that the aliens have a terrible time finding a leader to be taken to. (Oops. Maybe that plot line belongs to the satire.)
To get back to our main story,
But as charming as our heroine is, pay special
heed to the
second half of the title, "And Other Plays for Children." In an
evening of shish kebab theater that skewers everything in sight, at
times the
"Just because you live in a fairy tale doesn't
guarantee you a fairy-tale existence," Fairy God-Phallus admonishes
The targets are so scattershot, and the play's gun
barrels
are swinging so wildly, there's a real risk that a production might
whirl out
of control. But as directed by Pamela Banning, this Hydeware Theatre
offering
only rarely loses its bearings. And yet, without in any way diminishing
Banning's contribution, there's also a sense here that all ten actors
contributed to the show's manic energy, a sense that the rehearsals
might have
been as much fun as the public performance.
www.lilybleu.net
The play,
written by Jeff Goode, is a political and social satire that confronts
capitalism, censorship, alcohol use, sex, television, war, the
presidency, and
more sensitive issues. Not a play for the easily offended, it is a play
that crosses
lines many have not had the courage to cross prior.
I was able to attend the final showing on the 30th
and am
thrilled that I did. The performance was hilarious, witty, and
thoughtful. It
is clear that Hydeware Theatre holds much talent. The actors involved
in this
play included Melissa Navarro as Poona; Rusty Jones as the Handsome
Prince and
a couple of bit roles; Ken Haller as the Fairy God-Phallus and the
French frog;
Emily Strembicki as God, the Devil, and an alien named Cunt; as well as
many
other talented actors.
Reviews for
this play at Hydeware have ranged from prudish to positive and
everything in
between. I highly suggest visiting Hydeware Theatre for future shows.
The
theatre is located at
KDHX Theatre Review - Poona
Hydeware Theatre
Reviewed by Richard Green
I
promise I will never, ever write a criticism like this again.
Well, maybe that's not such a viable promise, since I am also covering a play about the porn industry this weekend. But at least you'll know my heart was in the right place.
Melissa Navarro is charming and naïve as the titular pup in act one, and a sadder but wiser little Fuckdog in act two. My companion in the audience commended her for her winning, child-like qualities before an unfortunate Super Bowl injury. Being some ten years older than he, I liked Ms. Navarro best after her injury, when she became old and decrepit. Something for everyone, that's the key to success.
My companion also counted (at my request) that the word Fuck
occurs
about nineteen times in act one. However, his figures also indicate
that Fuck
is given a surprising run for its money by Cunt. Cunt
garners an
impressive eighteen mentions before intermission. Will Fuck
retain its
title as
Needless to say, it's a perfect show for Soulard.
Plot-wise, things get out of hand after
Emily Strembicki scores a perfect trifecta, being cast not only as God (with a splendid Vaudevillian flair), but also as the Devil and a space-alien who happens to be named "Cunt" (which explains the show's doubly-high Naughtiness Quotient).
Boy, I sure hope my pastor doesn't read this.
But my point is that Ms. Strembicki is very funny, as many of us already knew. So is John Shepherd, as another alien. Both of them wander in and out of scenes in the fashion of the Yellow Kid and, well, his Cunt, looking for a way back to their own planet. Brian Hyde is great as a computer, corrupting Ms. Kelly's exuberant young "Susie."
I'm torn now, between telling you what I think it all means, and just repeating offensive words as often as possible. Essentially, in Jeff Goode's script, the nation's going to Hell in a hand basket because nobody wants to be responsible, and everyone wants to "have it off," as they say in the British sitcoms. Like most fairy tales, it's a remarkably conservative premise, when you think about it. But what the fuck do I know?
The cast also includes the terrifically wacky Richard Strelinger (as a back-stabbing acting shrub, and as an ambitious reporter) and Jill Becvar as our prim story-teller. Both of them provide some fine Monty Python-type moments along the way. Expect a ton of inventive little sight-gags, and a great deal of mugging and aside-making under the very fine comic direction of Pamela Banning. It's either her direction, or she just totally lucked-out with ten very funny actors. When a show works, it's usually impossible to tell how much credit goes to the director.
The story is very clever and funny though perhaps a little
conventional on
paper, notwithstanding that giant singing phallus (Dr. Haller also
doubles as a
very funny French frog). Traci Eichhorst designed the panoply of fun
costumes,
which must pose constant challenges in the fast-change department.
There's an
equally surprising array of props by Brian Hyde, who also designed the
set. In
the relatively intimate Soulard Theatre, you can even see how
beautifully he's
made Ms. Becvar's fairy tale storybook. Running a little over two
hours,
I'm not sure what it says about the play, that it relies so heavily on shocking "sentence enhancers," as Spongebob Squarepants likes to call them, on top of everything else this show has going for it. But you really don't notice the four-letter words after a while. I suppose it does add to the reckless, youthful mood.
Oh yes, and Fuck goes the distance in the end against Cunt, 36 to 25.
Poona The Fuckdog And Other Plays For Children continues
through
Poona
By Judith Newmark
Post-Dispatch Theater Critic
04/24/2005
An earlier version of this review incorrectly noted the first name
of the
playwright. The corrected version appears below.
With wit more like a sledgehammer than a rapier and a stunned outrage
at what hypocrites
people can be, playwright Jeff Goode invites a little speculation about
who he
is.
If he's in his teens, he's a very smart kid with a lot of promise.
But he's probably not in his teens
He's probably a grown-up. He just doesn't think like one.
Goode wrote "Poona," the
new play at Hydeware Theatre. "Poona"
is a shorthand version of the title; the full title involves extremely
strong
language. That's OK, though, since "Poona"
is basically a shorthand version of a play.
It has so little plot that when intermission comes, you could easily
make the
mistake of thinking the show was over. Having been nowhere, it doesn't
need to
go anyplace else.
"Poona" develops as a
series
of short skits, some of them pretty funny but none of them fresh. Goode
takes
on many, many topics, all pointing out societal failings: Women are
sexually
exploited and may be complicit in their exploitation, television is
like God
and crass commercialism is like religion, and "dirty words" are in
the ear of the beholder.
For example, what if you thought "that" was a dirty word? Then it
would be one, right? Because words aren't inherently good or bad or
anything!
They only mean what you think they do! You could even put a really bad
word in
the title of a play or something, but it wouldn't be bad unless you
decided it
was! See!!!!
Ahem.
There is a stage in life when that kind of reasoning holds a lot of
appeal.
Fortunately, most people work through it before they start writing
plays.
But for all its failings, "Poona"
is more ambitious than a lot of what passes for satire on television -
self-referential jabs at other TV shows. Young theatergoers who are
unfamiliar
with stage comedy may not only enjoy the show but find it bracing.
Plus,
Hydeware has put together a good ensemble, directed by Pamela Banning.
Pretty Melissa Navarro stars as Poona,
who is a dog. (Do not confuse this with another girl-as-dog play, A.R.
Gurney's
"Sylvia." Gurney's work evidently has less influence on Goode than,
say, the calenders that hang in garages.) She and the other actors -
Jill
Becvar, Rusty Jones, Emily Strembicki, Ken Haller, Megan Kelly, Richard
Strelinger, John Shepherd, Brian Hyde and Tyson Blanquart, most of whom
play
multiple roles - share an easy-going comedic style. They work together
so well,
it would be great to see them together again, with something a little
less
obvious.
and Other Stories for Children
By Jeff Goode
Hydeware Theatre —www.hydewaretheatre.com
At the Soulard Theatre through April 30
Goode takes broad aim at a wide variety of
cultural and
political targets, including censorship, a media-saturated society, and
the
passivity and groupthink that go with it. In the
This is the second play of Goode’s that Hydeware
has
presented (the first being The Eight: Reindeer Monologues last
year).
Like The Eight,
OK, I got that already.
The musical segments don’t carry the message very
well,
either, though not for any lack of effort on the part of Ken Haller,
who
performs the majority of them in the role of Penis,
Hydeware does some of its best work with large
ensembles,
and here, as directed by Pamela Banning, additional good performances
include
Megan Kelly as TV, Tyson Blanquart as The Man Who Could Sell Anything
(he’ll
make you believe it), and Emily Strembicki in dual roles as—wait for
it—Cunt
and God.
Yes, I’m serious.
But the spirited cast can’t rise above the
simplistic story,
and it’s hard to take the play seriously as a whole, especially with
pop
culture references that make
Let’s hope it’s soon. | Jeffrey
Ricker
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KDHX Theatre Review - A Midsummer Night's Dream
Hydeware Theatre
Reviewed by Catherine Berry
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
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I have to ask you: did you get ANYTHING out of this summer's selection of movies? Think back you shelled out $10 bucks or so to see some remake or retread, thinking that what was familiar to you might still be good, only to find that the big screen just amplified the mediocrity. Movies seem appallingly timid these days, with moviemakers playing on shopworn stories because they have obscene amounts of money at stake. Meanwhile we have theatre companies, with a fraction of that budget, reviving old stories because lively minds want to render them new.
