THEATRE REVIEW:
KPBS AIRDATE: April 15, 2005
Credit what you will – the gods, Fate, Spirit or
coincidence. But unforeseen, maybe even pre-ordained, events change lives. From
mythical to cultural to historical, ethereal things are happening onstage.
In Nicholas Wright’s speculative, titillating “Vincent in
Brixton,” the hotheaded Vincent van Gogh may foreshadow the impulsive genius of
the suicidal, ear-slicing future. It isn’t known what actually happened in the
1870s, when the young, impetuous and unsuccessful art dealer sojourned briefly
in the seedy London suburb of Brixton. But clandestine love, with an older
woman who ignited the painter’s creativity, forms the tender tale of Wright’s
Olivier Award-winning hypothetical drama. Under the marvelous, finely nuanced
direction of Rick Seer, the Old Globe production is quite wonderful –
beautifully designed and impeccably acted. Graham Hamilton is a vigorous and
irresistible van Gogh, and Robin Pearson Rose brings a luminous sadness to his
repressed and depressive landlady. The other three actors lend marvelous
support. There are gorgeous little hints of van Gogh paintings to come, and the
tantalizing suggestion that this woman, twice his age, gave Vincent both his
sexual and artistic awakening. If true, it was more than happenstance; it was
Destiny.
Fate takes a more mystical turn in “Woman from the Other
Side of the World,” a Filipino story of healing and heritage, New World
modernity vs. Old Country tradition. In her fascinating drama, playwright Linda
Faigao Hall introduces us to a single mother and her precocious 10 year-old
son. They’re cut off from their history and identity, until they’re sent a yaya, or nanny, from the Philippines.
Long-held secrets are revealed after a heart-stopping exorcism, and only then
can love flourish. At Asian American Repertory Theatre, director and sound
designer George Yé lends the production an eerie other-worldliness. Twelve
year-old Kevin Belisario is terrific as young Jason, excellent with arnis, the stick-wielding martial arts
form he only learned a month before the show. Dulce Solis is magical and
riveting as the yaya, a spiritualist who sees pain and changes lives.
But there are no transformations like those described by
Ovid in his “Metamorphoses,” 15 volumes of Latin verse, written in 8 A.D.,
chronicling Greek gods and Roman heroes. Three years ago, acclaimed,
experimental director Mary Zimmerman spun theater gold from some of those
stories. When her brilliant “Metamorphoses” hit Broadway, Zimmerman won a Tony
Award for her dazzling production, set in and around a large pool of water.
Lamb’s Players’ local premiere is also striking: aptly aquatic, convincingly
acted by a chameleon ensemble, beautifully costumed and inventively directed
(by Robert Smyth). The play offers provocative and contemporary retellings of
ancient myths that give compelling, poetic testimony to the power of
transformation and the transforming power of love.
©2005 Patté Productions Inc.