Monday, March 12, 2007

Theater Review: Lucrece and Jordan

By Shawn Parikh

I got a chance to catch a couple of more shows at the Out of the Loop Festival on Saturday before it ended, and encountered two impressive pieces: Lucrece and Jordan. Both were heavy, serious shows that focused on a central female character; they also were the inaugural productions for two new theater companies. They were both bold, confrontational, challenging, and brilliantly put together.

Lucrece was produced by the new theater company, VOX, in cooperation with Shakespeare Dallas, and was their take on Shakespeare’s lengthy (but provocative) poem, “The Rape of Lucrece.” Their mission is to concentrate on the voice as the medium for the audience to comprehend, feel, and indulge in the play -- and wow, they surely succeeded.

From the moment the show started and the audience heard the actors’ props eerily scraping against the floor, the actors’ technique of using their voices was chilling, in a good way of course. Whispers, repetition, singing, and clear articulation gave the play its haunting quality. The sound for the show was entirely created by the ensemble, which gave the play an extra edge. The lighting for the show was kept mostly shadowy and dim to augment the provocative mood. However, the beginning of the show did utilize the blackout too much, where I missed some lines because I too busy trying to make out figures in the dark.

But the acting and performances were dead on. Four actors (Valerie Hauss-Smith, Emily Scott Banks, Mary Fournier, and Keith Kubal) played a kind of a Greek chorus that explained and complemented the overall plot. Since they were grouped together, they incredibly magnified the emotions that they felt towards the rape, and helped surround the audience with their voices. They would stand all around the intimate space, just one foot from the audience, and their reading of the lines became so powerful. As the central characters, David Goodwin and Tasia Muñoz gave very compelling performances. You definitely felt the pain and pity for Muñoz’s Lucrece, but also the hatred and torment of Goodwin’s Tarquin. The ensemble told me after the show that no individual was responsible for directing, but that they all came together as actors to make this intense show.

After that heavy, in-your-face show, I saw another one later that night, Jordan, put on by Inevitable Theatre Company, in the same intimate space. The only thing I knew about the piece was that it was a one-woman show, which previously I had never had the opportunity to experience.

The power that the actress (Sherry Ward) had in making the audience feel for her was so overwhelming that just her stating two words would give me goosebumps. If you ever watched that movie, Monster, your probably remember how you sympathized with Charlize Theron’s character even though she was a serial killer. You endure that same conflict when you see Sherry Ward portray this true story about Shirley Jones, who suffered post-partum depression and murdered her baby. Her accent, mannerisms, and subtle personality gave her an outstanding realistic quality. I can’t rave enough about her talent to compel during such a weighty show. The technical aspects of lighting and set were just there to support her acting. Slight light changes and where she placed herself on or next to the only piece of furniture (a humongous chair) were enough to create her entire world.

Since both theater companies chose these brave shows as their first productions and succeeded, they definitely are being noticed, and I for sure am looking forward to their next productions. Whereas Lucrece had a full house, Jordan had only a sixteen-person audience when I saw it, which was a shame for this amazing show. Fortunately, I was told that this would not be the last time they would be performing these pieces, since they only got the chance to perform a maximum of four times at the festival.

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