And in that spirit, Hydeware Theatre refreshes and delights with their fast-paced, abridged rendition of Shakespeare's Midsummer Night's Dream. Staged in the open air of the Pool Pavilion at Tower Grove Park, the cast made fine use of the building and the barest of stage props, to bring to life the magic-sparked misunderstandings and tangy amorousness of Shakespeare's classic comedy.
Hydeware Theatre, which previously built Gothic trappings and delicious shivers from little more than the power of suggestion in The Woman in Black, know that human beings make the best special effects. Under Richard Strellinger Jr.'s deft direction, they evoke this comedy of the thousand and one ways people make fools of themselves for love. With their costumes, speech and gestures, the characters become suavely contemporary without sacrificing the charm of Shakespeare's language.
Set against the background of conqueror Theseus' marriage to Hypolita in ancient Athens, lovers Hermia, Lysander, Helena and Demetrius get tangled up and discombobulated by the whims of the Fairies whose forest they pass through, as well as by their own love-addled egos. With the powers of charm and high spirits, they evoke this forest with little more behind them than a hammock and veils of leaves decking the pillars, while the steps of the pavilion become shadowy paths where the characters chase, confront and pounce on one another.
His lovers, while pleasing those softhearted audience members who need someone to moon over, are still goofy enough to amuse us cynics, and the four leads don't disappoint. As Lysander and Demetrius, respectively, Anthony Winger and Nicholas Kelly are a pair of beefy, bellowing, rubber-faced dudes. The ladies Emily Trembicki and Amy Leone start out arch and twittery, only to dissolve into a shoe-hurling catfight. Really, this is like the greatest episode of Friends ever.
Meanwhile, the King and Queen of the fairies, Oberon and Titania, are having their own spat, over her stolen changling child. With magical servant Puck at his side (a giddy, elastic Richon May), Oberon plots his revenge, arranging that his fairy-mate should fall in love with the first man she sees. In this case, it is Bottom the Weaver, one of a cast of stage-struck dopes attempting to practice the play they are performing.
Nearly everyone in the cast has multiple parts. In dual roles, Ken Haller and Lisa O'Connor make a fine contrast between the political marriage of Theseus and Hypolita and the love-match of fairies Oberon and Titania. Decked out in long, flowing attire, with Titiania holding the butterfly-masked little changling, these fairies look like the hippest of New Age families. As the fairy attendents in their tie-died duds, Ember Hyde as Mustardseed and Emileigh Groh as Peaseblossom make merry hippy-spirites.
Once the lovers are reconciled, the climax is the play-within-a-play that Bottom and his fellows perform for the wedding celebrations. This deliberately bad performance is always entertaining, partly because the nonsense the players spout resembles how Shakespeare sometimes seems to many of us when it's done badly: like ninnies in funny costumes shrieking high-toned gobbledegook. This only made it more obvious to me how well the entire cast had been in making the Bard wholly accessible to Saturday night's audience. Brian Hyde as Bottom played my favorite trick: a fine actor pretending to be a lousy one.
If the movies have got you down, please consider attending a live production like this one. Just seeing what real people can achieve without needing CGI effects, explosions or car chases to keep the audience's interest can really invigorate your senses.
Performances of Hydeware Theatre's Midsummer Night's Dream will continue on September 16, 17 and 18 [2005], 6 p.m., at Tower Grove Park, at the Pool Pavilion. Admission is free. For more information, please call (314) 368-7306.
A Midsummer Night's Dream
By Judith Newmark
POST-DISPATCH THEATER CRITIC
09/14/2005
Some people think of Shakespeare as the property of the high-art crowd. That's not fair, or even accurate. But when Hydeware Theatre gets its hands on "A Midsummer Night's Dream," that's not even an issue. Its hilarious production has the giddy zest of a kid's show, slapdash and bubbling with fun.
It's accomplished, too. Director Richard Strelinger Jr. slashed the play to 90 minutes. That's about half the usual length. But his version makes sense as the comedy barrels on, without a single pause for breath - or intermission.
It's a complicated story, too. Two sets of mixed-up lovers from Athens run away to a nearby, incredibly busy forest where fairies live. A group of craftsmen are there, too, rehearsing a play they're putting on. The fairy king and queen are quarreling over custody of a "changeling" child. To get back at the queen, the fairy king casts a spell that turns one of the craftsmen into a donkey and makes the queen fall in love with him. It's a big cast - and Strelinger has 11 energetic actors play them all.
This is a modern "Midsummer," brimming with apt switches. The real coup is playing Puck (Richon May), the fairy king's obedient sprite, as a sassy cheerleader. Like any good cheerleader, she gets the audience into the spirit of things. Last Saturday night, one little girl in the audience actually did the cheers with her.
When Puck and the king (Ken Haller) munch popcorn as they watch the lovers' antics, Strelinger makes his irreverent point: Shakespeare's fun.
The whole cast is strong, with big laughs coming from Brian Hyde as the donkey-man, and Nicholas Kelly in the double roles of a swaggering Athenian dude and a grumbly craftsman.
The show's shabby chic suits Strelinger's low-rent style. Costumer Traci Eichhorst dresses each group in simple coordinated outfits that help tell the story with humor. The donkey, for example, wears a pink wig that looks like a Halloween leftover, with a funny nose attached to his glasses. A beautiful butterfly mask is enough to tell us that the little changeling (Hannah Groh) is somebody very special.
The backdrop, a colorful old pavilion, complements the mood of the show. Granted, the mom reflex kicks in when the actors roughhouse on its concrete steps - somebody could get hurt! Presumably they know what they are doing in terms of staging. They definitely know what they are doing in terms of comedy.
"A Midsummer Night's Dream"
Hydeware Theatre
When: 6 p.m. Friday-Sunday
Where: Pool Pavilion in Tower Grove Park (behind the tennis courts), 4256 Magnolia Avenue
How much: Free (donations welcome)
More info: 314-368-7306 or www.hydewaretheatre.org
Who should go: Fans of Magic Smoking Monkey Theatre and "The Complete Wrks of Wm Shkspr (abridged)" will get a kick out this show. Great for families, too. --
A Midsummer Night's Dream An energetic cast of eleven performs all the roles in this 90-minute take on Shakespeare, cleverly using the Pool Pavilion in Tower Grove Park as their stage. Amid picnic baskets, shouts of children playing and the honking horns of passing wedding parties, this Hydeware in the Park production scores laughs with broad physical humor but misses out on genuine character development and interaction. Richard Strelinger's bare-bones version of the script conveys Shakespeare's intertwining stories of the royal lovers, the fairy lovers and the rustics by updating characters and language in unexpected (and perhaps unnecessary) ways. Puck is played by Richon May as a cheerleader (complete with pleated miniskirt and high kicks); other characters insert modern swear words, and Bottom's "ass" mask includes neon-pink hair. The production is most solid in the scenes where the rustics practice and perform their play -- it's surefire comedy everyone can enjoy. And Strelinger's choice to give Puck's final speech to the entire ensemble as a choral piece brings the play to a satisfying conclusion. Through September 18 at the Pool Pavilion in Tower Grove Park (just west of Center Cross Drive). Free. Call 314-368-7306. (Deanna Jent)
A Midsummer Night’s Dream
by William Shakespeare
Hydeware Theater
Adapted and directed by Richard Strelinger
The Pool Pavilion in Tower Grove Park
September 10, 2005
Hydeware’s Shakespearean re-enactment helped me understand the importance of an entertainment environment. Imagine a conversation with a clever, attractive person you’ve just met. Connections are made, an exchange of smiles passes, and you envision a cute little nightcap in the near future. Suddenly, a nearby group of kids make a lot of noise. When they finally leave, clamorous construction work begins. You’re really interested in this person, but you have to strain and struggle to hear anything.
Shakespeare in the park is a popular theme that creates a romantic parlay between nature and literature. Certain things need to be considered, though. A pavilion built behind a public playground shouldn’t be considered a theater. The sound of Kingshighway traffic doesn’t help, either. Had the production sucked, the distractions would’ve been less significant. However, I was intrigued by the contemporary costumes, an Al Pacino take on Elizabethan accents (don’t fake them), and the successful inclusion of verbal and physical slang. It was more of a humorous adaptation than a dumbing down.
Well, from what I could hear. The scene opened with Ember Hyde as Egeus, pulling a masculine Katherine Hepburn look. Her hermaphroditism was a snickering stab at misogynistic theater practices of yore. As Theseus (Ken Haller), Hermia (Amy Leone), Hypolita (Lisa O’Connor), and Helena (Emily Strembicki) entered, a wedding party blasted their horns for almost five minutes. I guess it was appropriate. Egeus was announcing his daughter Hermia’s engagement to Theseus. It just would’ve been nice to hear everything. Matters didn’t improve. I sat behind the baguette people. You know, the ones with the expensive gourmet bread and crinkly packaging. In addition, I had to block out Smokey Robinson music from a nearby picnic. I felt bad for the lack of mental absorption, but what do you expect? Literary types and Shakespeare fans are usually more on the sensitive side. Over-stimulation is bad.
