Pericles @ Polonsky Shakespeare Center w/ Theater For New Audiences

Performed at the Polonsky Shakespeare Center, Pericles was a well choreographed and inventive trip into the world of William Shakespeare. Directed by Trevor Nunn, the play was mildly untraditional and entertaining. Music and songs by Shaun Davey were done in the Shakespearean style and complemented the play and cast very well.

Scenic Designer Robert Jones’ thrust stage was intriguing: it had a golden orb in its center that was able to open up to different sizes, depending on the needs of the performance. Behind it were waves, sand, monuments—it was highly innovative and captivating. Costume Designer Constance Hoffman also had a Shakespearean and Middle Eastern flair with some costumes having the likeness of a snake (Antioch), of mourning (Tarsus), of poverty vs. entitlement (Pentalpolis), piety (Ephesus), and chastity vs. lust (Mytelene).

Our narrator, Gowen (Raphael Nash Thompson) set the scene with gusto and affability. He was well connected with the Shakespearean prose and pulled laughter from the audience on more than one occasion.

Pericles was played by Christian Camargo. Camargo depicted Pericles’ varying ages and stages of grief and merriment well. His performance was believable within the unbelievable nature of Pericles. Philip Casnoff portrayed Tyre’s second-in-command Helicanus, who was amiable and flowed with the prose as well.

However, I was not fond of the performances of Gia Crovatin (Thaisa) and Lilly Englert (Marina). While neither of them missed an inflection, their approach to their characters had a sense of mild overacting that I do not tend to enjoy. Both of them also lacked chemistry with Camargo.

Although, John Rothman’s Simonides was hilarious and had a masterful grip of Shakespeare’s work. He enraptured the audience and had them all but on their feet during his short time on the stage. Other notables include Will Swenson (Cleon), Nina Hellman (Dionyza), Ian Lassiter’s many characters including Lysimachus, a fisherman and a lord of Tyre as well as John Keating’s repeat performances as a lord of Tyre, a fisherman and Boult.

All other members of this twenty person play: Earl Baker Jr., Sam Morales, Oberon K.A. Adjepong, Zachary Infante, Will Swenson, Patrice Johnson Chevannes and the Pigpen Theatre Company’s Alex Falberg, Ben Ferguson, Curtis Gillen, Ryan Melia, Matt Neurnberger, Arya Shahi and Dan Weschler performed wonderfully.

Overall, Trevor Nunn’s direction was distinctly Shakespearean with an outstanding use of blocking, lighting (Stephen Strawbridge) and choreography (Brian Brooks). If you are looking for a night of Shakespeare, Pericles may be a good destination.

Review By: Alex Lipari
Photos By: Richard Termine

Isolde @ The Polonsky Shakespeare Center @ The Theatre for New Audience

The ephemeral quality of memory and relationships are just a fact of life – memories shift and change, just as relationships grow over the course of time. And both memories and relationships can be lost – a quality that Isolde, a new play written and directed by Richard Maxwell displays beautifully.

Isolde tells the story of Isolde and Patrick, a married couple. He’s a contractor of a construction company and she’s a famous actress. But Isolde is having trouble remembering her lines recently. So Patrick tries to ease her troubles by letting her build her dream home, but things become shaky after Massimo, an award-winning architect becomes involved in the project.

Isolde was played very charmingly by Tory Vazquez, in a way the blended a mature woman with a very open and almost child-like outlook on the world. Her many wanderings around the room, as well as wandering thoughts always appeared to have some purpose, even if that purpose wasn’t clear to us. Jim Fletcher portrayed Patrick as a guy who clearly loves his wife, but is struggling to control the path in which his life appears to be wandering down.

As Massimo, Gary Wilmes alternates between dry commentary on life and then switching to grand sweeping soliloquies about the design for Isolde’s dream home. This duality shows why exactly Massimo is so intriguing for Isolde, as he captures the audience’s attention as well. Though the main scene stealer of the night was Brian Mendes as Uncle Jerry, a man of not too many words, but one who expertly knows how silence and the right facial expression can speak (hilarious) volumes.

