Theater Playful Gertrude Stein Confusing Kama Sutra

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12/12/2015Theater: Playful Gertrude Stein, Confusing Kama Sutra | Evernote Web https://www.evernote.com/Home.action#n=d5761ae0-12ff-4d15-bb71-a17dc2e8c633&ses=4&sh=2&sds=5&1/5Theater: Playful Gertrude Stein, Confusing KamaSutraTheater: Playful Gertrude Stein, Confusing Kama SutraTHE WORLD IS ROUND *** out of **** YOUR MOTHER'S COPY OF THE KAMA SUTRA ** out of ****THE WORLD IS ROUND *** out of **** BAM FISHER AT FISHMAN SPACEIn 1939, when Gertrude Stein published her novel The World Is Round, it was ostensibly for children eventhough Stein hadn't retreated one bit from the elusive, modernist style that perplexed so many who preferredtheir novels to have plot and characters and dialogue of a sort.One very typical passage from this story about a young girl named Rose who decides to climb a mountain: "I amhere and here is there oh where oh where is there oh where. And Rose began to cry oh where where where isthere. I am there oh yes I am there oh where oh where is there."Dr. Seuss it ain't (though in fact, it sort of is). The publisher offered up this advice to adults on the dust jacket ofthe book:"This book was written to be enjoyed. It is meant to be read aloud a few chapters at a time. Don't botherabout the commas which aren't there, read the words. Don't worry about the sense that is there, read thewords faster. If you have any trouble, read faster and faster until you don't. This book was written to beenjoyed."It is one of the less likely sources for a satisfying work of theater. But director Rachel Dickstein and the RipeTime company chose it to follow up Septimus and Clarissa, their marvelous adaptation of Virginia Woolf's Mrs.Dalloway. That novel was also shocking for its time, with a stream of consciousness style that bewildered many.Today, however, while it feels as fresh and bold as ever, Mrs. Dalloway seems eminently accessible. The WorldIs Round remains more gnomic and surreal.And yet, here it is, playful and musical and beautifully presented. Utterly faithful to the text and the spirit ofStein's quicksilver intelligence, it also reveals with simplicity the fable that undergirds the word play, the rite ofpassage that delivers a young child into the fearful adult world of responsibility and possibility and wonder.The tale is straightforward. Rose is a defiant, smart, willful child. She learns at school, plays with her cousinWillie, is frightened by the lions of her imagination and finally notices the mountains that have always beennearby. Intrigued, frightened and challenged, she decides to climb a mountain, bringing along only hercomforting, blue chair.(photo by Todd France)She climbs higher than high, but discovers others have been there before and that spurs her on again. Roseclimbs even higher, all the way to the top and sees others have climbed their own hills and she is ready foranything, a little awed by the new vistas but ready nonetheless.12/12/2015Theater: Playful Gertrude Stein, Confusing Kama Sutra | Evernote Web https://www.evernote.com/Home.action#n=d5761ae0-12ff-4d15-bb71-a17dc2e8c633&ses=4&sh=2&sds=5&2/5This narrative is presented by four actors who work seamlessly as an ensemble. Kristen Sieh delights as thewinning young heroine, Grace McLean is the grown up Rose looking back at this transformative time, BlakeDeLong is the Lion and other various creatures and Hannah Heller steals the show as the willful Willie.Conceived, written and directed by Dickstein -- with the ensemble billed as collaborating on the creation -- TheWorld Is Round takes place on a bare stage with a large, circular screen overshadowing the space, a circle inthe middle opening up to the darkness beyond. The spare, effective set is by Mimi Lien, with evocativecostumes by Ilona Somogyi that straddle the line between dress-up and child-like. Somehow the actors seemlike kids playing adults and adults playing kids and both and neither. The lighting (Jiyoun Chang) and sound(Jane Shaw) and playful projections (Hannah Wasileski) combine throughout to change the tone and mood on adime.And it's filled with music, thanks to a wonderful score by Heather Christian with lyrics taken from the text. Therhythmic pulse was always there, of course. The publishers weren't the first to suggest tackling Stein as pureinventive wordplay, as sense built out of seeming nonsense. But the songs created that propel the story forwardmake crystal clear how