Beowolf" by The Shotgun Players w/Banana Bag & Bodice
1 rating since posting on Wednesday, May 21, 2008
Overall Rating  based on 1 rating |
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Beowolf. It is a very old story. Much I’m sure has been lost, has been changed. Look at Gilgamesh, the myths of the Greek gods and the Egyptian: complex and many-layered stories are boiled down, simplified; a novel becomes a poem. Make it memorable, rhythmic, give everyone an interesting name; reduce it to its essence, to those elements that are universal, resonant, clear. It worked. These stories are woven into the fabric of our daily lives; we re-enact them, learn from them, pull different things out at different times in our lives. We pass them on to each new generation of minds and hearts because they mean something to us. This production opens there, at the moment of transmission. I am transported into an English class, with a teacher who lacks enthusiasm for her thousandth foray into the same tale, with fellow students who go through the motions while their minds are elsewhere. At each twist of the story, each new character or idea, scenes and songs erupt behind them: imagination made flesh. What comes up are those simple, catchy themes (violence, sex, gore, ego, love) but How they come up, how they flow through the actors and into us, is intricate, human, confusing and funny. In the hero there is cruelty and emptiness, and in the villains light and purpose. Right and Wrong become blurry and frustrating, and we shift in our seats at unexpected beauty, compassion, or loathing that seems to contradict the straight, simple lines of the bare-bones, primitive story we are being told. The relationships are more convoluted than we thought, there are elements of other stories creeping in, the music is often deliberately dissonant. The audience is being given a choice: to accept the uncomfortable contradictions of reality and allow them to broaden the tale, or to simplify and sanitize it into an anemic bedtime story. This production visualizes the whole expanse of messy life hidden inside the clear-cut lines; the novel is brought back into the poem. I saw this production on opening night, and it showed a bit. Some of the music was rusty, some moments of choreography not quite tight, a little fumbling with props, but heart and soul and hard work were clearly engaged. This is a group of amazing musicians (especially Jessica Jelliffe’s voice) and actors (like Cameron Galloway falling effortlessly into the old tongue) filling the little theater and all of us with their passion and sharp humor. By the second night, there won’t be a single glitch to pull you back from the edge, and you’ll find yourself diving into the deepest parts of the story without fear, and leaving with a tune humming in your throat. - Si , posted 05/21/08 |