The direction and writing of this play are both done by Richard Maxwell, which leads to a great melding of text and movement on the stage. The scenes blend seamlessly like memories do. Sometimes the dialogue can become stilted and very definitively staged, but the scenes and actions just keep rolling. Scenes change almost like dreams, you blink, and something else has shifted, someone has changed costumes, and a week in the play has gone by. It’s in this way that the show moves quicker than “realistic” life. Maxwell believes deeply in experimenting onstage and Isolde may not score a touchdown on everything, but no one can say it’s traditional.

The minimalism of the scenic/lighting design by Sascha Van Riel cooperates well with the costume designs by Romy Springsguth and Kaye Voce. Again, the simplicity speaks to how memories fade with time until only the most important and basic details remain.

Highly original and intriguing, Isolde leads its charmed existence only briefly, which is fitting considering the story itself. It will only be running until September 27 at Theatre for a New Audience at the Polonsky Shaekspeare Center in Brooklyn.

Review By: Chrissy Cody
Photos By: Gerry Goodstein

The Valley of Astonishment @ The Polonsky Shakespeare Center @ The Theatre for New Audience

What if when you listened to music, you saw colors? Or you had enough memorized words in your brain that you could fill a 10,000 page book? These are just some of the brain phenomenons explored in Peter Brooks and Marie-Helenes Estienne unique play "The Valley of Astonishment." 

Synesthesia is a neurological phenomenon in which stimulation of one sensory or cognitive pathway leads to automatic, involuntary experiences in a second sensory or cognitive pathway. How does one convey that to an outside listener in a way that they can not only grasp, but relate to? Kathryn Hunter, Marcello Magni, and Jared McNeill take the stage as a mirage of characters that do just that, 

Equally human and brilliant, the characters portrayed bring to life a story both profound and simple. Brilliant minds in ordinary bodies, creating, feeling, and experiencing life at an intensity that invokes fear and awe in "normal" company. Blending stories, characters, accents, mannerisms, the actors are both heartbreakingly vulnerable onstage as they are fascinating to watch. 

Against a bare back drop, minimilistic stage design, and tailored lights by Lighting Designer Philippe Vialatte, there is nowhere for the actors to hide. Their humanity is stripped bare for all the audience to see and while this is the goal of every actor, this cast does it so effortlessly one cannot help but admire it. 

Musicians Raphael Chambouvent and Toshi Tsuchitori add another level of sensory pleasure with their gorgeous accompaniment. 

A three week only event, "The Valley of Astonishment" closes October 5th, so do yourself a favor and go experience synesthesia with a group of people who will let you live it with them. 

Review By: Aziza Seven
Photos By: Pascal Victor

The Killer @ The Polonsky Shakespeare Center @ The Theatre for New Audience

Confusion, murder, disorder and farce create a mysterious world where you never know what’s waiting just around the corner. The Killer is an enigmatic production led by Oscar-nominated Michael Shannon and guided by director Darko Tresnjak.

The Killer writted by Eugène Ionesco, with a translation by Michael Feingold, tells the story of Berenger (Shannon), an everyman who encounters a “Radiant City” which seems too good to be true. It is – there is a serial murderer wandering the streets, and the city officials have given up on actually apprehending him. But Berenger’s quest to stop the murderer leads him down some interesting paths.

Oscar nominated Michael Shannon stars in this production and is an incredible grounding element in a story full of strange and shadowy elements. He deftly weaves in and out of varying moods and physical shifts, skipping around and turning cartwheels one minute and morosely slumped over the next. He keeps the production from going completely over the top.

Other acting stand-outs were Kristine Nielson as the Concierge/Ma Piper and Robert Stanton as The Architect. Nielson brought a sharp burst of humor into the second and third acts that deftly sharpened the tone of humor. Her antics were written as over the top, but Nielson skillfully grounded her characters in a way that most of the cast didn’t accomplish. Stanton was wonderful in the first act as The Architect, a salesperson like bureaucrat whose easy-going charm entices both Berenger and the audience to the delights of the Radiant City. I was saddened to have him benched offstage after the first act.

The Killer was carefully directed by Darko Tresnjak. As he noted in the program, the script was “smothered in instructions.” And there was a lot in the script – light directions, sound directions, turn tables, entrances from all angles and so much more. I particularly loved the slight 4th wall breakings that would happen from time to time – ideally suited for the space which has the audience on three sides of the stage. To find the focus in that is an amazing feat, especially in a show that clocks in at a little over three hours. And the script doesn’t let the time pass quickly, particularly in the last act, with a 15-20 minute speech by Berenger that Tresnjak moved along a bit with clever shifts of staging. The sound and lighting design by Jane Shaw and Matthew Richards, respectfully, was wonderfully integrated into the telling of the story.