Stein's words properly presented are not gibberish, but emotional, funny and true. (Gohere to listen to selections from the show on Sound Cloud.)It's easy to see how lines like this could be set to music, movingly so: "The world is round/ The sun is round/ Themoon is round/ The stars are round/ They all are going round around/ And not a sound/ And not a sound."But what's impressive is how even more obscure passages come to life. I'd never read The World Is Round (or,forgive me, more than bits and pieces of Stein's work) and this show held me firmly in its grasp. I was briefly lost-- like Rose -- during two passages. A section involving the Lion and her dark night of the soul while climbing themountain felt murky to me. But I never doubted the show would pull me back in.The actors were so engaging as kids with forceful adult-imagining personalities, it felt for a while to me like somesort of avant garde You're A Good Man, Charlie Brown. But once Rose began her journey up the mountain, itbecame less rooted in the imagination of kids and more timeless. My guest is deeply familiar with both Stein'swork and the novel The World Is Round in particular and was delightedly stunned by what they accomplished.The clever swirling video projections, the simple effect of watching Rose climb a ladder into the sky (with a bluechair strapped to her back), the marvelous musical settings and the committed performances show this to be acollaboration in the truest sense between the artists and all of them with Stein. Hopefully, we won't have to waityears to see what Dickstein and Ripe Time tackle next.YOUR MOTHER'S COPY OF THE KAMA SUTRA ** out of **** PLAYWRIGHTS HORIZONSI shudder to think of my mother's (Battered? Dog-eared? Overly thumbed?) copy of the Kama Sutra. But theprovocative, meaningless title of this new play by Kirk Lynn isn't the only hook for playgoers.It also features a high concept of a plot device: Reggie and Carla are getting engaged even though they barelyknow each other. Carla insists on a bizarre scheme for them to bond: They will reenact the highlights of theirrespective sexual histories, from recent, memorable stints with previous partners (like a quickie in the changingroom of a clothing store) all the way back to innocent kissing games from grade school. If it was importantand/or erotic, they'll share it and do it again with each other. What could go wrong?Just like the bait-and-switch title, this elaborate scheme proves to have very little bearing on the play. It'selaborately described, begun in earnest and yet goes nowhere emotionally or dramatically.Indeed, the entire purpose of this conceit seems to be to highlight the fact that Reggie (Chris Stack) sufferedsome incestuous sexual abuse from his older brother, a fact he's reluctant to share with his fiancé (Zoe Sophia12/12/2015Theater: Playful Gertrude Stein, Confusing Kama Sutra | Evernote Web https://www.evernote.com/Home.action#n=d5761ae0-12ff-4d15-bb71-a17dc2e8c633&ses=4&sh=2&sds=5&3/5Garcia), even though his old girlfriend and best pal Tony (Rebecca Henderson) knows the story. But Carlahardly needed to posit such a strange pact for Reggie's painful past to act as a barrier between them. Adding tothe confusion is a subplot that takes far too long to reveal its link to this couple's story. Despite some fine actors,the result is a murky, shambling tale that director Anne Kauffman can't bring to life for more than moments at atime.Lynn's nutty scheme makes sense in context. The show begins with Reggie and Carla playing sex games quitereadily, though Carla is clearly the driving force. She's blindfolded Reggie with his tie and he's stumbling aroundthe stage as Carla provocatively urges him on. Utterly at her command, Reggie pulls out the ring he's beenhiding and asks her to marry him. Not even certain of where Carla is standing, he holds out the ring tentativelyfirst this way and then that.Thus, Carla's proposal hardly comes out of left field, however odd it may be. And the sexy Garcia lets us wonderabout how in control this woman is with a man who offers uncomplicated love. In the next scene, they'vereenacted one of her memorable bouts of love-making from the past and Reggie is reeling from the strap-on sheemployed. He's game, but a little overwhelmed.It's clear this hasn't been terribly well thought out or that Carla is maybe manipulating things as they go along. Isshe provocateur or just deeply confused herself? Reggie thinks they're going backwards chronologically