My interest perked once Quince’s acting troupe entered onstage. Most of their comedy was action oriented and impervious to surrounding diversions. For instance, Anthony Wingler portrayed Starveling as a lively flaming homosexual. He constantly flirted with his theater group, had the flexible wrist and lisp, gave costars a quick butt slap, and jumped around when he received a female role. It was cute. The same fate made Demetrius (Nicholas Kelly) exclaim, “Son of a bitch!” In a high voice, Wingler happily skipped around singing, “La, la, la,” while Kelly struggled to maintain his contrived, prepubescent speak. Demetrius’s death scene was wonderfully mocking. His hand made a circular motion that indicated his bleeding to death. It got even better as he screamed, “Adieu!” in his strained, upper octave voice. Oberon (Haller) and Puck (Richon May) were an entertaining duo. May’s contemporary take on Puck had a cheerleading “Bring-it-on” quality. She and Haller treated Hermia, Lysander, Helena, and Theseus like videogame characters. They cast spells, stopped time, and sat back with popcorn, giggling at their sadistic little interactive movie showing.
Hydeware presented a wonderfully interpreted, well-acted, and creative representation of Shakespeare’s fairy-themed classic. Unfortunately, the unpredictability of a public, outside environment without a sound system communicated a frustratingly choppy message. | Lauren Beckerle
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KDHX Theatre Review - The Fever
Hydeware Theatre
Reviewed by Steve Callahan
Wallace Shawn is a unique and important playwright. If you know him only as the balding, pudgy, lisping, silly villain in The Princess Bride, you'll be startled by the depth of serious thought he brings to The Fever, a monologue now being offered by Hydeware Theatre at the Tin Ceiling on Cherokee. It's a meditation on the subtle but unbreakable links between the affluence we enjoy and the horrors of poverty and suffering— even torture—that haunt the lives of millions in less developed countries.
Ember Hyde does splendid work as the introspective woman who visits troubled countries and confronts these nightmares. She's torn between an urge to give everything she has to these suffering people and the more selfish impulse to rationalize her relative wealth. We all do it. We know that life is unfair and that nothing but luck has placed us on the winning side. But many of us never have to look the unlucky millions squarely in the face. We never get their actual blood on our hands. So it's relatively easy for us to ignore, to rationalize, to drift along enjoying the riches we get (rather indirectly) from slavery and sweat-shops and oppression. Ms. Hyde and Wally Shawn will make you think rather deeply about these things. It will at least make you bolster your rationalizations. ("Wealth distribution isn't really a zero-sum game, you know.")
I don't want to imply that this is a terribly dark evening; there is much to delight in in Shawn's eccentrically turning thoughts. (I had the feeling, however, that some of the staff were desperately trying to lead laughter—any laughter—even when quite inappropriate.)
Ms. Hyde's performance is strong and sure, though I was a bit surprised by her rather happy air in much of the first half—perhaps an effort to avoid too dark a tone, perhaps the actress' underlying happy nature peeking through, perhaps just a touch of opening-night nerves. But this is a woman made physically ill by her conscience and the horrors she witnesses. Wally Shawn would do this role with a puzzled worriment. Nevertheless, it's a fine job and it's a show I strongly encourage everyone to see. It's gripping, serious, thought-provoking theatre.
The second half of the evening is a monologue done by Brian Hyde, the other half of the company's founding couple. It's Man with Shotgun by St. Louis' own Byron Kerman. He tells us the story of a man who, after being brutally mugged, acquires a shotgun—and develops an intense relationship with it. As he says, "Survival of the fittest doesn't involve violence. It is violence." Once again Hyde delivers a lovely, polished and convincing performance.
In Fever Hydeware offers its audience a serving of guilt which many will willingly embrace; In Shotgun they offer a commitment to the need for violence that might not be so welcome. In either case Hydeware is making us think. And that's all too rare in this entertainment besotted art. God bless them.
Wallace Shawn's The Fever plays at the Tin Ceiling Thursday
through Saturday [November 17-19, 2005] at 8 PM. Man with Shotgun
will be performed only on Friday and Saturday. For more information
call 314-368-7306 or visit them on the web at HydewareTheatre.org.
The Fever and Man with a Shotgun Why do people want
to hurt each other? The Fever,
Wallace Shawn's oh-so-serious rumination about the fine line between
the world's haves and have-nots shares the same virtuoso verbosity as My
Dinner with Andre,
the 1981 movie that featured Shawn as both co-author and co-star. This
one-man venture into Spalding Gray-land, first performed by Shawn
himself, makes essentially the same points about the inexplicable
horrors of political torture when performed by a woman (Ember Hyde).
Either way, 85 minutes of essentially humorless self-recrimination is a
lot to absorb. By contrast, Man with a Shotgun, a tight,
25-minute one-act solo turn about the ritual of violence, which is
devoured with relish by Brian Hyde, is both substantive and
entertaining. St. Louis playwright Byron Kerman doesn't take himself as
seriously as Shawn, but he has a clearer grasp of theater — one of
whose precepts is: When talking about the perils of death, don't talk
the audience to death. The Fever is performed by Hydeware
Theatre November 17-19 at 8 p.m. at the Tin Ceiling, 3149 Cherokee
Street. Man with a Shotgun follows at 10 p.m. on November
18-19. Tickets are $15 ($10 for students and seniors). Call
314-534-1111 or visit hydewaretheatre.org.
(Dennis Brown)
The Play’s the Thing
The Fever
by Wallace Shawn
Directed by G.P.
Hunsaker
and
Man With Shotgun
by Byron Kerman
Directed by Richard
Strelinger
Hydeware Theatre
November 19, 2005
Say this for the Tin Ceiling Performance Space: There’s no place to hide. You can’t help but empathize with an actress who’s standing alone on a tiny, glaringly lit stage surrounded by audience members on both sides, who has to tackle an hour and a half’s worth of dialogue single-handedly.
The author of the one-person show Fever—renowned playwright and character actor Wallace Shawn—is best known for playing the bald, bumbling kidnapper shouting “Inconceivable!” in William Goldman’s 1987 fantasy film The Princess Bride. While one can picture Shawn in this piece rambling on and on with his quirky humor and trademark voice, he leaves big shoes to fill.
Ember Hyde, a bespectacled redhead with a schoolteacher’s cadence, tries hard to bring Shawn’s words to life. Unfortunately, she doesn’t have much to work with. The performance itself is merely an extended monologue that deconstructs middle-class guilt for abandoning the poor after the world’s failed experiments with communism and socialism. To cure her “sickness,” she travels to poor countries and recounts tales that continually use—and abuse—words like “torture” and “rape.” We don’t know her occupation, her life story, or whether she is addressing a classroom or a mirror. All details are purposefully ambiguous. She is all of us.
Despite the audience’s best attempts to keep from fidgeting, the humorless piece is painfully longwinded. It’s not Hyde’s fault, however; it’s Shawn’s. His goal to provoke and disturb the audience is admirable; what’s not is the continual repetition and utter lack of entertainment value. At best, it’s a brutal exercise best suited for advanced-level acting classes. At worst, it’s boring. If Shawn had swallowed his ego and cut his work to a third its length, he might have won an Obie. Instead Hyde is stuck onstage trying to hit a homerun armed with a twig instead of a baseball bat.
By contrast, Man With Shotgun is everything that Fever is not: unpredictable, funny, and best of all, short. Brian Hyde (husband to Ember; no need for a casting call in this show) plays a poster child for the National Rifle Association who has been obsessed with firearms ever since he was robbed and beaten during a trip to Chicago. Loaded with phallic symbolism and clever dialogue, the monologue succeeds in freaking out the audience one moment and causing it to erupt into laughter the next, as Hyde explains his innate need to embrace the Second Amendment.
First-time monologist Byron Kerman (who also writes for PLAYBACK:stl) has already learned what Wallace Shawn apparently has not: to respect his audience. Man With Shotgun has every bit as much morality as Fever, but rather than lecture, Kerman leaves his questions for the audience to decide. The result is that you leave the theater ruminating more deeply over the implications of the second performance than the first. | Brian Jarvis
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Playback STL
The
Iceman Cometh | Hydeware Theatre Written
by Jeffrey Ricker Monday, 20 March
2006
By
Eugene O’Neill Directed by John Shepherd Through March 25, 2006
The
Iceman Cometh is demanding theater, both of the performers as well as
the
audience. Hydeware Theatre’s production of the Eugene O’Neill play is
definitely that, in many ways.
Performed
in the Studio at the Regional Arts Commission, the play centers around
the
patrons of Harry Hope’s Bar and Boarding House, all of whom have
reached the
end of the line and have nowhere else to go, though each of them in
their own
way has a delusion, a pipe dream that holds them up but perhaps also
holds them
back. Rocky the bartender is in denial that he’s a pimp; his “tarts”
Margie and
Pearl
Among
a generally excellent cast, standout performances come from Robert
Mitchell as
Larry, the fatalistic “fool-osopher” who’s come to Harry’s
disillusioned with
his former revolutionary cause and burned out on life. He’s just
waiting for,
as he calls it, “the long sleep,” and Mitchell imbues the drunken
philosopher
bum with weight and a sense of nobility, even if it is a false one. Ken
Haller
as Harry also captures the gamut of emotions felt by the agoraphobic
widower,
from false cheer to profound sadness to often startling outbursts of
rage.
