On Beckett, Bill Irwin’s One Man Exploration at Guthrie Theater, Fascinating & Funny in Equal Parts

Bill Irwin in the Irish Repertory Theatre production of “On Beckett.” Photo by Craig Schwartz.

On Beckett conceived and performed by Tony Award-winning actor Bill Irwin is a one man touring production playing at the Guthrie of An Irish Repertory Theatre Production by Octopus Theatricals. I love how these little connections happen in life, just yesterday in the mail I received an imported blu-ray of The Saphead which was silent comedian Buster Keaton’s first starring role in a feature film as an actor. Now it isn’t one of Buster’s own films he was simply cast in an adaptation of a hit Broadway play. How is this a connection? Well, what doesn’t get a mention in the show was that Beckett has 13 film and TV directing credits. His first was a short film titled Film which starred Buster Keaton and was released in the US on January 8th 1966, Keaton died on February 1st 1966. It’s also hard not to see an influence in Bill Irwin’s clowning of the great silent comedians like Keaton and Chaplin. While slapstick in nature, Keaton’s humor always had a more philosophical edge as opposed to Chaplins sentimental and political shadings. Which is all just by way of reminding you, faithful readers, that I love silent comedians. Also, that if you share my love, you should be aware that this show had a delightful amount of physical clowning that scratches that itch nicely. But also to show that there is a link between Keatons work and Becketts and that Bill Irwin, is the perfect man to illustrate that connection.

Irwin’s show is a series of readings from Beckett’s work followed by his thoughts and observations on them. What’s interesting is that he reveals as much about the art and craft of acting in his observations as he does about Beckett and his work. Based on tonight’s performance the conclusion is that Beckett is not entirely knowable, the meaning is in the eye of the interpreter. Which is exactly what Irwin explores in his discussion of the pieces he performs and recollections of stagings he’s been a part of. The performances are funny and challenging in the best possible way. The writing is very very dense, strangely I have had little exposure to Beckett’s work. To my knowledge since I began blogging no one has produced one of his plays in town, or if they did it flew under my radar. I’ve read more about Beckett than I’ve read Beckett. It seems from the sample I got tonight, that he is a writer worth having a lifetime relationship with as one does with Shakespeare. A writer that you can find new meaning is with each performance and at different ages. I’m very glad to have had this primer on Beckett from Irwin, he has piqued my curiosity. In addition watching Irwin’s clowning routines was its own some kind of wonderful. What a wonderful evening though much to short at only 80 to 85 minutes, but as the old saying goes leave them wanting more. Well, I for one want more and intend to look for it in the work of Beckett and if I ever get a chance to see Bill Irwin clowning around again, I’ll be front row center, he is a truly gifted physical artist.

The show seems to be very simply presented a black stage and not a lot in the way of set pieces or costumes aside from a podium and a few pairs of baggy pants and some bowler hats. It’s a testament to the skill of everyone involved that it appears so simple because truth be told everything, especially the Lighting design by Michael Gottlieb, is very specific and much more complex than it appears.On Beckett runs through March 24th at the Guthrie Theater in downtown Minneapolis for more information and to purchase tickets go https://www.guthrietheater.org/shows-and-tickets/2023-2024-season/on-beckett/

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Bear Grease is the Word an Indigenous Peoples Parody Presented by New Native Theatre at the Gremlin Theatre in St. Paul

Bear Grease is a rough around the edges but very fun show that wears it’s Fringe Festival roots on it’s Pink Aunties jacket sleeve. Most Fringe shows, at least from my experience with the MN Fringe Festival run about 50 to 55 minutes, This show runs about 75. It opens with some comedic making of skit videos and then 4 classic songs from 50’s and 60’s performed in their original style, two by the Pink Ladies and two by the Tug Boats as if in concert. Which then brings us to the show proper which runs about 50 to 55 minutes. Does that opening detract from the show and feel like the padding it probably is? No, I loved it all, but then that’s my kind of music. If they had wanted to call the show Bear Grease and then just come out and done covers of early rock-n-roll songs for 75 minutes, I’d have been just fine with that. The lead singer of each group do great renditions of the songs and the rest of the cast have the background singer sounds and moves down perfectly. The team behind the creation of Bear Grease, Crystle Lightning and MC RedCloud would love for it to make it to Broadway. It’s a long way from being ready for that, but they have the bones of something that could be built up. As I said this began as a show for the Edmonton Fringe Festival and it has the budget and production design that matches that level, which is absolutely fine for presentation.

