Lear Redux (review)

 

Spoilers ahoy! 

Years ago, I saw a production called Tempest Redux at this very theatre, from the same company and with several of the same cast members.  "Awesome" frankly remains the word by which I most recall that show.

So imagine my excitement at the thought of Lear Redux!  The thing I perhaps most expected, paradoxically, was to be surprised.  Boy was I ever startled, shocked, moved, and yes very definitely surprised on every level!  In the most powerful, moving way!

A few seconds after walking into the theatre, the set told me much.  A very large, comfortable bedroom, with lot of medicines and even an IV set up next to double bed.  Above a fireplace (!) was a full color portrait/poster with one word:  HAMLET.  So I knew this was the bedroom of an elderly Shakespearean actor, and I guessed he was suffering from some kind of dream and/or dementia, blending his memories and perceptions with (arguably) Shakespeare's greatest tragedy.

While I was mostly right, the rabbit hole writer director John Farmanesh-Bocca composed with this amazing cast went far deeper, far more transcendent than anything I suspected going in.  Yes, King Lear.  But also, yes also The Singing Detective, Alice Through the Looking Glass, and a solid sprinkling of the Bagadvagita.  At times it almost felt as if my brain exploded by the end of those ninety five minutes in front of that stage!

Jack Stehlin plays the elderly Actor as well as Lear.  To put it mildly there are parallels between the former and latter, not least having  three daughters with the same names--Goneril (Jade Sealey), Regan (Eve Danzeisen), and the late Cordelia (Emily Yetter).  That he now has a dog named Cordelia, played in puppet from by the same actor, hints at some of the drama yet to come.  The actor's ever loyal, enabling brother (Dennis Gersten) ends up doubling for Kent from the play, while his two nurses (Ahkei Togun, Andres Valez) do time as Edgar and Edmund respectively--although I'd argue the former also is The Fool. 

Now, to be sure this is not really Shakespeare's play.  Yet it comes close to being the best version of King Lear I've ever seen (a brutally difficult script to perform) anyway!  The re-imagining of it all through the guilt and hallucinations of this deteriorating great actor strikes a chord of increasingly profound insight, which is increasingly also distorted!  Eventually, amid the storm, things take a wild Left Turn, exploring the inner dreamscape of the Actor, but also beyond.  In an echo of Gloucester's blinding, a new blind character emerges speaking of what quantum physics can teach us about Time and about ourselves.  Here is a prophet of sorts, a guide into the mystical underpinnings of what we see as reality, as the world, as all things that are and yet are not.  My favorite line in the play emerges from this, as Lear says with growing astonishment "...I am the storm...I am my daughters..." which of course is true on several levels.

I was reminded a bit of Captain Ahab in Moby Dick, who proclaimed "Hark ye yet again—the little lower layer. All visible objects, man, are but as pasteboard masks."  Yet whereas Ahab feels rage at this, longing to strike back at whatever lies beyond, the Actor wearing the identity of Lear steps through it.  He sees, he understands, he weeps and laughs, he grows a hard-won wisdom bitter and sweet beyond human words.  He does not want to go back, and who can blame him?  

Yet the play ends with more than tragedy.  Horrible things happen.  Pain and loss and terror in full measure.  Beyond, however, beyond "this mortal coil" lies more of what the Actor glimpsed on his Shakespearean dream quest.  

The conclusion of the play, enacted by such a very fine ensemble portraying such multi-layered groups of characters, lifted us all outside ourselves for a few moments.  I felt the ground shift underneath my heart.  And when I looked again at the poster, reading the description of "A Quantum Fantasia" I totally got it.

Lear Redux plays Fridays and Saturdays at 8pm, Sundays at 2pm (with Wednesday night shows including post show discussions at 8pm on June 11 and 25) until July 13, 2025 at the Odyssey Theatre, 2055 Sepulveda Blvd. Los Angeles CA 90025.

Tempest Redux (review)

Spoilers ahoy!