Brian Hyde portrays Hickey with all the slickness of a traveling
salesman and
the certainty of a messiah, and is equally effective when that veneer
crumbles
at the end. And it’s at the end when Hyde shows how talented he is,
delivering
with conviction Hickey’s lengthy soliloquy of exactly how he killed
more than
just his pipe dream.
They
all make the best of a less than ideal performance space. The Studio
lacks any
discernible stage and is more of a large gallery space boasting high
ceilings,
where, for much of the first act, the actors’ dialogue rises and gets
lost.
Likewise, some of the audience seating is at tables in the “stage” area
itself.
Unfortunately, the venue lacks an intimate character that would make
such a
technique more effective. Only a couple audience members ventured to
sit there
on the performance I saw, and given that the large ensemble cast just
outnumbered the audience that evening, it felt a bit disjointed and
empty. If
everyone had been obliged to sit at tables, it may have had a greater
impact.
If
you’re not familiar with the play, be warned: it’s long. At four and a
half
hours, it’s about as long as it might take to run a marathon—and by the
time
it’s over, you might feel like you have. Even if the play were shorter,
the
subject matter would likely leave you exhausted anyway. O’Neill
challenges
viewers to wonder whether their ambitions and dreams are realistic or,
like the
worn-out lowlifes who populate Harry’s, just pipe dreams that only
cause
suffering the longer they are held. The answer, at least in The Iceman
Cometh,
is never clear.
Directed
by John Shepherd, The Iceman Cometh runs through March 25. It might be
wise to
bring coffee.
Hydeware
Theatre presents Eugene O’Neill’s The Iceman Cometh through March 25 at
the
Studio in the Regional Arts Commission (6128 Delmar Blvd. , University
City
KDHX Theatre Review - The Iceman Cometh
The Hydeware Theatre
Reviewed by Steve Callahan
Eugene O'Neill almost single-handedly crow-barred the American drama
into
the twentieth century. He often did it grandly but awkwardly; in play
after
play we see his artistry creaking and straining under the massive
burden of his
theme and vision. So it is with The Iceman Cometh, now being
given a
strong production by Hydeware Theatre at the Regional Arts Commission.
The play
is set in 1912 in Harry Hope's gin-joint and flop-house near the
O'Neill had an intimate knowledge of this stratum of society, having
spent a
year or two of his youth as a derelict drinking in waterfront bars from
The denizens of this saloon eagerly await the arrival of “Hickey”, a
big-spending, life-of-the-party traveling salesman who makes a yearly
pilgrimage to get drunk with the gang on Harry's birthday. But this
year Hickey
is transformed-he's on the wagon! He's found a strange spiritual peace
and is
determined to force it on all of his friends. All they have to do is to
get rid
of their pipe-dreams. In his persistence he's as zealous-and as
irritating-as a
Scientologist missionary. And in his zeal he nearly destroys his
friends.
The Hydeware cast is exceptionally fine; there really isn't a weak
point.
Robert Mitchell is simply masterful as a disillusioned old radical, and
he's
one of the few who consistently conquers the truly hideous acoustics of
that
space. Knemu Menu-Ra is intense and moving as a desperate young man who
has
betrayed “the Movement” and comes seeking solace from an old friend,
and the
reliable Ken Haller gives Harry Hope just the right mix of softness and
irascibility. Terry Love, L.A. Williams, Douglas Hettich, Mark Abels
and Tyson
Blanquart convincingly portray the vulnerabilities and dread that
accompany the
varying stages of alcoholic degeneration. Richard Strelinger and Rusty
Gunther
give us a couple of nicely tough bar-tenders, and Megan Langford, Ember
Hyde
and Donna Michelle Morris sweep in just in refreshing time as bright
and sassy
whores. Oops! No, no! They insist they're only “tarts”. Joe Nolan
rounds out
the cast as a solid detective.
As usual, O'Neill peppers the cast with a spectrum of ethnicities
and
dialects: Ralph Murphy, a fine and subtle actor, gives the old Boer
general a
convincing
Brian Hyde takes on the monumental role of Hickey. I'm a fan of
Hyde's work,
and with Hickey he's smooth and forceful-but somehow monochromatic.
It's here
that the production doesn't quite reach its potential. Hickey needs a
warmth
and geniality that's not quite there -and also just a hint of dissonant
menace.
Be warned! The Iceman Cometh is four-and-a-half hours long!
But
amazingly, thanks to this splendid cast and to director John Shepherd's
brisk
pacing, my attention never flagged.
Despite O'Neill's recurrent and self-conscious attempts at
“hard-boiled”
slang, despite his stereotypes, his prolixity and his other excesses,
despite
the fact that most of the “pipe dreams” smell a bit like straw
men-despite all
that the show is still simply commanding. And you'll rarely see a
better
production of The Iceman Cometh than this offering by Hydeware
Theatre.
It plays at the Regional Arts Commission through March 25.
POST-DISPATCH THEATER CRITIC
05/24/2006
'Bleacher Bums
Some people consider baseball a slow game. Hydeware Theatre has figured out how to speed it up: Get rid of the players!
"Bleacher Bums," Hydeware's latest offering, takes
place at Wrigley Field during a game between the Cubs and the Cardinals
in the
late 1970s. Because the show was created by director Joe Mantegna with
That certainly makes for an odd twist in
Richard Strelinger's sunny direction pays off in lively work from the actors, including Nicholas Kelly as a Cubs-crazed lunatic and Ken Haller and Margeau Baue Steinau as a long-married couple who rediscover love in the course of a game. G.P. Hunsaker delivers a sharp performance as a compulsive gambler, who thinks he's a lot smoother than he really is. Hydeware heightens the atmosphere by selling snacks and drinks to the audience. By Judith Newmark
Bleacher Bums Hard to believe Bleacher
Bums is
29 years old — so old that this celebration of baseball fandom
(mercifully) even
predates the Wave. Otherwise, that surely would be included along with
all the
other baseball clichés that fill these 80 energetic minutes. The
show's
framework is a Cubs-Cardinals game at Wrigley Field back in the era of
Willie
McGee and Ozzie Smith. The bleachers are filled with a rogue's gallery
of
compulsive gamblers, along with a blind play-by-play sports commentator
and a
sexy sunbather. Nicholas Kelly probably loses five pounds a performance
as the
manic Cheerleader. But without exception the entire cast, under the
bullwhip
direction of Richard Strelinger Jr., is so terrifically spontaneous,
you'd
think they wrote the show last week. Expect to have a joyful time (and
don't
forget to wear red). Performed by Hydeware Theatre through June 3 (the
weekend
the Cubs are in town!) at the COCA Black Box,
(DB)
Bleacher Bums | Hydeware Theatre
Written by Jeffrey Ricker
Tuesday, 23 May 2006
The play, conceived by Joe Mantegna and written by members of The Organic Theatre, follows the action of a Chicago Cubs–St. Louis Cardinals game at Wrigley Field from the perspective of the folks in the cheap seats—the bleacher bums.
Bleacher Bums | Hydeware Theatre
Conceived by Joe Mantegna
Written by Roberta Custer, Richard Fire, Dennis Franz, Stuart Gordon, Joe Mantegna, Josephine Paoletti, Dennis Paoli, Carolyn Purdy-Gordon, Michael Saad, Keith Szarabajka and Ian Williams
Directed by Richard Strelinger
Through June 3, 2006
Before I say a thing about Bleacher Bums, I should offer the following disclaimer: I am not a baseball fan, and I know nothing about betting. So, given that Hydeware Theatre’s latest production revolves around both those subjects, you’d think it would have no appeal for me.
You’d be wrong, though. Bleacher Bums—directed by
Richard
Strelinger—is a fun, light comedy about
Decker makes a wager with another spectator, Marvin, who bets the Cards will win—not out of any love of the Redbirds, but because he just knows the Cubs are going to lose. It doesn’t matter whether he’s a fan or not; he’s just in it for the money, and G.P. Hunsaker plays him as the slick, greasy bad guy, the Benedict Arnold of the bleachers, while the rest of the motley crew keeps the faith in their home team and, by extension, in each other. Over the course of nine innings, the play ponders the nature of loyalty and friendship while delivering a lot of laughs.
Clearly, the performers are having a ball with this play. Standouts include Margeau Baue Steinau—who seems at times to be channeling Valerie Harper’s “Rhoda”—as Rose, Zig’s wife, who shows up at the ballpark to keep Zig from gambling away more of their money; it becomes clear she knows just as much about the game, if not more, than her husband, and when she gets caught up in the excitement of the day, she has a change of tune. The portrayal works, and she has good chemistry with Haller. Another part that works is Nicholas Kelly’s hilarious turn as the nameless Cubs fan who irritates and then energizes the bleacher bums with his rabid fanaticism.