The story follows the basic, though extremely abbreviated, plot of the movie Grease, which is subtly different from the original Broadway musical version. The twist is that aside from having a cast that is made up entirely of indigenous performers, it has also been rewritten with that community in mind. As a white man I’m sure I didn’t get all of the jokes, but I think I got most of it if not from prior knowledge but from context. The show will obviously have a much higher understanding by those from the native cultures from which it draws it’s humor, but is very accessible to all. They also replace a lot of the 50’s and 60’s style music with Hip Hop, thankfully for many of the songs they have the words projected behind them on a screen, I personally don’t have the best hearing and fast paced Rapping can leave me unsure of all the lyrics. I enjoyed all of the music whether is was new lyrics to a classic Grease song, or the often humorous hip hop take on moments from the original. One of my favorite moments was when Tammy Rae as Rezzo sang Stand By Me, most of it in I think the language of the Cree. The cast is great, there is some really fun dancing and the vocals are very good. Particularly the vocal work of Melody McArthur as Sandy and Bryce Morin as Danny, they could sing me the top hits of early days of rock n roll all day.

The theater world is getting better about giving voice to communities other than white which has dominated for so long, but it still has a long way to go. We can all help with that, by attending shows like this and others put on by companies like New Native Theatre. We need to show that there is an audience, a curiosity, and a market for these stories. Diversity and different perspectives enrich life and help us connect to each other, and it doesn’t always revolve around deep and political ideas or message plays. Sometimes, and maybe more often it should be about what’s funny and joyful about the communities from which these stories come, like with Bear Grease. the show runs one more weekend through March 9th at the Gremlin Theatre in St. Paul for more information and to purchase tickets go to https://newnativetheatre.org/bear-grease-comes-to-minnesota/

FETAL, a Brilliant Play That Traffics in Empathy From Frank Theatre

Carolyn Pool, Kate Beahen, Julia Valen, and Elena Yazzie Photo by Tony Nelson

FETAL the play by Trista Baldwin that had its world premiere last fall was such a hit that Frank Theatre is remounting it a mere three months after it closed. I wasn’t able to catch the initial run, m’colleague over at Cherry and Spoon had it on her list of the best plays in 2023, with that and after going gaga over Frank Theatre’s production of Ironbound in January, I was very excited to learn they were remounting FETAL and there was no chance I’d let it slip by a second time. The show runs through March 10th, but already has some sold out performances coming up, don’t let your chance to see this powerful and important work pass you by. Baldwin’s play is set in a clinic in Texas that provides legal abortions to women two days a week. We meet three woman that represent different points on the spectrum of age, situation, and believe systems. While each woman’s story is unique, these characters are not meant to represent all woman, but they are intended to give us a look into the complexities of the issues surrounding a woman’s right to choose and to have power over her body and health. FETAL is what I call an issue play, it’s goal isn’t to simply entertain you, it has a message it wants to relay to you. It’s also the best kind of issue play, it doesn’t simply preach at you, it isn’t trying to win you over with arguments and facts to its point of view. It’s doing what great art does, creates empathy, and it’s doing it in the most effective way there is by reducing it’s beliefs not to an argument, but to a person. If Baldwin simply had her characters tell you that a woman should have the right to say what happens with her body, she would fail in her goal. What she does, and it’s why the play succeeds, she shares her characters stories. It is through the personal that we gain understanding of others not through facts and figures, Data can open our eyes, but stories open our hearts. The other character in the play works at the clinic, she’s not a Nurse or a Doctor but there to do patient intake and go over the state required information that’s intended to scare people out of having an abortion. That’s her job function, but she’s really there to receive their stories, and carry them once they leave so they don’t have too.

