Tom Williams Taking some of the themes from Nathaniel Hawthorne’s novel, The Scarlet Letter, with dystopian themes presented with a series of disjointed scenes and muddled with six or seven atonal songs, Fucking A plays as a boring, slowly-paced depressing 2 hours.
This funny yet emotionally wrenching work vividly demonstrates the evil effects of isolation, alcohol, and denied passion on real people. First you’ll laugh at the foibles of the Hogan’s, then you’ll empathize with the pain for Joise and James. But ultimately, you’ll enjoy your journey with O’Neill’s real folks. Klein, Armacost and Pickering give the most electrifying performances you’ll see on stage. They were simply overpowering with truth
With giving away too much, let me say that The Sea is a cleverly written and expertly performed whimsical yet dark comedy that works on several levels. The quirkiness underscores the fear of the unknown, the fear of change, and the fear of those different from us that the villagers struggle with. Will Hatch or Mrs. Rafi win out? Will the classes ever work together and who is the real leader of the village?
The comic tone was played so over-the-top from the start with too much shouting and screaming that the production made me cover my ears often. The manic presentation was forced giving the production a hyper, almost cheesy tone. This killed some comic moments. Most entrances were ripe with characters screaming their way on stage; then the women softly mumbled and spoke so fast that I had trouble understanding them.
Fortunes change over the years Andrew is away and Ruth and Robert are left to run the farm after James dies. Robert is not suited to farming but since his marriage and the arrival of a daughter, he is obligated to try to mike it work. The stress is also fatal to the marriage as Ruth begins to hate Robert and she regrets marrying him.
In between long passages from John Milton’s Paradise Lost, the couple spent time partially nude fainting sex including oral by Veronica. This boring play is neither vividly sexual enough not (full nudity is avoided) nor filled with enough storyline to satisfy.
Tom is sexually naive and comes across to his mates as effeminate. He is a lonely boy estranged from his father, Herb Lee (Kevin Gladish). He eagerly loves his ‘tea & sympathy’ sessions with Laura Reynolds (Kate Tummelson), the wife of the house master. The culture of male bravado that dominates the New England prep school is manifest in Al (Nick Horst), Tom’s roommate. Al tries to protect Tom from hazing by the boys who call Tom “Grace” after he played a women in a school play.
This is a welcome engrossing work that vividly depicts the friendship (and possibly more) between T.E. Lawrence and Robert Graves as the two share common adjustment problems after the horrific experiences of both men in 1920. Robert from the trenches of France and Lawrence from his adventures in the Middle East as he led the Arabs against the Turks in World War I. Warriors have always found problems adjusting to ‘civilian life’ after the tribulations of war.
Jeffrey Hatcher gives us a glimpse into the Lunt & Fontanne’s world as we meet the couple at Ten Chimneys. There is Carl (Lance Baker), Alfred’s pool-playing brother; Louise (Janet Ulrich Brooks), Alfred’s sister and Ten Chimney housekeeper. And, of course, there is Alfred’s dominating mother, Hattie (Linda Kimbrough), who both admires and rules Alfred during his time at Ten Chimneys. Alfred built a house on the estate for Harrie. She hated and ridiculed Lynn, Alfred’s wife, at every occasion.
Somehow director Rachel Rockwell’s current production of Hair has lost something – maybe her take on the ’68-’69 protect musical was too campy – too much like parody because it never comes off as more than a group of ’60’s dressed folks playing hippies. I never believed that the group was real, that they were indeed flower children.