Bryan Hyde’s set design is simple but effective. The audience, of course—the real audience, not the onstage bleacher crowd—doesn’t see the game in progress or the players on the field, but the ensemble, apart from a few mistimings, cleverly conveys the on-field action, helped along by sound effects and the offstage announcer’s voice, in such a way that you can’t help but get caught up in it and start to root, root, root for the home team.
Hydeware Theatre continues Joe Mantegna’s Bleacher
Bums
through June 3 at The Black Box Theatre at COCA (
KDHX Theatre Review - Bleacher Bums
Hydeware Theatre
Reviewed by Kirsten Wylder
Back to the index
September 18, 1959. That is a day I celebrate. Why? What is the reason for such joy? That, my dear Cardinal fans, is the day that Ryne Dee Sandberg was born. Ryne Sandberg: Second baseman for the Chicago Cubs from 1982 to 1997. Hall-of-Famer. Nine-time Golden Glove recipient and the man I had hoped to marry (after he was to leave high school sweetheart, Cindy) when I would finally (but never) meet him. Of course, it never happened, but my memories of this dream were stirred when I watched the Cubs play the Cardinals at COCA Friday night. And all in attendance were treated with the unique perspective of watching from the Bleachers at Wrigley field. If you have never participated in this ritual, this would be the safest way to do so. It is also highly entertaining.
Hydeware Theatre presents this long-time favorite at the new Black Box at COCA. It takes place (I'm guessing here) about 1987-89-ish so there are a plethora of names to jog a stroll down third-base line: Ozzie, Vince, Willie are headlining for the Cards. Grace, Sutcliff and Sandberg are part of the “home” team.
Hydeware starts the show upon entrance by offering up ballpark treats such as Cracker Jacks, beer, “pop” and in dire circumstances, water. The first character, the bathing beauty, Melody (played to perfection by April Lindsay) enters nearly ten minutes before the curtain is called to rise. Others wander in and out up to the actual “game time.” Announcer/director Richard Strelinger calls the game at precisely 8 p.m. The bleachers fill with an assorted cast that include a little-more-than-middle-aged couple, a blind fellow calling the game via his transistor radio, a businessman and his lucky scorekeeper, a gambler looking for some patsies, and a rabid cheerleader determined to get a Cardinal outfielder to climb the ivy.
Margeau Baue Steinau and Ken Haller epitomize a long-term couple and even longer-term Cub fans. Their final moment in the show is heartwarming enough to make you "drop a tear." Brian Claussen never once lets down his sightless portrayal, something that always impresses me. He wins over the Bathing Beauty with ease due his sweet nature. Matthew Korinko gives an outstanding performance alongside G. P. Hunsaker, slimy Marvin. Their diametrically opposed personalities compliment one another in continuous unison. Both are a joy to watch. Rusty Gunther delightfully pulls focus when he is attempting to eat a Frosty Malt with the lid. (I couldn't tell you what else was being said during that bit.) Justin Pollard rounds out the cast nicely playing two roles. However, the star of the show is Nick Kelly as the Cheerleader. He shines so brightly that the Cubs would never have needed to put up lights at Wrigley had he truly been a fan of theirs. Every inning is believable down to the 7th inning stretch with Harry Carey leading the way.
The game goes by quickly (only 90 minutes!) and the action is directed with style and true baseball fever. “Da bums” dressed themselves to near perfection. However, as a (ahem) life-long Cubs fan (not a Bum...those folks are scary), I know that Richie is in dire need of a Cubs cap. No one, I repeat, NO ONE would ever wear a Bears cap in the bleachers. No one. It's not acceptable. At least not by those rabid Bums. His hat would have been ripped from his head. Sure, it's a Chi-town team. It's even a nice choice for Richie. But the Bums would find it sacrilege. After all, baseball is their religion and Wrigley Field is their church. The set by Brian Hyde is also near perfect. Again, we Cub fans are particular about our Ivy. (I actually had a chunk hanging in my home for almost 10 years...) The only true disappointment for me? The Cubs lose. Another dream squashed like popcorn under the seats. And if these two observations are the worst things I can say about this production, then you know it's worth its weight in Ennis Slaughter rookie cards.
Hyderware, again, presents outstanding theater to put them in the
Kevin
Kline playoffs for
Bleacher Bums runs through June 3rd [2006] at the Black Box at COCA. For more information or tickets call 314-368-7306 or on the web at hydewaretheatre.org.
Back to TopInsignificant
Others: A Love Story James Russell
Wax
explores the self-inflicted madness of relationships through the
characters
Richard (Rusty Gunther) and Allie (Meg Rodd) — and Richard's imaginary
friend,
Sunshine the clown (Emily Strembicki), and Allie's imaginary friend,
Dr.
Cuddles the bear (Brian Hyde). On paper it sounds a little too
precious. But
Gunther and Rodd impart enough insecurity and hurt to their characters
to make
them more than straight men, allowing their relationship to falter into
being
believably. Strembicki's Sunshine is coarse and delightful, campaigning
loudly
for an end to her symbiotic relationship with Richard, while Hyde's Dr.
Cuddles
is a clingy passive-aggressive who refuses to let his creator move on.
The
third act drags slightly while Richard and Allie discuss love
vis-à-vis
butterflies (we get it: they're on the verge of bursting forth from
their
cocoons), but Strembicki and Hyde's silent brawl behind the lovers
leavens the
excess saccharine in the foreground. Insignificant Others is that rare
romantic
comedy that will please devotees of the form and thrill those who hate
romantic
comedies. Produced by Hydeware Theatre through February 25 at the Tin
Ceiling,
— Paul Friswold
Death of a Salesman & Insignificant Others … a love story
By Judith Newmark
POST-DISPATCH THEATER CRITIC
02/14/2007
Everyone knows the time-honored symbol for theater: a mask that frowns linked to a mask that smiles. Both halves are on view in St. Louis this week, with a moving production of "Death of a Salesman" at Muddy Waters and a delightfully original new comedy, "Insignificant Others … a love story" at Hydeware.
Put them together, and it goes to show what a vital contribution the small, less-celebrated, less-expensive troupes make to our theater scene.
Muddy Waters, which devotes each season to a playwright, is in the middle of its Arthur Miller cycle. Peter Mayer gives a powerful performance as Willy Loman, a man who has lost his emotional transmission, slipping his gears as he careens toward the end of his life. Mayer lets his audience see the changes as well as Willy's small, touching attempts to hide the chaos inside under a modest suit and stabs at civil conversation.
Director Milton Zoth and set and lighting designer
Nick
Uhlmansick turn the cavernous
Zoth draws good work from his solid cast, especially Joel Lewis as Willy's troubled son Biff, Myron Freedman as Willy's friend Charlie and John Wolbers as Charlie's son, whom he portrays both as a nerdy teen and as a poised, successful man.
Carrie Houk gives an interesting portrayal of Willy's devoted wife, avoiding "actorly" excess at all costs. That leads to some peculiarly flat readings, but it also gives striking freshness to her most famous line, "Attention must be paid."
The hilariously inventive "Insignificant Others" is the work of James Russell Wax, a smart new playwright who has acted with several companies around town. Who knew he could write like this? His play brings a wild, late-night sensibility to romance without compromising the underlying sweetness of his unlikely lovers.
Richard and Allie, two lonely young adults, have the same problem: They're still attached to their imaginary friends, like little kids. Can they find their way to maturity, let alone to each other? Oh sure, it's a romance — but you've never seen one play out quite this way.
Wax's unusual mind has met a good match in director Nicholas Kelly. He has styled a production tailored to theatergoers who enjoy the giddy comedy at Magic Smoking Monkey or some of the New Line shows.
The script still could use a little tuck-pointing. For example, it's great to hear a new twist on psychiatric humor (Woody Allen didn't use it all up), but it doesn't work with the family on Wax's couch. Maybe the Hydeware première, which puts the show on its feet, will help Wax refine the script for the wider audiences that could relish it. He might also want to rethink all the smoking, which bothers some people.
Kelly has assembled a charming cast, particularly the four-star four stars: Rusty Gunther as Richard; Meg Rodd as Allie; Emily Strembicki as Richard's friend, a foul-mouthed clown with a heart of nicotine; and especially Brian Hyde as Allie's imaginary Dr. Cuddles. A clinging teddy bear dressed in scrubs, Dr. Cuddles is a truly fresh character, and the chance to see Hyde brandish a toy stethoscope in his furry paws is worth the price of admission.
jnewmark@post-dispatch.com | 314-340-8243
KDHX Theatre Review - Insignificant
Others...A Love
Story
Hydeware
Theatre
Reviewed by
The World Premiere Insignificant Others...A Love Story is the latest effort of the ever so wacky Hydeware Theatre Company. And in their tradition of going against the grain, they give a funny and interesting illustration of James Russell Wax's piece.
At first glance, the synopsis of the play (which includes mention of imaginary friends, Oedipus complex and a father with a liking for dangerously young women) would make the ordinary theatergoer a bit skeptical. But the Hydeware's delivery and the precise execution makes it all worthwhile.
A complex and hilarious story, Insignificant Others is a tale of two people living parallel lives and in current crisis with their partners. Aside from the problems with their other halves, who just so happen to be figments of the two lead characters imagination, nonstop personal issues plague them and prevent them from blissfully existing with their non-existent counterparts.