The characters have names in the program but they are never used in the play, instead the three woman are given numbers to protect their identities. This may be to mirror the actual procedures on clinics in Texas or it could be to remove one layer between the characters and the audience. Without names they are even easier to see as yourself or others in your life. What has been used at times to stifle individuality in other real and artistic endeavors, here is used to turn the individual into anyone, it’s an effective reversal that like everything in this play works to connect us to the characters. The women are played by Elana Yazzie, Julia Valen, and Carolyn Pool, the clinic employee is played by Kate Beahen. Sometimes after a show on the car ride home we play a game called who was your favorite, sometimes it’s more of the, who gave the best performance variation. Tonight two responses came to mind. Firstly, no one was better than anyone else, they were all perfect for the role they were playing. The favorite? Well, that is about who you identify with the most and that will vary from audience member to audience member. Secondly, not only couldn’t you say anyone was better than the others, but when everyone is this good, and the story is so much about supporting each other, the thought of judging them against each other felt very wrong. They all made each other better, there was a sense that while the characters were supporting each other, so were the performers. It felt honest, it was simply woman supporting women in every way, beautiful.

A script that creates empathy in a way that will make audiences, who are on board with the playwrights beliefs, think about what they have seen. Many people seem to think that the two sides of this argument are people who don’t want women to have abortions and people who want women to have abortions, but that isn’t it at all. The two sides are those who want to control what other people do and those who think everyone has the right to decide for themselves. So those who want to control others and those who want the right to exercise the free will that God gave us. With a script this good and a cast so so so perfect and brilliant, it would be easy to wrap up this review and feel like I’d done my hobby. But I would be forgetting to acknowledge the incredible work of several other key players in this production. Wendy Knox who is becoming one of my favorite local Directors is batting a thousand. The way she utilizes the wonderful lighting design of Tony Stoeri to highlight each character when it is their turn to share their story. The way she has the characters interacting, with themselves arguing their emotions with their reason through the surrogate of Beahen’s character. The set design by Rick Polenek which turns the Frank Theatre’s Studio (basically their rehearsal space) into a very realistic waiting room of a clinic. The sound design by Dan Dukich is perfectly balanced, it doesn’t ever drown out the performers but also never fully lets us forget, that outside the building, are protesters spewing the hateful rhetoric that Jesus wants them to shout at women who are already having a very difficult time. Last, but not least is Kathy Kohl whose costumes fit these characters perfectly and I’m certain were of great use to the performers in finding their characters. Clothes give the audience an idea of who the characters are but they also help the actors to find who they are as well.

FETAL runs through March 10th at the Frank Theatre Studio for more information and to purchase tickets go to https://franktheatre.org/events/fetal-trista-baldwin/

Hells Canyon a Horror Play With a Brain, Has World Premiere by Theater Mu at Jungle Theater in MPLS

Ryan Colbert, Becca Claire Hart, Kaitlyn Cheng, Gregory Yang Photo by Rich Ryan

Hells Canyon, the new play by Keiko Green uses the horror genre to explore race, generational trauma, and the complexity of gender and a woman’s body. The first two it deals with fairly head on, the last is more subtextual and requires the audience to think about the play, the characters, their race, and the ways in which woman have been sublimated and exploited historically. If that sounds a bit serious, reflect on the long tradition of works in genres such as Science Fiction, Horror, Westerns or any number of others, to tackle important issues through the use of entertainment and distance from their real world equivalents. Hells Canyon never loses sight that it is a Horror play, its thrilling, scary, and entertaining, all that is required from the genre. But, like the best examples of any genre it’s richer because it isn’t just about the genre trappings, getting the blood pumping and the goosebumps to break out, at its core are ideas which engage the mind as well as the emotions. This is an impressively mounted production and one that any horror fan should be sure to check out. My planned plus one for the show was my wife, when I was preparing before the show I realized it was in the horror genre, not something she really enjoys, so we erred on the side of caution and she hung back. I don’t think that was necessary, I think she could have handled it so if the themes of this sound interesting but you are not a horror person, I’d say take a chance. This is recommended for ages 16+ and I’m linking here to content Warning page from Theater Mu.

