THEATRE REVIEW:
KPBS AIRDATE: October 14, 2005
This week, theater takes us to primitive worlds –
one current, one futuristic – where violence splits the sky like lightning.
Both plays explode the American Dream. The classic, Sam Shepard’s “Curse of the
Starving Class,” was written in 1976. But its gritty dissection of a
dysfunctional family and the destruction of rural life are as timely and
topical as ever. The new play is “Dog Act” by Liz Duffy Adams, a darkly comic
post-apocalyptic vision of tribal allegiances and random brutality. In these
primal environments, survival is an endless struggle.
In “Curse of the Starving Class,” each of Shepard’s
desperate characters nurtures a fantasy of escape. But they are all cursed –
doomed by their history, habit and genetics. In this felicitous first
collaboration between two gifted young companies -- Cygnet Theatre and New
Village Arts -- the performances are
outstanding, each of the family members sharply etched and angrily, achingly
portrayed. Dana Case is the addled mother, Bill Dunnam the alcoholic father and
Rachael van Wormer the restless, pubescent daughter; each attempts a radical transformation.
But it’s no use. They’ll never satisfy their ravenous inner hunger or dodge
their accursed destiny. Only the shell-shocked son, in a fiercely haunting
performance by Joshua Everett Johnson, tries to stay the course, maintain the
family farm, put down deeper roots. But it’s too late; destruction, despair and
death are breaking down the door. The drama is rife with symbolism: a
sacrificial lamb; an empty, echoic refrigerator; the dark shadow cast by a
rapacious eagle. In its three enigmatic acts, the play provides little
elucidation or catharsis. But, underscored by striking lighting and sound
designs, Fran Gercke’s taut direction keeps us riveted.
While Shepard’s work is spare and stark, the Liz Duffy
Adams play is linguistically luxuriant. Her fantasy world is populated by
roving tribal bands –storytelling Vaudevillians; the only extant
poetry-spouting literates; and the Scavengers, grown-up, rampaging Lost Boys
searching for their Wendy. Each group has its unique language – a brilliant,
loopy riff on Mac Wellman’s neologistic rantings, liberally sprinkled with
borrowings from Shakespeare, hip hop, curse-words and everyday vernacular. The
long monologues that punctuate the action are thrilling performance pieces,
magnificently delivered by a stellar cast of six, under the precise and
pitch-perfect co-direction of Jennifer Eve Kraus and artistic director Delicia
Turner Sonnenberg. Jason Connors, while portraying the boy-turned-Dog of the
title, also composed, arranged, directed and plays the genial music. Beeb
Salzer’s remarkably convertible gypsy cart and Michelle Hunt’s delightfully
witty costumes highlight the recurrent theme of recycled goods and people. At
the end of this electrifying work, there’s a hint of rebirth and redemption.
But though the final couplings are promising, there’s always the danger of a
backslide into anarchy.
Past, present, future. It’s a dog-eat-dog world.
©2005 Patté Productions
Inc.