Salome
By Oscar Wilde
Directed by Laurence Bryan
As part of the 3rd annual Naked July:
Art Stripped Down
At the National Pastime Theater, Chicago
Nudity dominates Wilde’s Salome
As part of their Naked July: Art Stripped Down festival, the National Pastime Theater has mounted Oscar Wilde’s 1892 stage version of the Biblical story of Salome. You know you’re at the Naked July festival when you enter the theatre space and the only thing you see is a naked man changed to a post! He is Lokanaan or John the Baptist (Joshua Harris) and he is a prisoner of Herod (David Bettino).
In Wilde’s wordy, biblical sounding prose, Salome becomes a tedious interruption of the story of how Salome demands the head of Lokanaan in payment for her performing the dance of the seven veils. After much talky overacting by both Joshua Harris’ Loksnaan and David Bettino’s Harod that dragged on seemingly forever, we finally see Rebecca Wolfe perform the seductive Dance of the Seven Veils – which was a disappointment because Wolfe simply walk about the stage slowly removing her veils with only a few wiggles throw-in. The spark only happens when Salome gets nude. But by that time we are ready for someone’s head. The play gets bogged down with Salome repeatedly demanding Lokanaan’s head with Herod refusing until finally he caves in and the head does roll. The play whimpers to the end. What hurts this work was the amazingly inarticulate cast that mumbled and slurred their way toward butchering Wilde’s poetic language. I could hardly understand what was being said. The extreme overacting by the principal characters destroyed whatever was at stake here. Better leave difficult shows like Salome to more classical trained actors. Nude scenes can be found in many lesser works. The Dance of the Seven Veils wasn’t artistic nor sensual and it sure needs a choreographer.
Not Recommended
Tom Williams
Talk Theatre in Chicago podcast
Date Reviewed: July 1, 2011
At the National Pastime Theater, 4139 N. Broadway, Chicago, IL, tickets $20, Salome runs 70 minutes without intermission, through August 6, 2011
This review was of the opening night show on Friday. That was a pretty terrible show and this review was about what I expected. I actually am a classically trained actor, maybe that makes my performance all the worse. So be it, I don’t mind being called out, but this show is not too tough for me, or anyone else in the cast. Within the first 20 minutes of the show, cell phones were going off, props were being dropped, etc. As a result, what happened was that the early beats weren’t being hit. With a show this short, a lot of times when you don’t really land those early moments you get caught indicating the later ones, because the foundation isn’t there. That’s what happened Friday: indication station. My teacher would have certainly had some words for me had she seen it. Perhaps the best classical stuff can be seen at the Shakes, but keep in mind those guys get a month and a half to rehearse. In the storefront scene, you’re lucky to get three weeks. In this show, we certainly had no more than 6 rehearsals together as a complete cast. What this guy says is correct, but is simply indicative of a bad show as opposed to a bad production. Reviewers usually see bad shows because they go to Openings. I have yet to invite anyone to an opening. They are always bad, there are no exceptions.
i do appreciate your honesty.
Tom