The story involves 5 friends with complex relational ties as they prepare to spend a weekend at a cabin in the woods. The cabin is near the location of the Snake River Massacre, where in 1887 seven white men murdered 34 Chinese miners for their gold, they were never prosecuted, this is a true event from history. The characters are Ariel played by Kaitlyn Cheng who is pregnant, her brother Tommy played by Gregory Yang, who is part of a band with Doug played by Ryan Colbert, Ben played by Matt Lytle, and Claire, who is also Ben’s wife played by Becca Hart. Ariel is a surrogate for Ben and Claire due to a heart condition Claire has and also used to date Doug. These are old friends who have some tensions floating around about band business and the pregnancy, when things start to happen that put a scare into the group, the underlying tensions and true feeling begin to bubble to the surface. Cheng and Colbert give the best performances as they seem grounded and natural. Hart is also very good, unfortunately her character is rather unlikeable and most likely to benefit from a mirror in which she could see her own behavior reflected back. A challenging acting bit to play the person who is trying to say the right things and seem caring but is only really concerned with herself. Lytle and Yang are OK, but there is an over the top bor vibe from their performances that keep them from feeling real, particularly in the first act of the play.

Green’s script is excellent even if a little overstuffed with ideas, there are a lot of different themes vying for attention, they all work but there is a sense it might have played a little stronger with a more focused approach. There is an epilogue which adds some shocking information and motivations for a character, but in the final analysis it feels unnecessary and robs the play of a more memorable ending. The direction from Katie Bradley excels in most elements of the production. In the tradition of the great film Director Howard Hawks Green’s use of overlapping dialogue is intended to add an element of realism to a genre work. From a performance standpoint it’s a tricky thing to do and Bradley hasn’t successfully gotten her actors to the point where they seem natural but all the key lines of dialogue are clearly conveyed. These are minimal issues and primarily only occur in that first act. Technically, Bradley handles the production with the skill of a veteran Director. This is a larger scale production with a lot of elements to bring together and she demonstrates how quickly and confidently she’s grown into the role, I’m excited to see what she Directs next, though I hope she hasn’t given up performing for good. It’s a beautifully designed set by Erik Paulson giving us a look at the entire cabin with doors and beams giving us an clear understanding of where walls are meant to be. The Projections by Peter Morrow and Ryan Stopera are effectively used to show us what is happening outside the windows of the cabin, they are used judiciously and create some truly eerie effects. Likewise the lighting design by Karin Olson and sound design by Katherine Horowitz help to make this an effective and at times genuinely scary experience.

Theater Mu’s production of Hells Canyon runs through March 17th at the Jungle Theater. For more information and to purchase tickets go to https://www.theatermu.org/hells-canyon

Silent Sky Soars to Dizzying Heights At Theatre in the Round In Minneapolis

Silent Sky by Lauren Gunderson concluded its opening night performance at Theatre in the Round Players (TRP) to a thunderous standing ovation that you could tell caught the actors by surprise. I imagine, when you are working on a play day after day, you are a little too close to it to know if it’s working as well as you hope. Well I can’t imagine a better production of Silent Sky then I saw tonight, at least in the ways that matter. It’s a small intimate story about one woman’s passion that also encompasses the infinite in terms of the universe and the human spirit. Like her Christmas at Pemberley trilogy, Gunderson exhibits here a gift for the emotional resonance, knowing humor and female empowerment that characterizes the work of Jane Austen. She is undoubtedly the modern playwright successor to that genius of English literature. The only thing that could lessen her work would be a cast who doesn’t rise to its quality, blessedly TRP has assembled a cast that bring humor and heartache in equal measures from reciting the phonebook if called upon. Lucky for us they are instead given Gunderson’s wonderful words and with those they soar to the heavens and beyond.

