Four
of A Kind: A Full House July
2007 Since
beginning of June, the IRC's been tackling four short works in preparation for
the Philadelphia Fringe Festival in September. Four of a Kind: One Pinter,
One Ionesco, A Beckett and a Durang, is 60 minutes of little-known works by
the authors of the show's title. Before then, literally next week, July 11- 15,
we'll be taking the Ionesco entry from the Fringe show, Foursome, to the
Spark Festival at the Painted Bride Arts Center. Four
Of A Kind: One Pinter, One Ionesco, a Beckett and A Durang consists of the
rarely-performed Ionesco gem, Foursome; a 121 word "dramaticule"
(Samuel Beckett's description) Come & Go; an early Harold Pinter sketch,
Trouble in the Works; and the Christopher Durang parody of Tennessee Williams'
Glass Menagerie, For Whom the Southern Belle Tolls. Each of these pieces
has similarities, and the four together I think illustrate the influences each
of these authors had on each other. I'm hoping audience members will enjoy the
stylistic throughline of these shows. For the actors, and as a director, the challenge
is embracing the form of each, which is slightly different in all four: all are
very demanding on the actors. Precision with the language and body movement, fullness
and specificity of depth of emotion are all mandatory for a good rendition of
all of these plays. What's
also exciting for the IRC is the number of new actors we're working with: 11 in
all for the four plays. The challenge is in the process: adapting my directing
language (which is largely visual, consisting of charts and grids for movement)
into a common language the actors can understand regardless of what training they
come in with; each brings to the material their own lexicon of words and ideas,
both linguistically and kinesthetically, which serves as their blueprint for taking
the words from the page to their bodies and minds. What's ironic and hilarious
is that rehearsal process is often a textbook illustration of the very thing Ionesco
is writing -- that language can be woefully inadequate when trying to communicate,
prompting misunderstanding, leading to high emotion, resulting in a spiraling,
whirling metaphysical mass of confusion. The catch is that Ionesco's plays, on
the page, may seem deceptively simple. Ionesco's
material is not performed often for many reasons, two mains ones being the audience
is smaller for this form than more mainstream material, which means revenue possibilities
are slimmer; and performing the material is very demanding. Performing Ionesco's
plays require the actors be up to the emotional, physical and vocal demands otherwise
the play falls flat and is excruciatingly not funny, resulting in a heady wordplay
that becomes very tedious very early on. If the material is performed with precision
in all the above areas, the nonsense of the text takes on an emotional and metaphysical
life that makes sense to the audience. Ionesco's material when not performed at
this level can be disaster.
I cancelled a vacation I had planned for my son and I when I found out that Madi
DiStefano and her company Brat Productions were planning Ionesco's 24-hour Bald
Soprano for June 29 and 30. Martin
Short's Ed Grimley character from the SCTV sketch "The Boy Who Couldn't Get
to Sleep" would best describe my anticipatory Ionesco excitement. Seeing
the show was better than any vacation. Like
many people, I saw the show 8 times throughout the 24 hours: at opening, to get
a sense of the production; 12 hours later (6 am - 9 am); later that afternoon,
for what I figured might be the hardest stretch (3 - 5 pm), and then again at
closing. I have never laughed so hard or been so impressed at the actor's ability
to still be enormously creative and disciplined nearly 24 hours later. The production
was performed and directed brilliantly -- the ensemble's creativity and impulses
were firing at the highest levels even in the 23rd hour. I'm sure I will look
back on this production as one of the highlights, not only of the year, but also
of my life. I saw a production of Ionesco's The Chairs in New York in the
1990's, which was the impetus for choosing this material as the IRC's mission;
seeing the 24-hour Bald Soprano was equally exhilarating and reminded me
once again why. I hope you didn't miss it. It was a great example of why Philadelphia's
theater community is truly special. I
can't wait to get to rehearsal. I'm dancing Ed Grimley's famous dance already.
Tina
Brock
Artistic Director info@idiopathicridiculopathyconsortium.com |
