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Saturday, Oct 11, 2008
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Wowee, Women! |
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| Wowee, Women! | ||
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by Miryam Gordon -
SGN A&E Writer THE WOMEN BY CLARE BOOTHE LUCE DIRECTED BY WARREN SHOOK ACT THEATRE THROUGH DECEMBER 2 Wow. There are a bunch of "wows" in The Women as produced by ACT Theatre. Wow for the set, wow for the costumes, wow for the collection of power actresses on stage. This event is a bit like going to a museum or watching models in a big store window. You don't quite emotionally connect to what you're seeing, but there is so much to admire and just gawk at. The production has been in planning for three years, so for all that investment of time and energy, it needs that "wow" factor, to justify itself. These are some of the most technically difficult production values that a theater ever creates. Audiences don't often applaud when a set moves in or out of the scene, but somehow, audiences here feel compelled to applaud the elaborate and mysterious set changes, powered by a newly installed computer system and elaborate, flawless staging by Matthew Smucker. It's fun. It's worth applauding. To continue for an unusual moment about the computer system, this upgrade is one first used in the Seattle area by The Village Theatre for their excellent, and complicated, musical presentation of the rock opera, Tommy. The fact that other theaters in town are installing this same system is a triumph of regional planning in the arts. It makes so much sense to have multiple locations using the same high quality equipment and being able to trade technicians who know how to run them, when someone is sick or just needs additional crew. Kudos to our technical community for communicating and sharing with each other in the interest of the art as a whole. Ok, moving on. Well, just to the sumptuous costumes! These 1930s dresses are some of the fanciest to hit the Seattle theater circuit in years. Costumers from around the region were calling, saying they had a couple of weeks off - could they help work on making them? David Zinn, a nationally known costumer, planned the costumes for many months. They look expensive and probably are. They report that there are more than 100 couture costumes created for this show. The play reflects the conflicting sensibilities of the 1930s, postulating that the only desirable state for a woman was married, preferably to a rich guy, and women friends stab each other in the back. The jokes are both on men and on each other, but men are expected to wander and women, especially women who want to stay rich, are expected to let them. It's rather sad if you look at their stories, rather than hear the jokes. But, then you can compare these upper class women and their merry-go-round husbands with the Lindsay Lohans and Britney Spears we watch with secret relish as they pick up and drop boyfriends or are picked up and dropped themselves. The rich, idle women of the play go to parties, play cards and go to Reno to get divorced. The maids watch them, cater to them, and talk about them. The script is sharp and funny, and actors have lines where they grandly declaim them, then stalk off stage, and it's so over the top you just have to applaud that, too. Many of Seattle's finest women actors are showcased, so there are many good performances and it's difficult to pick out any particular performer for extra praise, but my favorite of the evening was Annette Toutonghi, who plays multiple small roles, but just kills it as Olga, the tattletaling nail buffer. She was so spot on that when she was other roles, it just emphasized how good she was as Olga, since it was hard to imagine her any other way, yet here she was as another character, just as solid. It's not a p.c. play and it's not so nice to see women depicted as stereotypical backstabbers, but that's not really what the production is for. It's for spectacle, great laughs, stylish 1930s atmosphere and grand acting. You'll have fun. For more information, go to www.acttheatre.org or call 206-292-7676. To comment on reviews, write sgncritic@gmail.com. |
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| Halloween on Capitol Hill
Slide Show photos by Joey - SGN photographer |
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