Reviews

The intricacies of plot and character are manifold, as one would expect from a play of this era, and moreover of Shaw. His wit is clever as ever, and his eye is particularly keenly pointed towards British society. He dissects what money is to those who don’t have it, what it’s not to those who do, and what sorts of things people would have to go through to get it, or keep it.

Leave it to the creatives at the American Blues Theater to come up with a fresh, raw dark comedy – Rantoul and Die by Mark Roberts – now in its Regional Premiere at the upstairs space at Victory Gardens Biograph Theater. Written by a TV sitcom writer/producer, Mark Roberts (“Mike & Molly”), Rantoul and Die is far from a tame TV sitcom- rather it is a raw, foul-mouthed edgy dark comedy about four skankiets yet heartbreakingly real characters.

The use of two pianos utilized the orchestrations created by the original producers but locked away for 50 years was made available to Porchlight Music theatre by R & H Productions ( owners of the Rodgers & Hammerstein rights) after they found the orchestrations a few years ago. So, this production contains “world premiere” orchestrations that Eugene Dizon and Allison Hendrix played marvelously.

The 16 brave performers blend an original electronic score (composed by Jean-Phi Goncalves) with 10 different urban dance and circus arts. The skilled talents (from seven countries) showcase thrilling skills such as juggling, contortion, in-line skating, stilts, Cyr Wheel, hand balancing, straps, bike trial, Chinese pole and various aerial silks that move swiftly toward the spectacular finale on the dynamic trampowall

It is a piece that influenced the Expressionists, seventy-some years later; and this detail is not lost on the Hypocrites, who have made Woyzeck a piece of Epic Theatre, of Theatre of the Absurd, Theatre of Cruelty.