In such a purposefully cacophonous production, some elements didn’t have the chance to really come together. Some of the acting was a bit stiff and absurd without proper motivation or reasoning which lead to emotional disconnect. The thing that most stuck out to me was the makeup job on Edward (Paul Sparks). In a production full of lovely subtle production design, why Edward’s makeup featured white foundation and heavy eyeshadow that made him look like a poor man’s Penguin is beyond me.

All in all, The Killer is a mysterious show that makes for an interesting night out at the theatre. Michael Shannon and director Darko Tresnjak are pulling out all the stops and for that, The Killer makes its mark.

The Killer will be running through June 29th at the Theatre for a New Audience at the Polonsky Shakespeare Center on 262 Ashland Place in Brooklyn.

Review By: Chrissy Cody
Photos By: Gerry Goodstien

King Lear @ The Polonsky Shakespeare Center @ The Theatre for New Audience

King Lear presented at the Theatre for a New Audience is an intimate, minimalistic portrayal of the Shakespeare classic. Directed by Arin Arbus, whose other Shakespeare credits include, Much Ado About Nothing, The Taming of the Shrew, and Othello, creates a stunning world in which the audience is given only the barest essentials of a set, leaving them able to concentrate on the actors’ imaginations.

Michael Pennington(King Lear) shines, his abundant work  in Shakespeare clear as he commands the space around him. Both powerful in his reign as King of Britain and pathetic as his madness takes over his body, Pennington straddles the inconsistencies of his character with grace and ease. Opposite in the roles of his daughters, Rachel Pickup(Goneril), Bianca Amato(Regan), and Lilly Englert(Cordelia) play their parts well. Rachel’s sexual manipulation compliments Bianca’s more political stance and together they are a force to be reckoned with as they plot to bring their father down and claim more power. Unfortunately for them, they sink their claws into the same man and in the end are done in by their own thirst for power and misplaced love. Lilly is the loveliest of the sisters and portrays her part perfectly. Innocence shines through her consistently. Her love for her father is the realest emotion among the women and she holds on to it with everything she is.  

Startling performance by Jake Horowitz as the Fool. His energy onstage was a joy to watch. Both comical and wise, joyful and in the end suicidal, Jake navigated a stage full of seasoned actors with a drive that was surprising in one so young. Chandler Williams(Edmund) is a more passive villain. His actions dictated by selfishness rather than pure evil. I found his performance a tad lackluster. Jacob Fisher(Edgar) while bland at the start of the play found his own when he took on the crazed role of Poor Tom after being set up by his brother. On the lam and running from a father that believes wanted to kill him, Jacob adopts the role of poor beggar but falls into the good graces of King Lear and eventually is responsible for leading his blinded father to safety after his brother frames their father for treason.  

Other talented cast members include Timothy Stickney(Kent), Terry Doe(King of France), Mark H. Dold(Oswald), Christopher McCann(Gloucester), Saxon Palmer(Cornwall), Graham Winton(Albany), and Robert Langdon Lloyd who all stood out in the parts as excellent speakers and actors. The ensemble includes Benjamin Cole, Jason Gray, Jonathan Hooks, Patrick McAndrew, Ryan McCarthy, Jon Stewart, Jr., Ian Temple, and Ariel Zuckerman.

As with all of Shakespear’s tragedies, this play contains several messages for the audience. Greed, power seeking, lust are just a few things that condemn the players and lead to the demise. Very few players escape death by the end of the play and the sins of those involved are to blame for the early demise of Cordelia and the consequent death of her father, Lear. Reunited briefly, they are only granted a moment respite before Edmund’s assignation order is completed leaving Lear to die of a broken heart after he carries the still body of his youngest onstage.

The set design was by far the most interesting tech element, with lights and sound design rounding out the feel of the play. The costumes I found to be incredibly distracting, as they didn’t fit the time that the play was clearly set in. Lastly, the music provided by Michael Attias, Pascal Niggenkemper, and Satoshi Takeishi was gorgeous.

King Lear runs at The Theatre for a New Audience in Brooklyn, NYC until May 4th, be sure to pick up your tickets here.

Review By: Aziza Seven