THEATRE REVIEW:
KPBS AIRDATE: February 25, 2005
It’s the world’s only never-ending war, and it’s raging on
San Diego stages. Though the weapons are
words, the assaults can be vicious. It’s that eternal battle royale, the one
between the sexes. The competition is intense, but couched in comedy. The
fable, opera and satire span 250 years and three cultures, but their themes are
timeless and universal: love, lust, beauty and fidelity. The confrontations are
spawned by a wager, an experiment and a fantasy.
In Mozart’s “Cosi fan Tutte,” which roughly translates as
“All women are the same,” a cynical old misogynist bets two young men that
their fiancées will be faithless. He has them disguise themselves and
persistently woo the resistant young women, who finally relent. It’s a cruel
trap, but the San Diego Opera mines all the humor, to present a thoroughly
enchanting production. The opera has been effectively moved from 18th
century Italy to 1912 at the Hotel del Coronado. The gorgeous set and costumes
highlight the outstanding singing and acting. The women may be flighty and
fickle, but the men are semi-sadistic. And the music is so delightful, you
hardly notice the sinister undertones.
You can’t miss them in Marivaux’s “La Dispute.” Written in
1744, the play was only performed once, and then not again for nearly 200
years. But it’s amazingly topical: part social engineering, part reality TV. It
all has to do with a little human subjects research into which sex was the
first to be unfaithful. On the whim of quarreling royals, four infants have
been raised in isolation and then released into a simulated Garden of Eden.
What ensues among these adolescents is a hormone-driven field-day of vanity,
desire, sex, jealousy and betrayal. At UCSD, the gifted director Darko Tresjnak
has created, practically choreographed, a gorgeous and disturbing piece of
theater. Humans play god, we squirm like voyeurs, and the director’s postscript
suggests that this ruthless game will soon begin again.
Meanwhile, a dark, surreal tragic-comedy is unfolding at
SDSU. In “The Waiting Room,” by Lisa Loomer, three women from different
centuries meet in a doctor’s office. Each is a victim of her culture’s
conception of beauty. The bound feet of the 18th century Chinese
consort are gangrenous. The tightly corseted 19th century Victorian
is diagnosed with hysteria, apparently due to over-education, treatable only by
hysterectomy. The modern American secretary is having serious trouble with her
third set of breast implants. In her delectable satire, Loomer skewers men,
doctors, drug companies, self-help and the FDA. Directed by Randy Reinholz, the
production is terrific, with excellent performances and a perfect balance
between the humor and the horror.
There’s no victor in these gender wars. And love
provides as much heartache as healing.
©2005 Patté Productions Inc.