The script is refreshing. Wax took an absolutely unbelievable situation and through his skillful wordsmith skills and storytelling had the audience completely wrapped up in the story, clinging on to every word as they eagerly anticipated and probably tried to predict what happened next.
The wit of the play and its the off the wall humor is a pleasure to watch. The strong direction, fresh and talented cast as well as literally insane comedy within the production make Hydeware's performance a slam-dunk.
The cast was talented and energetic, but the ones to watch were the imaginary friends of two lead characters. Emily Strembicki's Sunshine was overflowing animation and the charisma of her character bounced off the walls, serving as a bit of additional heating for the chilly theatre. Brian Hyde used his Dr. Cuddles character as the perfect opportunity for him to showcase his gifts for physical comedy and for timing his jokes just right to make the most of the funny.
Insignificant Others was predictable, but if there were to be a poll taken by the audience allowing them to choose how the story ends, more than likely the overwhelming response would have been for the play to end exactly as it did.
There was some adult language coupled with some tongue and cheek situations in Insignificant Others, but by now that is to be expected from Hydeware. The beautiful thing about them as a company and what makes them such an asset to the St. Louis Theatre community is their willingness to take risks and their determination to pull them off. They are definitely the much needed hip and crazy cousin of the local performing arts scene. It would be safe to say that no other professional company would have both the nerve to do such an off the wall piece or the energy this wild and outlandish comedy work.
Insignificant Others...A Love Story
continues through
Sunday, February 25th at the Tin Ceiling,
Lips Like Sugar:
‘Stop Kiss’
by David Noble
Dandridge
Written by Diana Son
Presented by Hydeware Theatre
“Stop Kiss” is a play that comes so close to hitting the mark, that it’s a real shame when it misses. It’s like watching a basketball bouncing inside the rim in slow-mo before it ultimately doesn’t go in.
The play, written by Diana Son, is smart; smart
about young
adults, smart about love and smart about life in the urban jungle. It
concerns
two young women: Callie, a veteran New Yorker and Sara, a recent
transplant
from
The characters are well-drawn and recognizable.
The story is
real and poignant. The dialogue is intelligent and witty but stays just
this
side of being too witty (When George is told that Sara teaches grade
school in
the
The play’s problem, and it’s a big one, is its structure. It feels like a movie script that was hastily adapted for the stage. The scenes are so short and so numerous, each with a scene change in between. Sometimes the scene changes feel as long as the scenes themselves, even when the amount of set redressing or costume changes doesn’t seem to warrant it. Slide shows designed by Brian Hyde provide entertainment and visual counterpoints to the drama during the changes, but even they become tedious due to their frequency. By the end of the show, Hyde, who also serves as the stagehand, has spent as much time on stage as many of the actors, often to rearrange props or costume pieces that it seems the actors could have just as easily brought on or taken off themselves.
It’s too bad, because I was so fond of the characters that I was always anxious for the play to get back to them. Just when the drama got going, scenes would abruptly end. Short scenes are fine in the movies where we can cut to the next scene in the blink of an eye, but can be deadly on stage. The number of scenes and their duration are no doubt the decision of the playwright, and I can’t know to what degree the slide shows and scene changes were suggested or mandated by the script. It seems impossible that director Ember Hyde, who does such a good job of pulling nuanced performances from her leads, could not have known that the lengthy breaks in the action would destroy the rhythm of the piece.
The supporting actors are more of a mixed bag. Karen Palmer is fine in a dual role as a nurse and as a witness to the hate crime. Todd Oleson is somewhat adrift as Peter, Sara’s ex-boyfriend. He’s too angry too soon when he confronts Callie and too glib in his only scene with Sara. Jeff Mattlin never finds his motivation as a police detective investigating the crime. While I can find no other fault with Traci Eichhorst’s costume design, I do think that blue jeans and a red, crew neck sweater are an odd choice for an NYC police detective.
This production of “Stop Kiss” could have used a lot less stop, and a little more kiss.
“Stop Kiss” continues through April 1 in the Black Box Theatre at COCA. For reservations and more information please call 314-368-7306.
Go love Stop Kiss.
Hydeware brings forth
a beauty.
By Dennis Brown
Published: March 28,
2007
How do you visualize hate? In American History X, when Edward Norton's character commits a brutal, crunching hate crime at the curb outside his home, the voyeuristic camera is so up-close as to make the moment obscenely unwatchable. When a hate crime is perpetrated in Diana Son's play Stop Kiss, we are not compelled to watch, because there's nothing to see. The heinous act occurs offstage. Instead of going into shock, we are forced to feel. Stop Kiss may be fraught with violence, but this gentle production from Hydeware Theatre provides a surprisingly tender experience.
Where:
COCA,
Details:
Through April 1. Tickets are $15 ($10 for students and seniors). Call 314-368-7306 or visit www.hydewaretheat re.org.
Subject(s): Stop Kiss Set in Manhattan in the present, the plot concerns the chance friendship between Callie, a successful yet aimless radio traffic reporter, and Sara, a young schoolteacher from St. Louis (Chesterfield, actually) who has arrived in the Big Apple brimming with naive enthusiasm. Written in nonlinear form, the play informs us quickly enough that one of the two women has been beaten into a coma after the pair was seen kissing in public. Then we skip back and forth in time, slowly wending our way to the attack.
As this casual friendship ever so cautiously graduates to relationship, playwright Son cunningly knows how to cast out plot points as if they were bait on a fishing line. She slowly lets out a little more line, a little more. She knows exactly when to start reeling in — and we are hooked. We care about these two women; we appreciate their ambivalence. It hurts us when media coverage callously brands them in the public eye as lesbians. No one but Callie and Sara will ever know that this was their first innocent kiss, caressed in possibility.
There's almost a sense here that the two lead
actresses have
been cast against type. Callie, who can only find the downside of
riding in
helicopters over
Among the featured players, Alan David brings a refreshingly natural quality to Callie's boyfriend George. Director Ember Hyde gets credit for the sweetness that permeates the proceedings. At the same time, I'm not sure about her use of slides between each scene. Some photos are effective; others are not. But shouldn't the paramount concern here be the play's pace? Stop Kiss contains lots of scenes, many of them short. They're intended to move quickly. Sometimes it seemed as if the only reason for the slides is to allow a stage manager to switch jackets on the coat rack next to the front door. They'd do better to just junk the coat rack.
Also in the interest of pace, I don't think the play is supposed to have an intermission, though it does here. Between intermission and photos, at least twenty minutes have been tacked on to an evening that otherwise might have sped by. Hydeware claims that its mission is to overthrow "the preconceptions of how theatre is experienced." That might explain the slides: Maybe they're intended as a new way to experience the story. And ultimately the photos don't erode the evening's impact.
Preconceptions aside, mostly what's happening at Stop Kiss is that a really nice play about two really nice people is receiving a loving production. You can't get much more old-fashioned than that, even at Hydeware
KDHX Theatre Review -
Stop Kiss
Hydeware Theatre
Reviewed by Steve
Callahan
You must remember this,
A kiss is just a kiss . . .
. . . says the old song. But sometimes it's a bit
more than
just a kiss. Hydeware Theatre has opened a rather lovely little play
called
Stop Kiss, by Diana Son. It appeared in
Callie is a radio traffic reporter-- twelve-year
veteran of
The friends hang out, dine out, do the bar scene, do the lesbian bar scene--just to dance, not to meet anybody. Never do they think of themselves as lesbians; never do they embrace that political badge. The delicate, growing intimacy between them is beautifully, gently portrayed. Girls are not raised to be the initiators of romance, so that moment of decision--who makes the first move, who starts that touch, that kiss--it's a deliciously tentative moment. Their first kiss is heartbreakingly awkward-the bumping of noses, the indecision about which way to tilt the head--it's as blushing and honest as the first kiss of twelve-year-olds.
But their kiss in a park in the wee hours leads to a brutal assault on Sara, which leaves her in a coma--and leaves Callie in a starkly difficult battle with Sara's parents and her old boy-friend over who should care for Sara.
There's been a little undressing throughout the play--pretty girls in bras (need I blush to say that I enjoy that sort of thing). But in the final scene, where Callie, having truly committed to the recovering Sara, is helping her to dress, there is a soft moment of partial nudity that is utterly devoid of eroticism and simply overflowing with vulnerability, tenderness and love.
Amy Leone as Callie and Melissa Rae Brown as Sara do lovely, balanced work. The whole cast is fine: Alan David as George, Todd Oleson as Peter, Karen Palmer as a nurse and as the witness to the assault, and Jeff Mattlin as the detective handling the assault case.
That's not to say the play is perfect. Nor the production. Like too many plays by young playwrights it's quite cinematic--a great many very short scenes. And they're in two intercut sequences: leading up to the assault, and after the assault. At times it's a bit confusing.
Between scenes we are treated to a most impressive
slide-show--huge gorgeous photos of
The uncredited sound plot featured, among other things, some wonderful a capella close female harmony--so close as to seem quite welded together. Beautiful. And appropriate.
