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“Macbeth” at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival
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“Macbeth” at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival

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“Macbeth” at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival

Macbeth

by William Shakespeare
Directed by Evren Odcikin 

Ashland, OR at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival

In decades of play going I had never seen even a “good” Macbeth. In great theaters with famous stars playing key roles we still have always gone away marveling at the words but disappointed in the story and characters.

We had come to believe that there was so much chaos, blood, and incoherent scheming written into the play that the best that you could expect from seeing Macbeth was a series of memorable soliloquies and audition moments.

SMACK! My head (and emotions) are still spinning from the two times (so far) that I have seen OSF’s Macbeth. This production has characters, nuance, coherence, and still the amazing language and events. It is not a good Macbeth, it is a spectacular Macbeth. It is a spectacular show.

Under the direction of Evren Odcikin, Macbeth (Kevin Kenerly) and Lady Macbeth (Erica Sullivan) clearly love each other and are trying to help one another achieve their dreams. They are not just yelling threats and evil plans, but are actually thoughtful, hesitant, and, well, human.

Erica Sullivan as Lady Macbeth. Photo by Jenny Graham

Kevin Kenerly as Macbeth. Photo by Jenny Graham

Kenerly and Sullivan are perfect. You can watch and feel them think, worry, make bad decisions, worry, and try to achieve their dreams. Too often Lady Macbeth and Macbeth are shown to be absolute, unmitigated evil, plotting without hesitation. Not this OSF couple.

They hug and support each other as they contemplate actions they know are fraught but which will help them achieve goals they both want.

The Macbeths are so good, it is tempting to comment endlessly about them. But, there are so many other excellent touches and characters and moments.

The play focuses on people and their interactions. The performance begins with most of the company presenting ready for battle in a well choreographed and well snarled opening. The beginning introduces the theme felt throughout the play. What the Macbeths and others do affect the whole community/country.

Sure, there are some quiet scenes like the impactful mad scenes of Lady Macbeth. But at other times characters on center stage are flanked quietly by watchers so that you feel that the whole of Scotland is involved. I particularly liked the circle of witches that watched the later battle scenes. They watched the unfolding of what they prophesized which made it feel more powerful and mystic.

The three witches in Macbeth. Photo by Jenny Graham

Speaking of witches (Kate Hurstler, Amy Lizardo, Jennie Greenberry and Auston Henderson as Hecate) … wow! The costumes, movement, and rhythmic chanting are indeed magic. Not necessarily happy magic, but full of powerful import. Revelatory, sometimes eerily musical, and truly spooky, these witches and their scenes are completely integrated into the story we are experiencing. Sometimes I had to strain to understand what they were foretelling, especially when Hecate was broadcasting. But, I felt as a human it was appropriate for me to have to work to understand what I was hearing. (Still, clearer audio for Hecate would be appreciated.)

Damn, I feel compelled to return to how this Macbeth is different from all others. Yes, there are many speeches about blood and plotting deaths and more blood. But, in this OSF show the characters say the famous lines with pauses and reflection. They aren’t just words from “The Best of Shakespeare” or other dry source. These reflect feelings of the characters that they are compelled to share.

Macduff and Lady Macduff. Photo by Jenny Graham.

Never, never, never have I had any real emotion at a Macbeth. So, I found myself almost annoyed as I teared up listening to the heartbreak of Macduff (Jaysen Wright) as he talked about the murder of his wife (Gabriela Fernandez-Coffey) and children. I know the speech about the horrible murders we witnessed in a previous scene. It’s powerful and reinforces how evil Macbeth is. But, Wright’s phrasing, spacing, and physical look just reached out and got me. I felt like I should have known better, but this performance was too good to keep out of my heart. Intense humanness kept enriching scenes throughout the afternoon.

David Kelly as Duncan. Photo by Jenny Graham

Looking over the cast I feel like I have to give a shout out to everyone. How can I not mention the straight-forward goodness of old King Duncan (David Kelly) and how Kelly pulled off being the Porter (and Siward) with great fun and without any feel of his previous role hanging on?

