THEATRE REVIEW:
KPBS
AIRDATE: February 28, 2003
Hubris. Pride. Arrogance. Whatever you
call it, it sparks self-destruction, whether in Greek tragedy, Wagnerian opera,
police melodrama… or presidential policies. Two outstanding productions,
"Detective Story" and "Berzerkergang," a classic and a
world premiere, show us gods and
monsters and the dire consequences
of overly righteous indignation.
Sledgehammer Theatre's artistic
director, Kirsten Brandt, went beyond Wagner's 'Ring Cycle' for her
"Berzerkergang" source material, back to the Icelandic sagas, Norse
myths and German epic poems that were the composer's inspiration. Then she took
the timeless tale of the prideful god Wotan and his loving but hapless
daughter, the Valkyrie Brunhilde, and transported them to corporate America.
Her Wotan is a soulless CEO; Fricka is his frustrated, dissipated corporate
wife; Brunhilde, daughter of the magical, mystical earth-mother Erda, begins as
Wotan's second in command, but his pride and her loving heart
cause her downfall. The coveted ring, that source of greed and envy, is a
solid-gold CD.
With all her poetic ramblings, wild
imaginings and topical references, Brandt has stayed surprisingly close to the
original story. Whether you're knowledgeable or not, it's all there: the dwarf,
the dragon, the giants, even Valhalla, which has morphed from a mythological hall
of heroes into a 98-story office complex. And it all works excellently, except
for the Berzerkergang, an ill-defined corps of drugged thugs that fails to
serve the story. But everything else clicks. The stylized, provocative,
choreographically precise direction of Jessa Watson and Michael Severance has
Brandt's creative energy all over it. David Lee Cuthbert's lighting is another
triumph, as is the sound design of Jeff Mockus and Corey Johnston's costumes.
All the performances are spine-tingling, especially Laura Lee Juliano as
Brunhilde, Ruff Yeager as Wotan and Janet Hayatshahi as the enigmatic Erda.
This is inventive theater of mythic proportion… brash, bold and courageous.
It takes courage to be a cop, too, and
in 1949, playwright Sidney Kingsley daringly captured the guts and grind of a
day in the life of New York's finest, with his "Detective Story." It
was the forerunner of every police program on TV, prescient in dealing with
hot-potato topics like abortion. Lawlessness features in the criminals and the
force, as a self-righteous officer stands tall in the film-noir half-light and
slowly self-destructs. This is Lamb's Players Theatre at its very best, a
finely nuanced ensemble production, beautifully designed and directed,
gorgeously costumed, and splendidly acted by a huge cast that digs deep into
every well-etched character.
Listen, Shweetheart, you miss these
productions at your own risk.
©2003
Patté Productions Inc.