The Hydeware Theatre's production of Stop Kiss continues in the black box theatre at COCA, 524 Trinity Avenue in University City through April 1st [2007]. For more information call 314-368-7306 or visit hydewaretheatre.org.
<>Hydeware Theatre
Reviewed by Richard Green
You've still got one more weekend to catch a free
production of Shakespeare's great tale of guilt and ambition in Tower
Grove Park. But please note: in this Macbeth, there are no buckets of
blood being spilt; nor any turgid mood lighting; nor any
migraine-inducing synthesizer music. Instead, three very talented
people just race around like mad to portray 24 fascinating characters,
providing all the entertainment you could ask for. And in their
child-like exuberance, relying on brilliant, clear verbiage, Hydeware
Theatre gives us a Macbeth that finally treats its audience like
grown-ups.
Ken Haller is the future king of Scotland, lending a restrained,
sorrowful wonder to his monologs. He has a fine subtlety leading up to
the show's first regicide, in the "if it were done, ‘tis best it were
done quickly" monolog; and much later, when mourning his wife with
"out, out, brief candle." Comedy rears its lascivious head in another
of his seven roles, when Dr. Haller simpers and plays madly with his
long, curly wig as one of the witches.
Macbeth is well-tormented along the way by his hard-headed wife (Ember
Hyde) and by Banquo's ghost (Brian Hyde). All three actors do a great
job playing a variety of roles, distinguished by costumes as simple as
a sash or a crown, over plain khakis. Ember Hyde is excellent as Lady
Macbeth, avoiding any overdose of solemnity, and bringing a great
freshness to the harridan, looking wonderfully pleased when Macbeth
gets his first promotion in the play, to Thane of Cawdor. In her other
roles, she manages to be heart-wrenching as Macduff's wife, and makes
the comic Porter's monolog into an audience-participation series of
knock-knock jokes.
Brian Hyde is meta-funny: on the obvious level of characterization, and
also in the way he holds up a fictional human being to the light, in
his role as a showman. He's utterly goofy in a sailor's cap, regressing
to the age of Macduff's young son. I also found myself loving his
shameless witch-character in spite of myself, thanks to his insidious
comical gifts. His voice for that role is so grating that dogs on their
leashes nearby wake up and bark at the sound.
Richard Strelinger directs, and I particularly liked his staging when
Macbeth came up behind his wife just before they murder the king. The
sneering apparition of Banquo was remarkably effective, as well, during
the banquet scene. The sword-fight at the close of the evening is a bit
dull, with actors clambering up and down some long concrete stairs in
the twilight. But who in their right mind would want to go clanging
blades up and down steps at full-speed when you can barely see? Still,
the stairs make for a nice visual metaphor for the show.
The nearly-frantic costume changes behind camouflage netting add a lot
of visual drama and interest. And in spite of the madness back-stage,
the actors always seem to know exactly when to stop and breathe on
stage. When Macbeth or his wife must stand alone, to examine the likely
consequences of their actions, the pacing shifts gears completely, to
great effect.
Friday, Saturday, and Sunday at 6 p.m. through September 16th, 2007.
Bug spray is offered free of charge, but you need to bring your own
lawn chair. For more information call (314)358-7306 or visit them
on-line at http://www.hydewaretheatre.org/
Paul Friswold
Macbeth As if staging an outdoor Macbeth during the rainy season weren't challenging enough, director Richard Strelinger and Hydeware Theatre upped the degree of difficulty by using only three actors to play twenty-four characters. The frequent character changes inhibit this production from hitting its stride, but you forget all that once everyone has been introduced. Ken Haller's Macbeth is a hesitant, doubting assassin. Ember Hyde's Lady Macbeth is steely and driven; Macbeth practically cowers behind her as she incites him to murder Duncan, the king — the fact that Hyde also plays Duncan lends the scene a certain frisson. Brian Hyde brings menace to Banquo's apparition (no small feat), and as Macduff's son, his daffy sailor's hat and fey slap-attack on a murderous Macbeth is dark comedy. But there's something comedic in Macduff's final confrontation with Macbeth, and it shouldn't be so. This is a challenging, enjoyable production. But bring a chair — the lot is harder than Lady Macbeth's heart. Through September 16 at the Whitaker Theater (at the Pool Pavilion off Center Cross Drive) in Tower Grove Park. Admission is free. Visit www.hydewaretheatre.org or call 314-368-7306. — Paul Friswold
We Are Groundlings, All
Wed Sep 12, 2007 at 06:13:39 PM
It’s three days later, and I’m still thinking about Hydeware Theatre’s
outdoor production of Macbeth. It’s a very good production, a smart and
honest production with a few problems – but I don’t know that I did it
justice in a short review. A three-actor version of a Shakespearean
play is a bold decision – there’s so much that could go wrong, and a
poorly-handled production of Shakespeare is excruciating. And there
were definitely elements of Richard Strelinger’s direction that gave me
pause. Namely, the lackluster fight scenes, and the use of Rage Against
the Machine’s “Killing in the Name Of” as a soundtrack for the
climactic fight between Macduff and Macbeth. RATM is such a cheesy,
short-hand version of “angry political band” that the music is actually
offensive, and not in an “I’m outraged!” kinda way; it’s more of a “You
could cut this suburban angst with a paper knife” kind of eye-rolling
outrage. But that’s such a small, small portion of the evening.
And I sorta see what Strelinger was going for there: Two families
locked in a death-struggle, one fighting for personal revenge and
honor, one fighting for self-preservation and to desperately maintain a
position of stolen power. The high school term paper argument will be
that Macduff is nominally fighting for a noble cause, Macbeth is
fighting for ignoble reasons, and a B-plus is practically guaranteed.
And yet both of them are willing to kill to achieve their personal
goals: Does the reason justify the action? That’s your A paper right
there. What the RATM song rather artlessly discusses -- "What are we
killing in the name of?" -- is what Shakespeare’s lovely and nasty
little play holds up to the light and examines with profound
intelligence and, better still, illuminates those same questions with a
preternatural understanding of human nature.
And what Strelinger’s cast – Brian Hyde, Ken Haller and Ember Hyde –
bring to the evening is that human nature. All of them are excellent at
quickly and subtly crafting a character through posture and voice,
although the first twenty or so minutes of the play severely undercut
their individual talents as they have to rapidly cycle through
characters. And Ember Hyde is truly chilling as Lady Macbeth. After
Duncan has been killed, Lady Macbeth and Macbeth (Haller) have a scene
together; Haller plays Macbeth’s doubts about the murder with a
hesitating, stutter-stepping regret – and behind him on the stairs of
the Whitaker Pavilion, Hyde lounges casually, weighing the still-bloody
crown in her hand, turning it to examine it in the light, completely
entranced by the power contained in the golden symbol. It is a far more
evocative indictment of the seduction of power than anything in the
RATM song, and Hyde manifests it all through a sly smile, a wistful
look and a slouch. It’s just a beautifully staged and acted scene, and
a memorable piece of theatre. But this brings me to my other
doubt about Strelinger’s use of the song: Am I over-thinking this
thing? It’s easy to do with Shakespeare. His work is the domain of
academia and intelligentsia and a couple of other “-ia” that all imply
deep thoughts and tweed blazers with elbow patches. Because that’s who
Shakespeare was writing for, right? It’s a conversation between the
adults, and you’re still sitting at the kids’ table, just trying to
keep up, yeah? No. Shakespeare wrote for everybody –
he had to, because there was never anything good to watch on TV when he
was alive, so the theatre was where everybody went for their
entertainment. If you were a working class yob, you paid your penny and
you stood on the ground in front of the stage and you watched Macbeth
just like the scholars and the gentry. And Shakespeare was definitely
in the entertainment biz – he inserted comedic elements for these
groundlings, and sword fights, and ribald double entendres about sword
fights, and if the upper crust got the jokes, so much the
better. But this boisterous, everybody in the house element
is mostly lost these days. Shakespeare has become Theatre, and it’s no
place for the groundling. Strelinger and Co. have made room for
the groundlings in their Macbeth, however – and that’s not just because
we’re all spread out on the asphalt in front of the stage eating and
drinking in true 17th century-audience fashion. Ember Hyde plays the
drunken Porter with gusty delight, leaving the stage to venture into
the crowd. She roams freely, accusing people of various faults, then
cries out the first of her “knock knocks.” And when a few people in the
audience respond with a faint, almost embarrassed “Who’s there?,” she
wags a finger at them and grins while delivering the next line. Every
repetition of “knock knock” brings a louder response from the crowd,
and more laughter, and suddenly what is a confusing monologue on the
page is a marvelous bit of comedy. That’s a sweetmeat for the
groundlings right there. But there’s another in the fight scenes
– yes, the same ones I think are too slow and stilted. The Whitaker
Theatre is also known as Tower Grove Park's Pool Pavilion, and this
being early September, kids are still splashing in the fountain on the
back side of the stage during the show. And there’s a boisterous
volleyball game going on to stage right. A couple times during the
play, someone would come wandering around the Pavilion to see what we
were all watching.