Admirable Banquo (Armando McClain) was a careful and believable cohort of Macbeth. He was played as a fully present and loyal man, a perfect person to show the audience how Macbeth had gone bad and to torment Macbeth as a ghost. (Two nits to pick: I am not sure about the horns/branches/whatever on the ghost’s head at the banquet. I am sure they were well thought out, but I need education. Secondly, McClain also played the doctor in Lady Macbeth’s mad scenes. He was too important as Banquo not to be recognizable as the doctor. A different actor should have been used.)

Malcom (Dane Troy) was weak in the opening but commanded the stage as the new king the second performance I saw. Meanwhile, in both performances Nicole Villavicencio Gonzalez was terrific as the endangered children of Banquo and McDuff and Lady McDuff (Gabriela Fernandez-Coffey) was excellent as a overcome, doomed, worried parent.

Overall this performance is unreasonably, unexpectedly great. The direction and acting gave characters character and the storyline a true story. This is another OSF show that makes me think I never need to see this play again because I have seen the best possible version. (Of course, I always hope that some other production will prove me wrong!)

Macbeth ensemble. Photo by Jenny Graham.

My intellectual and emotional judgement is that his Macbeth is a must-see, must-experience artistic event. I rate it

By Galen Workman|2024-04-24T13:45:32-07:00April 22, 2024|osf, plays|0 Comments

“My Home on the Moon” at San Francisco Playhouse

written by Minna Lee
directed by Mei Ann Teo

San Francisco, CA
at San Francisco Playhouse

The surface story is straight-forward: a failing Vietnamese pho noodle restaurant owner applies to a corporation’s community support program for help. Her application is selected and she and the shop’s cook are completely supported. They achieve financial and critical success, and there’s some positive emotional experiences thrown in, too.

The actors, the characterizaitons, THE SET!, all are top quality and make My Home on the Moon feel comfortable. It’s a worthwhile story to enjoy. It never presents at all as a new effort by a virgin playwright… which this production is.

The plot develops smoothly, quickly, and with intense humor. An example: at one point a restaurant critic (Will Dao) appears to talk about the food with his camera operator recording every twitch and bit of wisdom he spews. The critic is hammily all about his looks and voice on the video being made of his comments. It’s a quick amusing scene that both tells about the positive progress of the restuarnt while at the same time zinging the social influencer phenomenon so powerful in the world of 2024.

(L-R) A food critic (Will Dao) samples cuisine, watched by Lan (Sharon Omi), Mai (Jenny Nguyen Nelson) and a camera person (Erin Mei-Ling Stuart) in San Francisco Playhouse’s World Premiere Play “My Home on the Moon,” performing January 25 – February 24.
SF Playhouse photo by Jessica Palopoli.

That’s the power and focus of this production. There’s a story progressing nicely while we deal with more and more complex aspects of today’s world and technology.

Most of the onstage activity concerns the interaction between restaurant ower Lan (Sharon Omi), the cook Mai (Jenny Nguyen Nelson), and the corporation’s helpful consultant Vera (Rinabeth Apostol). As Vera listens to what the other two want and dream of, she marshals the resources to make things perfect.

An early accomplishment of Vera was to make the interior walls orange, something Lan thought would improve the atmosphere. Vera then took on publicty with textbook techniques like giving the food dishes punny names. Her actions are great successes!

Lan (Sharon Omi – center) celebrates the new year with lion dancers (left – Erin Mei-Ling Stuart, right- Will Dao)
SF Playhouse photo by Jessica Palopoli..

The popularity of the shop grows and the culinary variety and entertainment accoutrements dazzle.

The description of some of the custom dishes that Mai creates bothered one of my Vietnamese friends because, he says, you’d never put those ingredients together in Vietname. But, that’s the inventiveness of this newly successful pho spot. And, its focus is making the characters happy. Happy with the financial success, happy with the culinary innovation and recognition… my friend’s traditional taste be damned.

