Friday April 13, 2007 SGN.org |
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Volume 35 Issue 15 |
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Tuesday, Dec 02, 2008
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Excellent acting distinguishes new company |
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| Excellent acting distinguishes new company | |
| by Jacob Clark - SGN A&E Writer The Zoo Story By Edward Albee, directed by Chris Fisher, with Jason Adkins and Todd Szekely. The New Space Theatre, thru April 15. Tickets: (206) 403-5112. A new theatre company, The New Space Theatre, has opened in Shoreline. If the acting in Edward Albee's The Zoo Story is an indication of the quality to be expected of this company, it will become a lively addition to Seattle's theatre scene. The Zoo Story, Albee's first play, was written in 1958 and premiered in Berlin in 1959. It details a confrontation between an emotionally ill man and an average, well-adjusted park denizen. Its depiction of homosexuality and suicide were shocking to mid-century audiences. Although the play is no longer alarming in its content, it still holds up as a psychological study of the two men, Jerry the misfit and Peter the conformist. It builds dramatically and offers an inevitable, untidy denouement. And it still sounds contemporary, even though it opened 49 years ago, and is a product of the modernist era. Indeed, the character of Jerry is so like the homeless mentally-ill people who populated the streets after Reagan shut down the mental hospitals, that he is now a recognizable stereotype rather than an extraordinarily individuated character, and the symbolism of the characters as archetypes of the breakdown of the American Dream is not as sharp as it must have been in 1959. Todd Szekely inhabits the character of the conformist Peter so thoroughly that the play achieves a gripping balance between the two characters. As Peter spends much of the play listening to Jerry's stories, he is usually lost until the characters fight towards the end of the play. Szekely makes specific choices, when to listen, when not to listen, when to respond to Jerry's monologue, so that the action is engaging throughout the play. Szekely's Peter is a compelling portrait of a man who uses the park and a particular park bench as a place to escape his humdrum life. In the play, he learns to his horror that there is no real escape from life, there are no demilitarized zones of peace in a culture gone to war with itself. Jason Adkins gives the deeply disturbed Jerry moments of clarity as the character attempts to understand his own madness. These moments are like well-hidden landmines that explode beneath Jerry's psyche, as with every understanding comes a deeper madness. Adkins has that rare ability to utter his lines as if they were newly thought, making every word immediate and fresh. Director Chris Fisher has elicited these fine performances, and provides a sharply staged fist fight on the ground behind the bench. However, she leaves Adkins standing in one place for almost the entire play, which has the potential to bring a sameness to every story Jerry tells. Fortunately, Adkins accelerates his interpretation so that there is a mounting pressure, but some blocking would make an excellent portrayal great. Steve Cooper's lighting design provides the stark glare of midday sun in even, seamless areas. The New Space Theatre's next production will be Lee Blessing's prophetic play about kidnapping and terrorism, Two Rooms. It will be interesting to see if the theatre will develop an acting company to handle its visceral script selections. |
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