Battlesong of Boudica (Fringe 22)

 Spoilers ahoy!

Another fierce and fascinating show from School of Night, this time reaching into first century Britain and the female warrior who hurt the Roman Empire as few others ever did.

Sometimes I pontificate about how theatre's great strength is in dance and ritual, masks and song, invoking the power of imagination.  Battlesong of Boudica does all of that and more.  Jen Albert plays the title character, whose degredation at the whim of a Roman official played by Kerry Kazmierowicztrimm sparks a mighty bloodbath, starting with a sacrifice to a terrifying Goddess of Battle, then making a pact to give her victory.  But one must always be careful of making pacts with the fickle gods...

The show, written and directed by Christopher Johnson, becomes all-engrossing, not least by the terrific stage combat scenes (honestly those make a huge difference) and the integration of music as well as dance into every aspect of the tale.  It is at times grisly, with graphic violence enacted and some of it thankfully offstage (including a sickening act of sexual assault).  The entire cast brought it all to a vivid, fascinating, horrible life include Payton Cella, Sara Gorsky, Colin A. Borden, Joseph Klink, Christopher Neiman, William Reilly, Tristan Rewald, Lucy Schmidt, Theran J. Sealy, Dan Wingard, and Tony Kim.  Also on stage is a drummer, Chloe Madriaga, whose contributions help transport us back almost two millennia to a Britain for all practical purposes before Christ or even King Arthur. 

In the end, it proved disorienting to re-enter the modern world, to turn one's cell phone on again, and see these things called cars in the street and light from ball of glass.  

Meanwhile, Boudica and her story will haunt me.  I know that.

 Battlesong of Boudica plays Friday June 24 @ 8:45pm, Saturday June 25 @ 4:45pm and 8:45pm, Sunday June 26 @ 4:15pm 2022 at the Hudson Theatre Guild 6539 Santa Monica Boulevard

Its In Our Bones (Fringe 22)

Spoilers ahoy!

One of my favorite shows in this year's Fringe, It's In Our Bones blends myth and family, heart-ache and mystery to final crescendo of strange but powerful truths.

The play itself, written and directed by Nicholas Bruda, blends dreamlike myths and gritty emotional realism in its tale of two sisters who independently go to the family cabin in the woods to try and deal with...life. Gabriella Gonzalez Biziou  is there first, composing what she hopes will be the perfect suicide note.  That might seem darkly funny, but believe me, is not.  Nor is it supposed to be.  Rather it feels daunting.  When Verity Van Dams Valdez then shows up, unaware her half sister was there or even alive, emotional battles surge forward like a series of tides, pushing the two into...what?  The rocks?  Into some kind of storm?  Working together?  All that and none of it?  Then of course there are the wolves, the owls, and the winds.  

Chase Anondson then arrives, who says he knew the sisters' late brother.  He also says that brother told him The Secret.  About this family.  Which they alternately deny, accept, refuse to discuss, then confront, followed by new admissions.

It makes for an emotional tempest of subtext on top of more subtext, gyring into a conclusion I adored.

To be fair, I feel the ending did not quite 'land' but that seems to lie in the fact the play feels too short.  Mr. Bruda told me twenty minutes were cut to fit into 55 minutes, and I for one want desperately to see this cast perform it unabridged.  

It's In Our Bones plays Saturday June 24 at 8pm at the Stephanie Fleury Studio 5636 Melrose Avenue.

Ben & George (Fringe 22)

 Spoilers ahoy! 

I am a big fan of dark comedy, and Ben & George certainly counts as darker than most. Imagine if you will two men who meet under some really rough circumstances.  They become, almost against all odds, become friends and eventual roommates.  So far, so normal.  But...there are the winged creatures stealing people.  And the dog that may  (or may not) talk.  Then, there's the semi-psychopathic rage.

Lorne Stephenson Jr. and Jared Gaxiola play the title characters, with Rafael Buenaventura playing the rest of the cast (including the dog).  All three show a lot of talent and skill, with lots of layers and details woven into their performances.  Love the twists and turns which emerge in a wonderfully disturbing picture.

I must admit the show itself doesn't so much end as stop.  Been trying to figure out why, and methinks the answer is a subtle nuance of timing and/or energy.  Still worked.

Ben & George plays Saturday June 25 at 1:30pm at the Stephanie Fleury Studio, 5636 Melrose Avenue.

4 Seasons Total Sh!tshow! (Fringe22)

 Spoilers ahoy!

Anybody remember when Rudy Guiliani held a press conference at the "Four Seasons" in Philadelphia to "prove" election fraud?  Only no one had hired out the actual Four Seasons so they held it at a landscaping company?  This was right after the 2020 election.

The 4 Seasons Total Sh!tshow is a wonderful script with some very fine actors, focusing on one of very many absurd events vis-a-vis the 2020 election.

I emphasize the script is funny.  I want also to emphasize the cast are clearly very talented.

But it is seriously under-rehearsed.  I asked one of the producers about this and learned several cast members were felled (temporarily) by Covid just before opening.  Oh.  My.  God.  That is a horror story.  But it has had an impact on the timing and flow of this otherwise delightful farce.  

The 4 Seasons Total Sh!tshow plays Wednesday June 22 at 6pm and Saturday June 25 at 5pm, 2022, at the Stephanie Fleury Studio, 5636 Melrose Avenue.