Vera, too, is benefiting from the experience. Her focus initially is on the objective actions to take to improve the finances and occupancy of the restaurant. She has knowledge but not hands-on experience. But as the relationships progress she finds herself looking to learn and enjoy new things.

Like any substantial play, there is a considerable, “Yes, but…!” to the uplifting story of incredible accomplishement of the turnaround.

Other reviews go into detail of what they think the issue the characters face is. I am not going to do that because you should come to your own realization when you’re ready.

Surfice to say that by the time a former restaurant employe (also played by Will Dao) disrupts the corporation’s shareholding meeting to complain about what they’ve done to the restaurant, most of us in the audience understand his point and probably agree with him.

CEO Gigi (Erin Mei-Ling Stuart) leads an investor’s report protested by Beau (Will Dao)
SF Playhouse photo by Jessica Palopoli.

The whole show is comic, clear, fun, but with a huge point to think about on the way home and the next day and …

The show deals with issues we are hearing about in the news. Still, this production is witty, enjoyable, terrifically acted, clever, and on target.

Many moments deserve special shout-outs. Will Dao has some excellent shakes in physical comedy for two of his roles. The restaurant set changes and grows as its own character. Vera is a perfect learner at times and a perfect planner at others. Lan and Mai each are focused, different, and spectacular.

The writing is extremely careful, too. You know the saying that if they show a gun at the beginning of the play it better be used by the final curtain? Even small things that My Home on the Moon presents to the audience have meaning and deepen the story… even if it takes a day or two for the revelation about the relevancy to get into your consciousness. I’m thinking of contents of gift baskets, salmon, and strawberries among other objects that pistol whipped us.

There were a few new-play moments that need to be worked out. The most noticable was that at the end of the final scene the lights go out, but the audience isn’t sure they should clap until the actors come back on stage for the curtain call. No one I talked to thought that there could have been another scene in the play. It was complete! Still folks weren’t sure it was over. Maybe a sound effect or someting needs to queue the applause.

Overall My Home on the Moon is an excellent new play, brilliantly produced and performed.

Now I’m off to eat a biscotti and think about seeing it again with the inevitable revisions. I am also looking to see what Minna Lee does next!

Ozdachs rating:

By Galen Workman|2024-02-10T09:48:29-08:00February 9, 2024|plays|0 Comments

“A Guide for the Homesick” at Theatre Rhinoceros
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“A Guide for the Homesick” at Theatre Rhinoceros

plays, Theatre Rhino

“A Guide for the Homesick” at Theatre Rhinoceros

written by Ken Urban
directed by Alan Quismorio

San Francisco, CA
at Theatre Rhinoceros

I have stared at the computer screen for too long, trying to come up with a description of A Guide for the Homesick which is as positive-sounding as I feel about the production. I give up.

So, I will join The Rhino itself and other reviewers that make the storyline sound too gay, too implausible, and too simple: it’s a story about two men who pick each other up in a hotel bar. Sprinkle in social concerns about American missionaries invading Africa, unclear gender attraction, and mental illness. Stir and you have the play!

Except that when you’re at the theater you feel no patina of the show being either trite or being good for you. Instead you’re drawn into the personalities, the logical surprises, and surprisingly wonderful production values.

(Pictured l. to r.) Ian Brady plays “Jeremy” and Jordan Covington plays “Teddy” in the Theatre Rhinoceros production of A Guide for the Homesick by Ken Urban, directed by Alan S. Quismorio. Photo by Vince Thomas.

(Pictured l. to r.) Ian Brady plays Jeremy/Ed and Jordan Covington plays Teddy/Nicholas.
Photo by Vince Thomas.