One of those someone’s was a kid who inched along the retaining wall
that butts up against the pavilion stairs, which are doing double duty
as the stage. He sees Ember Hyde wearing black sunglasses and holding a
pair of matched sai, in character as Ross, the assassin Macbeth sends
out to get rid of Banquo (Brian Hyde). That kid parked his butt as soon
as he saw her, then waited around to find out what she was going to do.
Another kid, even younger, crept along the wall to sit next to him. How
long can Shakespeare hold the attention of a nine-year old and a
five-year old? About five minutes, or two minutes for each sai and one
for the shades; then the pair wandered back into the evening. But
when Banquo and Ross have their showdown, both of those kids come
running back to the same spot on the wall, drawn by the heavy-metal
guitar riff that scores the duel. The older one has a can of Pringles
with him, and he never takes his eyes off the fight as he’s shoveling
chips into his mouth. And why would he? Banquo’s swinging a goddamn
battle ax around his head, and Ross is sticking him left and right with
his own dagger after losing the sai. The boys actually creep so close
to the stage after the fight, somebody from Hydeware has to come out
and quietly ask them to scoot back a bit. But this time,
they stick around for quite a while.
When Banquo’s ghost appears, swathed in black and wearing a hood, the
smaller kid ducks down behind his brother; big brother claps when the
hood is removed and it’s clear the guy he just saw stabbed to death is
now a ghost. And they’re both still perched on that wall during the
final confrontation, as raptly fascinated by the outcome of
Shakespeare’s Scottish tragedy as I am – although I don’t know that
either of them finds Rage Against the Machine as trite as I
do. You know what? Fuck it. I’ll accept the song as a
daring choice on Strelinger’s part. He didn’t put it in there for the
reviewer – he put it in there for the groundlings. And the fact that he
was thinking for the groundlings, that’s about as brilliant a move as
I’ve seen a director pull this year. I’ve seen better fight scenes
(Jason Cannon and Brian Peters in Hamlet have the best fight of the
year so far – and I doubt that anyone’s gonna take that away from
them), but I don’t know that I’ve seen a fight scene so true to the
spirit of why the fight is in the play. Strelinger’s choice of weapons,
the sunglasses, and yes, even the damn song, are what Shakespeare was
all about: Popular appeal. That may have been the first stage combat
those kids have ever seen, and it’ll probably stay with them for quite
a while – just like my memory of Ember’s languid, self-satisfied Lady
Macbeth toying with the kingdom’s essence in the aftermath of
cold-blooded murder. A lasting memory is a fantastic gift for a
director to give an audience member – and Strelinger is just handing
them out left and right. So the song? Good choice.
Hydeware’s doing Macbeth on Friday, Saturday and Sunday (September 14
through 16) at Tower Grove Park. If you go see it – and I urge you to
go see it – try to see it with new eyes. Or maybe just with young eyes.
And don’t be shy about throwing a few bucks in Hydeware’s collection
baskets – the popular appeal is still measured in dollars, just like in
Shakespeare’s day.
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By Judith Newmark
POST-DISPATCH THEATER CRITIC
04/30/2008
Caucasian Chalk Circle
Caucasian Chalk Circle
Two new productions test the idea that theater is really about language and performance, not a lot of eye candy. HotCity's "Men with Clubs" and Hydeware's "The Caucasian Chalk Circle" are so scaled back that they barely have sets.
They don't need them.
Although the plays have next to nothing in common, their directors share a great attitude and know how to make the most of small, inexpensive gestures.
At HotCity, Annamaria Pileggi puts some golf equipment on a naked stage. Now, imagine greens. That's where the characters in "Men with Clubs" — prep school friends, now in their 30s — get together for an annual game of golf. Bags of clubs are all it takes to set the stage for Gregory Jones' shrewd little comedy of rue and rapprochement.
Ember Hyde, at Hydeware, may have spent even less than Pileggi. Her "set" is a big white sheet at the back of the stage, lit to reveal dancers behind it, in silhouette. The dancers stage tableaux to illustrate the emotions of the characters in Bertolt Brecht's faux-folktale of revolution and personal responsibility. The characters are played by actors actually on the stage, in front of the sheet. To tie it all together, there's a gypsy narrator (Margeau Baue Steinau) wandering through the audience. That's three versions of one story. How presentational can you get?
The plays aim for different audiences. "Men with Clubs," which won HotCity's new play competition last year, may be the first Gen-X play to insist on adult characters with adult problems. As one of the characters observes to his friends, "We're grown men now." But the reply is quick and apt: "Not when we're together."
Jones establishes an earthy rapport among the men but needs to rework his treatment of one of their big issues, marital fidelity. If you're going to deal with that, then deal with it directly instead of coyly hinting at what might have happened. This is theater, not the House of Representatives.
Pileggi draws solid performances from Tyler Vickers, Christopher Lawyer, Jared Sanz-Agero and, especially, Travis Estes. His bright blue eyes, variously icy or hurt or radiant with joy, are a very nice tool for an actor to have.
"Men with Clubs" is a here-and-now production meant to appeal to contemporary theatergoers. "The Caucasian Chalk Circle," by contrast, takes place long ago and far away.
The narrator actually says that. She is, however, supposedly telling the story in a more familiar setting, at a meeting of a Soviet agrarian council. (Didn't Brecht wonder if there might be some other situation he might open with? I know I haven't been to an agrarian council meeting in ages.)
MORE REVIEWS
See an archive of recent stage reveiws
In her tale, an arrogant aristocracy is about to crumble during a civil war. In the chaos, a scullery maid (Emily Piro) finds herself saddled with the heir apparent, a helpless infant. She could abandon the baby, but instead she cares for him, risking her own life and sacrificing her well-being for the sake of her "son."
Hyde faces a common challenge of large-cast shows: a wide variety of acting styles and degrees of experience. Things work best when the actors go for bold-stroke performances. Those suit this self-aware parable, a twist on the biblical tale of King Solomon and the disputed baby.
In "The Caucasian Chalk Circle," Robert Ashton plays the Solomon role, an ordinary man who is elevated to his station by the accidents of war. Ashton's cool, joking demeanor keeps the judge's motives under wraps. Is he wise or foolish? Kind or cruel? Maybe it's all in how you interpret the story. You get three chances to decide.
jnewmark@post-dispatch.com | 314-340-8243
The Caucasian Chalk Circle
Written by Bertolt Brecht & revised by Eric Bentley
Presented by Hydeware Theatre
Somewhere between Karl Marx and Groucho Marx lies Azdak, the brilliant comic creation in the final acts of “The Caucasian Chalk Circle.” Azdak is a populist and a con man whose concern for the poor and the downtrodden is only rivaled by his concern for saving his own hide. Azdak talks his way into a judicial appointment where he often presides over disputes between the haves and the have-nots. He blatantly takes bribes from the wealthy and feigns judgments in their favor; then, through feats of rhetoric and double-speak, judges in favor of their impoverished opponents.
When a violent coup leads to the beheading of the governor, his wife is so concerned with her own neck that she abandons her infant son. Grusha, one of her many maids, acts against the advice her fellow co-workers give and passes the son off as her own in order to save his life. When the governor’s wife returns years later to claim her son, her fate as well as that of Grusha collides with Azdak.
Hydeware Theatre’s mission statement says they’re “dedicated to the pursuit of radically revised theater.” They seek to change the way audiences see and experience theater. Sometimes these innovations can overwhelm a play that’s better performed in a straightforward manner. The use of slide shows brought narrative momentum to a screeching halt and almost sunk their otherwise charming production of “Stop Kiss.” But, sometimes it works, such as in their current production of Bertolt Brecht’s “The Caucasian Chalk Circle.”
Working with a nearly bare stage, director Ember Hyde makes up for her lack of a set with a translucent screen that comprises the back wall. Four dancers (one male, three female) perform behind the screen before a spotlight, creating a shadow play that interprets the events on stage, provides background action, and depicts off stage events. Brecht, who rejected realism and never wanted us to forget we were watching a play, would have been proud.
Where director Ember Hyde’s last production, “Stop Kiss,” had a competent cast and a problematic presentation, “Chalk Circle” has a much smother presentation with a less competent cast, particularly with regard to the supporting players. The main characters are all done justice; Margeau Baue Steinau grounds the production as The Singer, who narrates the tale, Emily Piro is charming and believable as Grusha, and Robert Ashton is a solid Azdak, even if he plays it a little straight. But with a cast of 18 actors playing (by my count) about 55 roles, perhaps Hyde was unable to give the many less experienced actors the time and attention they needed. As it stands, many of the supporting actors spend a lot of time and energy on stage trying to convince us they’re acting. The range in talent and ability is such that the play loses focus at points and has difficulty finding a rhythm.
In the end, Hyde’s superior visual story telling, the strength of the lead actors and the power of Brecht’s parable makes this worth watching; even if the rough patches sometimes feel like community theater at professional theater prices.
“The Caucasian Chalk Circle” continues through May 3rd at The Ivory Theatre. For more information: www.hydewaretheatre.com
David Noble Dandridge can be reached at radicalwraith-theatre@yahoo.com
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