The story, set in the late 1800’s and early 20th Century tells the true story of Henrietta Leavitt, a pioneer of Astronomy whose contributions have had an immeasurable effect on science and our understanding of the universe. Leavitt left home after graduating college to work at the Harvard College Observatory where she learns that as a woman she is not allowed to operate the telescope. She is put to work instead with the other “computers” Williamina and Annie measuring and cataloging the brightness of stars from photographic glass plates. She is passionate about her work and lives for it forgoing visits home and staying late, sometimes overnight, working on ideas of her own. Henrietta is played Eva Gemlo who recently played Elizabeth Darcy in The Wickhams: Christmas at Pemberley, and there is much of that character and that of Jo March in Henrietta. Gemlo is marvelous at playing the smartest woman in the room, she is fire and passion, wit and intelligence with a gift for putting her boss Peter Shaw in his place. When an attraction begins to develop between the two, it happens so naturally that one is caught off guard at first but suddenly become excited by the budding romance. Peter is played by Ben Qualley who is a master at be being put in his place, thrown off balance and generally run circles around by his female employees. Annie and Williamina are played by Rachel Postle and Wini Froelich who seem so incredibly in sync and casual with each other I wouldn’t be surprised to learn that they are old friends in real life. These rules are crucial to widening the scope of the play beyond Henrietta’s ambition and the posible love story. They show that Henrietta isn’t the sole woman capable of being more than was allowed of a woman at that time. Through them we see other shades of how woman greatly contributed to the world without getting credit. They also provide a lot of the gentle humor that flows through the piece, Postle and Froelich give wonderful performances creating fully realized characters that it is a joy to spend two hours with. The cast also includes Clare Rolinger as Henrietta’s sister Margaret, through her we also get to see a woman who has chosen to stay at home, marry and raise a family, because that’s not just what most women did back then, but it’s also an acceptable choice for women to make today if they wish. But, we also learn at the end that she composed a symphony, so don’t judge a book by its cover.

The production is directed by Gretchen Weinrich, who obviously generates great performances from the cast finding just the right tone for every scene. There is a some extraneous set piece movements that felt unnecessarily busy, but they didn’t really detract from the production as a whole. Sadie Ward’s Set Design is simple but kind of magical with the cosmos painted on the floor and walls. The lighting design by Peter W. Mitchell continues the motif with star fields appearing all around at various points. I also really enjoyed the costumes by Colleen O’Dell, which isn’t something I ordinarily notice, but the period dress was really excellently realized, particularly the slacks worn by Annie in the last scene.

Silent Sky Runs through March 17th at Theatre in the Round Players in Minneapolis, for more information and to purchase tickets go to https://www.theatreintheround.org/home/season-placeholder/72nd-season/silent/

Alice in Wonderland, Chaotically Hilarious, Visually Spectacular at Children’s Theatre Company

Anja Arora as Alice Photo by Glen Stubbe Photography

Alice in Wonderland The classic story by Lewis Carroll is brought to life in this original Children’s Theatre Company (CTC) production. The adaptation is by Sharon Holland and it pulls not only from Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland but also from Carroll’s sequel Through the Looking Glass. The production is making it’s return after more than a decade featuring a wildly creative scenic and costume design by the late G.W. Mercier. I wasn’t a fan of CTC bringing back How the Grinch Stole Christmas for the second year in a row, I’m fine with companies bringing back their hits from time to time, and I acknowledge that the Guthrie does A Christmas Carol every year. This feels much more appropriate, there has been a nice long break. For children’s theater I think the old Disney model makes a lot of sense, before and during the early days of home video the company would re-release their animated films in theaters every 5 to 7 years, basically the cycle when a new group of children were at the appropriate ages to see them in the theater. This production is definitely one that should be brought back for each generation of young theatergoers to enjoy.