First, Jordan Covington (Teddy/Nicholas) and Ian Brady (Jeremy/Ed) are spectacular young actors. They shift between their two roles flawlessly, and Jordan in particular has a feeling of contained power that he displays at decisive moments. I swear he had tears in his eyes in a scene as Nicholas when 10 seconds previously he was chattering on blithely as Teddy.

Each character plays two characters and action occurs in Africa and Amsterdam. The swapping of identities and locations occurs instantaneously and clearly. Kudos to Director Alan Quismorio and the technical staff that make the changes in lighting and sound at just the right moment with just the right intensity.

The stories of the characters reveal themselves at slowly and with emotional pain which is point of the 90-minute performance. Ken Urban makes us want to know more and more, even when we fear what may happen.

So, another shout-out to Theatre Rhino for its play selection. It’s a gay-themed story that doesn’t have tired campiness or appeal to only the over 65 crowd. This show is serious and set in current times with modern youthful characters.

The final triumph to mention is The Rhino’s overcoming its current small space and making excellent choices in design. The audience sits in two rows of folding chairs about three feet from “the stage”. The stage is just the floor of a room that is a small commercial space. But, I saw the hotel room and the African clinic. The actors and technical staff made it easy for me to believe.

Jordan Covington and Ian Brady. Photo by Vince Thomas

Of course, I would do some things differently. The most notable change I’d make is to the [spoiler alert] sex scene. The Rhino delivers it with on stage nudity — the actors are under the bedding, but their nakedness is pointed. We watch the actors dress the next morning and Jordan has a beautiful bare butt while Ian keeps the covers in front of him while he grabs underwear and puts it on. Instead of stripping under the covers and dressing again, I would have done a simple bedtime black out. I understand the gay demographic of The Rhino’s core audience likes naked men. Still, I felt the in-your-face nudity added nothing and would make me hesitate to recommend the play to some of my friends.

However, the bottom line is that the overall quality of the play, the performances, and the production earns A Guide to the Homesick 5 stars. Go see it, now through March 19th.

Ozdachs rating:

By Galen Workman|2023-03-03T09:02:59-08:00March 2, 2023|plays, Theatre Rhino|3 Comments

Once on This Island

Book and lyrics by Lynn Ahrens Music by Stephen Flaherty Based Upon the Novel My Love, My Love by Rosa Guy Directed by Lili-Anne Brown

Ashland, OR at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival

Once on This Island (2022): Chuckie Benson, Camille Robinson, Michael Wordly, and Phyre Hawkins. Photo by Jenny Graham.

Chuckie Benson, Camille Robinson, Michael Wordly, and Phyre Hawkins.
Photo by Jenny Graham, OSF.

It was good to be back in the Bowmer Theater to for a fun evening that is full of energy, good singing, lively movement, and entertaining and meaningful music.

The story is a Caribbean-set retelling of Hans Christian Andersen’s The Little Mermaid, and virtually all plot development in Once is delivered in song. The different moods, the different sounds, and the characters all work delightfully.

J. D. Webster, Sasha Jewel Weymouth, and Patricia Jewel. Photo by Jenny Graham, OSF

All the cast members were above competent with careful expressive motions and voice. I am seriously impressed by the young actress who played Little Ti Moune (either Sasha Jewel Weymouth or Ayvah Johnson, I didn’t see in the playbill which we were seeing that night). The young actor was a dynamo, controlled, and on pitch.

We also enjoyed seeing a larger group of actors fill up the stage. What fun!

The direction and lighting were flawless. The story’s message of racism was obvious and the director’s notes that she was glad to have been able to produce the show from a Black perspective puzzled me. Do some productions make it okay that Ti Moune gets dumped by her prince because of her skin color? Ick.

Some technical areas kept me from pure happiness. The major flaw for me was the costumes. They were overdone and cheap looking straight out of a high school production. I don’t know the budget, but it apparently wasn’t enough.

The sound was also iffy at times. Sometimes the words in songs disappeared in the music. The worst of this was at the end when there’s singing telling the future of Ti Moune and succeeding generations. I missed the future of her as a tree completely.

