THEATRE REVIEW:
KPBS
AIRDATE: October 24, 2003
The earliest personal tragedy meets the
latest political tragedy. Sophocles and Tony Kushner; what a perfect
juxtaposition! The ancient dramatist created characters who struggled to right
the wrongs they saw in the world. The modern playwright is the most dazzling
dramatic/political voice of our era. Both writers hold the mirror up to us at
close range, forcing us to look at who we are, where we've come from, what
we're doing with our lives and with each other.
In the classic, "Oedipus
Tyrannus" (the Greek form of the Latin 'Oedipus Rex'), the king and his
parents have tried to escape the horrific prophecy that the son would murder
his father and marry his mother. Sophocles' play is an ancient detective story,
an unraveling of events and lives, as the indomitable spirit of the doomed
monarch forces him to unearth the truth, to find out who he really is, even if
it means he loses everything he has. It's a testimony to human will, endurance
and the quest for candor and integrity. These are themes that apply equally to
the brilliant work of Tony Kushner, who won a Pulitzer Prize for his
mind-blowing epic, "Angels in America." Now he's given us
"Homebody/Kabul," a prescient, fact-bound fantasy currently brought
by Steppenwolf Theatre to the Mark Taper Forum in L.A., next-door to the gorgeous
new Gehry Center. 'Oedipus' is closer to home, in a stirring and spare
production at the 6th@ Penn Theatre, with a new, crystalline
translation by Marianne MdConald. Both are lyrical, poetic, imagistic plays.
Both contrast those who can see with those who can't or won't; those who act
and those who stand at the sidelines. In pointing out the weakness and the
potential strength in all of us, these dramas go straight to the soul.
Set in 1998, "Homeboy/Kabul"
concerns a disaffected English housewife who escapes from her life into books,
and ultimately, into Afghanistan. All the characters, resentments and
hostilities of that country could easily be transported to Iraq. This is the
Middle Eastern view of 21st century Anglo-American imperialism, as
written by a luminous poet, dramatist and activist. The language, the play and
the performances are incandescent.
In the local production, the
performances are also impressive. Matt Scott gives a stellar interpretation of
Oedipus, a strutting, arrogant king who ends up a broken, self-blinded beggar.
The character's journey and the actor's performance are heartbreaking. As
Jocasta, the ill-fated wife/mother, Cristina Soria is seductive and
sympathetic; the couple's sexuality is palpable, which makes their unsuspected
crime that much more disturbing. George Ye has cast wisely and directed well,
in addition to designing a beautiful soundscape.
If you're a thinking theatergoer, if
you care about politics, psychology, humanity and the state of the world, you
dare not miss either of these powerful and empowering productions.
©2003
Patté Productions Inc.