Tempest Redux is a re-imagining of one of Shakespeare's last plays (many believe Prospero is a stand-in for the Bard himself). For the most part, this re-imagining consists of a careful edit, streamlining the show with considerable skill.  At least that takes up the most time in terms of changes.

But so much more awaits those who see this production.

Allow me to admit (as before) that as an audience member I'm very stingy when it comes to standing ovations.  Many the time, after a very good performance, my applause has been sincere and long, yet my seat remained occupied while others rose.  Just quality alone does not deserve a standing ovation.  My standard for such is when I feel genuinely changed by a performance, when my world is rocked in a way and on so many levels the world itself seems a different place.  Easily can I name really fantastic, wonderful, even trascendent works of theatre for which I did not rise.  Yeah, I'm tough that way.

Photo by Enci Box

For Tempest Redux, I could not help but rise to my feet.  In awe and gratitude, at the same time needing some time to recover from the power of this show.

I'll get to final revelation that felt like a slice into my soul in a little bit, but first -- the production overall.  Shakespeare's plays have the fantastic power of allowing all kinds of styles and methods to tell their tale.  This one, arising from the Odyssey Theatre Ensemble and the New American Theatre, startles in many ways.  One is its physicality, including having no less than three actors (Shea Donovan, Briana Price, Emily Yetter) simultaneously portray Ariel, lipsyncing recorded words in a kind of dance with sound and movement and even lights.  Likewise two actor together (Dash Pepin, William Long) were together Caliban, often entwined, sometimes hand-in-hand, or moving in complete unison.  The effect proved dazzling, even magical, and appropriate for the non-human characters.

Photo by Jeannine Wisnosky Stehlin

Kudos to the entire cast, actually, up to and including Mimi Davila as a feisty, kind, obedient and unafraid Miranda (just think about trying to convey all of those qualities at the same time).  Charles Hunter Paul likewise proved a refreshingly believable young prince, one capable of seeing in this strange girl all his heart might desire. Arguably these are the two most difficult roles in the play (much like Hero and Claudio in Much Ado About Nothing).  Dennis Gersten likewise did wonders as Antonio, faithless brother to Prospero, as well as the cook Trinculo.  Gildart Jackson shone in his double role as well--a grieving and sincere King Alonso, and as the delightfully supercillious Stephano, drunken butler to His Majesty (and would-be God King to the simple-minded Caliban).

But the star of any Tempest needs must be Prospero (Jack Stehlin), the aging father, exiled Duke, and powerful sorcerer.  Here lies the most startling and vivid performance of all, which frankly took some doing!  But then, this is the part to do it with.  We halfway expect to see Prospero as a version of Gandalf from Lord of the Rings or maybe Dumbledore from Harry Potter.  No.  Here we meet a dying old man, one distracted by his musings and full of sorrows, but also capable of the most tender emotions imaginable.  Indeed, at times he seems overwhelmed by his own heart, while increasingly surprised by events.

Photo by Enci Box

And here we get to the gut-wrenching spoiler.  Outline the next paragraph is you want to learn it.  You might prefer to wait and see the show.

Nothing we see is real, or very nearly nothing.  Prospero's loneliness and tragedy have driven him mad, until at last waking dreams of a sublimely happy ending take form.  I myself suspect Ariel is real, and has faithfully created these illusions for her Master all these years, and as he sets her free at last, harsh reality closes in.  Prospero is wise, and good.  We long for that happy ending this man deserves so very very much -- and in the end he has nothing but his wandering wits, and a tiny skeleton of the daughter who of course did not survive.  "Now all our revels are ended..."

I had the great good fortune to speak with the director/adaptor of this play, John Famanesh-Bocca, and can only say I will eagerly attend any show of his in the future.  Just as I felt honored to meet the cast and tell them individually this was indeed the best version of The Tempest I have ever seen.

Tempest Redux plays at the Odyssey Theatre at 2055 South Sepulveda Boulevard Los Angeles, CA. 90025 until April 10, 2016 Fridays and Saturdays at 8pm, Sundays at 2pm. NOTE: THIS SHOW HAD BEEN EXTENDED.