Enough praise cannot be given to this adaptation and the overall design and look of the production. The illusions and creative zaniness of the storytelling make this play like a live action episode of Animaniacs. Most of us over the age of 12 will know how certain tricks are done, but that doesn’t make them any less enjoyable. Those under 12 may just have their minds blown. It’s an tale of nonsense full of madness and reverse logic, the type of show one wonders who will enjoy it more, the kids or their parents? Too close to call. The cast is filled with brilliance, CTC company member Dean Holt is fantastic as among others The Mad Hatter and Humpty Dumpty. His tag team performance at the Tea Party with the always strong Nathan Keepers as the March Hare is a highlight of the show and the perfect snapshot of the tone of brilliantly constructed chaos that the show runs on. At the performance I attended the role of Alice was played by Anja Arora who alternates the role with Audrey Mojica. Arora is wonderful in the role and if she can hold her own in the sea an anarchy that is this production, you can bet she has a bright future ahead of her. Shout out to local favorites China Brickey, who really gets to let loose at the Queen of Hearts, whose favorite phrase is :Off With Her Head!!”. Also Taj Ruler whose knack for comedic line readings makes her the ideal actor to play the Cheshire Cat.

Alice in Wonderland is the type of show that can make lifelong theatergoers of young audiences and as such I highly encourage everyone with children between the ages of 6 and 14 to take them. I also highly recommend that those without kids go as well as it’s the kind of show that can make lifelong theatergoers out of adults as well. The show runs through March 31st at The Children’s Theatre Company in Minneapolis for more information and to purchase tickets go to https://childrenstheatre.org/whats-on/alice-in-wonderland/

Bosom Buddies a Paired Down Drag Show That Goes the Sweet Rather Than Sour Route

I don’t have a lot of experience with Drag shows, but the ones I have seen have trended to the risque and/or Diva end of the spectrum. For this performance Timothy Kelly, co-founder and Managing Director of Fringe favorites Melancholics Anonymous and local operatic soprano, Gillian Gauntt make their Drag debuts to promising results. I’m really shockingly uninformed on drag culture so apologies if I misunderstand or mistate anything, please feel free to correct me in the comments as I do endeavor to get these things right and learn. This show contains a bit of a narrative, albeit underwritten about two performers a Drag King and a Drag Queen who are accidently booked to perform at the same time. After a little sass they decide to take turns performing sets. Antagonistic at the outset, by the end they are becoming friends, though their duet “Bosom Buddies” show they still have a little sting in them. Rather than battle it out between songs throughout the evening they pretty much take turns doing a few songs with a little genial interaction at the changeovers. It’s just the two of them and Nick Love doing a fabulous job tickling the ivories, I’m not even sure there was anyone in the tech booth. This is not that supper polished 5 Drag Queens with 17 1/2 costume changes each, disco balls, and glitter & tinsel in dizzying amounts. Kelly has a costume change during intermission, and Gauntt loosens their tie, the lights just sort of stay on at an appropriate level. My feeling, this is a first stab to see if it’s worth developing, and I for one think it is.

Gauntt is dressed as a man with beard stubble applied with makeup. They dress as male but sings songs in the range of a female, what’s a soprano to do? Kelly dresses as female and sings like a female in a somewhat smokey voice that reminded me of Lauren Bacall. If the point is to attempt to plausibly perform as the gender that fits the costume and character name, Kelly triumphs. The wig, the voice, the vocal quality, and indeed the character. I suspect that singing is Gauntt’s specialty and that acting is not their first love. The performance is fine it’s just missing that little something that a born actor like Kelly can’t help but bring to any role. I didn’t allow myself to get to hung up on the rules of gender transformation if there are any, instead I sat back and enjoyed the two performers voices which are both exceptionally good. Their song choices frequently fit into the slight narrative of the show about half or two thirds of them I knew, which I appreciate. I hope they continue to develop these characters and flesh out the show, I’d definitely be in for the next incarnation. It’s a little, not rough, but not polished, but it’s also really kinda sweet where it ends up and there are a couple of really fun songs and some beautiful ones. I’m glad I stopped over to the Phoenix Theater to check it out. Tickets are on a sliding scale from $10 to $40 the show runs this weekend only for more information and to purchase tickets go to https://tix.gobo.show/events/event/kOTpBfuSZmpxTz4yVqcc