And, I agree with a friend’s criticism that in a musical there should be some magic that shows up sometime on the set. Once‘s scenic design was unchanging despite the different locations of the scenes. This again was perhaps a budget issue, but the effect was to damp down the specialness of the evening.

Overall the show was a lot of fun with meaning and emotion. I give it:

By Galen Workman|2022-05-07T16:34:31-07:00May 7, 2022|osf, plays|0 Comments

unseen

written by Mona Mansour
directed by Evren Odcikin

Ashland, OR
at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival

unseen has given us hours of discussion on how we could fix it to make it a good play. We try so hard because the storyline resonates so loudly in our times of war, horror, loss, and helplessness. And we can spend hours on fixes because there are so many issues.

The title unseen itself illustrates one of the play’s problems. The e. e. cummings capitalization style is obviously supposed to mean something. So much of unseen is supposed to mean something that I didn’t quite grasp. From the title capitalization to parts of the set to passages of dialog to almost everything presented to the audience, the show is endlessly metaphorically symbolic and reminiscent of… things I should understand.

But, there’s too much I don’t understand without taking the PhD class in symbolism.

Perhaps I would spend more time trying to grok the finer points presented to us, except that the main character, Mia (played by Helen Sadler), is unlikable. Her coldness is another point of endless debate — is the character written poorly or is the problem with the actor and director in this production. Whatever the reason, we don’t wind up caring about what has happened or is happening to her.

Because we don’t bond with Mia, the string of events in her life feel random. I know what she’s lived through is PTSD provoking. But, she wasn’t warm and friendly in the earlier, pre-passing-out stressed flashback moment. So did we miss some earlier damaging scene? And, speaking of time disorientation, scenes usually started out with their time being displayed in lights on a beam on the stage, e..g, “3 months ago”. But, I think that the scenes were shown in chronological order. Weren’t they? So why display the dates?

unseen (2022): Helen Sadler and Nora el Samahy. Photo by Jenny Graham.

Helen Sadler and Nora el Samahy. Photo by Jenny Graham, OSF

I am fan of the rule that if you show me a gun in Act I you need to shoot it before the play is over. In unseen I never understood why Mia is a lesbian. Was it because her ex girlfriend (Derya, played by Nora el Samahy) was not out and therefore was “unseen” by much of Derya’s birth family? I don’t know. And, there were just too many loose ends for me to care about any of them.

The highlights of the short 100-minute-ish performance was the acting by el Samahy and Carolyn Shaffer who played Jane, Marian, and Nancy. These two women gave nuanced, emotional, and approachable performances. They quality of their acting was one of the reasons there was so much discussion on fixing the play… we wanted it to be worthy of their skill.

However, there’s even more to fix.

The stage design was weird with 1/3 seemingly reserved for a tree branch. There was too much movement from one side to the other making people feel like there were watching a tennis match in the aisle configuration.

Then there were the words flashed on the set telling us the time period of some of the scenes. That was okay because if you missed the date in its out-of-the-way location you generally got was going on by context. However, at the end of the play there is a prayer/song/something sung in Turkish (Arabic?) and the English translation was apparently splashed on a wall. About one in six people I talked to saw the translation, the rest of us missed the meaning of the closing words. That was a loss.

unseen has too many themes, too many possibilities, and too many symbols to be either fun or worthwhile. It’s a well-meaning piece with two fine actors, and you will discuss your ideas about how to improve it. But, overall, it’s only:

Ozdachs Rating:

By Galen|2022-05-07T15:34:26-07:00May 7, 2022|osf, plays|0 Comments

Previous 234 Next

“Macbeth” at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival

“Macbeth” at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival

Macbeth

“My Home on the Moon” at San Francisco Playhouse

“A Guide for the Homesick” at Theatre Rhinoceros

“A Guide for the Homesick” at Theatre Rhinoceros

“Once on This Island” at OSF

Once on This Island

“unseen” at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival

unseen