in termsof sexual history. (Which would have a nice dramatic arc - two lovers could move together from the jaded sexualantics of adults towards the innocent sweetness of youth where a kiss and holding hands was wildly fulfilling).Carla mocks his need for "rules." Then she upends his -- and our -- understanding about the purpose of thisritual. It's not to see if they're suited for each other, she insists. They are already committed as far as she'sconcerned; this will just deepen their bond.Okay, but then we're thrown for another loop by a lunch between Carla and his old flame Tony, who clearly stillhas feelings for Reggie under her brittle, business woman surface. Tony is going to be Reggie's best man, butCarla asks her to refuse. What power play is this? Is Carla just messing with Reggie? Must she control everyaspect of his life? Does she even love him?Well, toss all those questions aside. Act Two reveals that Carla and Tony became bosom buddies and she andReggie were as far as we can tell a very happy couple.SPOILER Our head spins as all the plates in the air from the first act simply disappear, along with Carla, who has died.At least one question is resolved: In the first act we kept cutting to scenes of teenagers, including the creepyCole (an effective Will Pullen) who is pushing his pal Sean (Maxx Brawer) to use the date rape drug on a girl helikes named Bernie (Ismenia Mendes). Finally, in the second act I realized these were flash-forwards to thedilemma of Reggie and Carla's daughter Bernie, who is reeling from her mother's death, feels surrounded byghosts and her grieving dad and doesn't know how to deal with the fact that she has her own sexual abuse todeal with. END SPOILERIf your head is spinning, join the club. The show begins with a very elaborate sexual game, tosses in sexualabuse, grieving, parent-child relationships, unrequited love and more -- all of it handled haphazardly anduninterestingly.This barren plot is reflected in a near empty set by Laura Jellinek. At first, I assumed Reggie and Carla wereplaying their sex games in an apartment or home they'd just moved into and was thus unfurnished. But thisbanal space dominates for the entire show, anonymous and undefined. The actors are uniformly solid, evenwhen their characters are not. Garcia adds a mysterious quality to Carla, while Chris Stack is a reasonably12/12/2015Theater: Playful Gertrude Stein, Confusing Kama Sutra | Evernote Web https://www.evernote.com/Home.action#n=d5761ae0-12ff-4d15-bb71-a17dc2e8c633&ses=4&sh=2&sds=5&4/5befuddled Reggie, just as lost when dealing with the controlling Carla as he is when trying to parent his defiant,unhappy daughter. Henderson has the best lines as Tony, a savvy negotiator who treats every interaction like abusiness deal.The kids are equally strong. Mendes must moan about her dad at every turn, but somehow keeps Bernie likable.Brawer is very appealing and has a nice wry way with his dialogue. And Pullen is utterly convincing in a JamesSpader-like way as the manipulative Cole.It's a credit to the skill of all the actors involved that the show maintained what little interest it did, even as Lynn'sstory went off into various meandering directions, capped by the useful if banal idea that treating sexual assaultas a shameful secret can take its toll. The Kama Sutra, needless to say, is never even glimpsed.THEATER OF 2014Beautiful: The Carole King Musical ***Rodney King *** Hard Times ** 1/2 Rosencrantz And Guildenstern Are Dead ** I Could Say More * The Loneliness Of The Long Distance Runner ** Machinal *** Outside Mullingar *** A Man's A Man * 1/2 The Tribute Artist ** 1/2 Transport ** Prince Igor at the Met ** The Bridges Of Madison County ** 1/2 Kung Fu (at Signature) ** Stage Kiss *** Satchmo At The Waldorf *** Antony and Cleopatra at the Public ** All The Way ** 1/2 The Open House (Will Eno at Signature) ** 1/2 Wozzeck (at Met w Deborah Voigt and Thomas Hampson and Simon O'Neill) Hand To God *** Tales From Red Vienna ** Appropriate (at Signature) * Rocky * 1/2 Aladdin *** Mothers And Sons ** Les Miserables *** 1/2 Breathing Time * 1/2 Cirque Du Soleil's Amaluna * 1/2 Heathers The Musical * 1/2 Red Velvet, at St. Ann's Warehouse *** Broadway By The Year 1940-1964 *** 1/2 A Second Chance ** Guys And Dolls *** 1/2 If/Then * 1/2 The Threepenny Opera * 1/2

Theater Playful Gertrude Stein Confusing Kama Sutra

📄 Theater Playful Gertrude Stein Confusing Kama Sutra

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