Day: February 28, 2020

Toot Productions’ Tweezer Burn at Du Nord Craft Spirits in SE Minneapolis Entertains While Leaving You With Questions to Fuel Discussion and Thought.

First of all the location Du Nord Craft Spirits was really interesting. If you haven’t been there and enjoy a fun cocktail or two I’d highly recommend checking it out. I don’t drink but I had a really tasty mocktail called the St. Paul No. 2, caffeinated and spicy, it was a delight. Secondly, this reminded me of the experimental opera I reviewed last week, though way more accessible. In the program they label the show non-traditional theatre, and that seems like an accurate description. It’s theatre but it is also art, not that theatre isn’t art in general, it is, but this is art as in creating something with your hands and materials art. The show itself is hard to explain and the more I try to explain it, perhaps the less enjoyable it would be. A lot of the pleasure I got from it was not knowing what to expect or what would happen next. I would encourage anyone who is interested in art, particularly non-traditional art, as well as non traditional theatre, to check this out.

Let me set the stage a little without giving too much away. When we arrived for the show we were given tools (see photo above), programs, and latex gloves, it was very important that you get the right size gloves, don’t lose them they are very important later. Once the show starts the three performers who created the show with the Director Eric Larson come and ask for the tools that were distributed beforehand one by one. They then very assertively describe the tools and what they are used for. And… I have to just stop there, to describe it is to rob it of its wonder. The first act is fun, but there is also an informative side in the form of audio sampled from YouTube videos about art conservation and restoration. It’s this information combined with what transpires in the second act that raises some thought provoking question and discussion points. Don’t go to this show alone, you are going to want someone to discuss this show with afterward.

So what questions does it raise, what topics does it encourage discussion of? Well to my mind there isn’t a definitive answer to that. The creators may have a concept they want you to go away thinking about, but it isn’t explicit and I don’t think it really matters, I think what is important is that it gets you thinking and discussing and exploring ideas. For my wife and I, it raised questions about whether conservation should happen or if we should consider art work to age and change, just as it’s creators do as they age. The tools we use to create and restore, do they restore things or do they change them in different ways? We see in our society this desire to hold back time to maintain things as they are even going so far as to alter ourselves with surgeries to try and stay as we were. But all you have to do is look at Jennifer Jason Leigh’s face to see that when we try and restore things to how they were, we actually alter them into something different, frequently not something better either. Maybe those thoughts were already swirling around in my head because of a character in a play I saw the night before and not what the creators intended. But, I don’t think that matters, I think the important thing is not what the answers are but what questions it raises, and the thought that goes into exploring those questions.

Tweezer Burn runs just two more shows Sat Feb 29th @ 8:00 PM and Sun March 1 at 2:00 PM. For tickets and more information go to https://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/4474865

The Old Log Theatre Opens it’s 80th Year With a Winner, The Dixie Swim Club

Photo Old Log Theatre

The old Log Theatre is the oldest professional theatre in Minnesota, staging it’s first show in 1940. 80 years later it is showing us why. 2020 saw it complete it’s dead brilliant run of A Gentleman’s Guide to Love and Murder which opened in October 2019. Now with The Dixie Swim Club they demonstrate once again that they know what their audiences want and how to give it to them. The Dixie Swim Club is a laugh out loud comedy that find humor in character, and what characters they are. A talented cast of five local actresses that give such strong and endearing performances by the time the play ends, you feel like you have spent the evening as part of this close circle of friends rather than just as an observer. Yes, this is another show you can safely take Grandma too, and you know what? That’s great!

The Dixie Swim Club written by the team of Jessie Jone, Nicolas Hope, and Jamie Wooten is not an incredibly original play. It draws comparisons to Steel Magnolias among others. It follows five women who became friends when they were on their college swim team together. The play shows us them on four of their yearly Girls Weekend at a cabin on the beach in August. The first Girls Weekend takes place 22 years after graduation and by the last weekend, 33 years have passed in all. The script does a wonderful job of giving us details about their personalities that we can follow through each time jump. Sheree played by Shana Eisenberg is the planner and health conscious one. Jen Maren plays Dinah, the career focused lawyer who hasn’t made time for a personal life. Sara Marsh is Lexie the self absorbed serial divorcee. Bonni Allen is Jeri who starts the play as a nun. And finally, Melinda Kordich plays Vernadette, bad luck follows her around like an annoying little sister that cannot be shaken off or ditched. They are all terrific, but Vernadette and particularly Kordich’s performance was my favorite. The first time we see her in each time period she has something wrong that we can see, a sling on her arm, crutches…. The story about the cause and what is happening in her life are some of the best comedic touches. But what was really impressive is the way she didn’t wallow in her bad luck. She has such an “oh well, what can you do?” attitude about some of the worst luck I’ve ever heard of that you can’t help but admire her character. She faces ridiculous adversity with self deprecating humor, it’s a much better choice than the sad sack route. It also leads to one of my favorite lines from the play when after telling them what has happened to her this year, one of the others says “your life is just one long country song isn’t it?” to which she replies, “and the hits just keep on coming.”

The Director Eric Morris, who also directed A Gentleman’s Guide to Love and Murder, does another fantastic job here. He has steered the performers towards distinct and authentic characterizations, allowing us to feel for them but also finding the humor. That balance can be tricky, and Morris shows he know how to walk that tightrope with confidence. There is an interesting choice in the changes between scenes. We have some of the performers helping to set the scene for the next time period but also  Assistant Stage Manager, Annie Miners coming through and helping make the adjustments. It’s different because she is in full view of the audience and seems to be doing a little performance. For example, the first switch she comes out while Madonna’s “Like a Virgin” is playing, and she is doing a little bit of a dance while she makes the changes. This actual reminded me of a similar technique in the Guthrie Theater’s production of Steel Magnolias last fall. It threw me at the Guthrie, but this time around I think Morris made it work. First of all there is a fair amount of little things that need to be changed, glasses and other props removed from the scene. You either have to darken the stage or drop a curtain for far too long, or you work it into the show. In this case I took it to be the caretaker who comes in after this yearly reunion putting everything right. The final set change brings an unexpected sense of loss to the play, changing the tone slightly so that when we jump ahead 23 years we sense there was a loss. Lastly I want to point out the scenic and lighting design of Erik Paulson. The set is perfectly realized, it is the livingroom of the cabin they rent every year, it’s sort of standard stuff, but well executed. The neat touch is in the distance outside the cabin we see the ocean and a night sky. The trees outside the window have the palms moving in the breeze. The sunset also changes beautifully, as does the sky itself when a storm is approaching.

Plays through May 29th at the Old Log Theatre for more information and to purchase tickets click on http://oldlog.com/ .