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OffOffOnline.com Review
On-Air Alien Invasion
by Iris Blasi
The War of the Worlds
reviewed June 8, 2005
You'd be hard pressed to find a piece of theater that ignited more mass hysteria than the now-infamous
1938 production of H.G. Wells's The War of the Worlds. Transforming the fictional story into a realistic-sounding radio
broadcast, director Orson Welles convinced listeners all over the country that aliens had invaded a small New
Jersey town called Grover's Mill, and the result was widespread panic.
The story's general premise is most likely something that most audience members will know when they walk
into the Kraine Theater for the performance of Dan Bianchi's take on the tale. But what he does with it—turning a radio
performance into a theater spectacle—is the element of surprise. This version of The War of the Worlds may not
provoke mass hysteria, but it will, in turns, both spook and move you.
The story of the alien invasion and the ensuing days of death and destruction is told in flashbacks by
a narrator (Collin Biddle) who spends most of the play standing stock-still center stage in front of a microphone, with a
single light suspended above his head. Biddle is convincingly in the moment as he moves from initial reports of a meteor striking
close to his home to accounts of horrific violence after it's learned that it was not a meteor but a spaceship that had landed.
At the first news of bloodshed, he sends his wife to what he believes will be safety in a nearby town. But then his house—along
with its accompanying white picket fence and all that fence signifies—is destroyed by the aliens, and he sets off to
find his wife.
His personal journey is interspersed with radio news reports (given by real-life radio personality John
Nolan, whose rich voice and practiced reading make the reports sound completely authentic) and flashbacks of his encounters
with other people as the strange events unfold.
This is decidedly science-fiction fare—a tale of invading aliens, with their death rays and octopus-like
tentacles, that seek out and mercilessly kill innocent citizens as the threat spreads from one small town to the entire world.
In our post-9/11 world, however, it is a short leap to substitute terrorists for these nameless, faceless aliens.
The political commentary is there, though it's not overwhelming. For example, at first the narrator scoffs
at the government's proclamation that the aliens are certainly from Mars, despite a lack of conclusive evidence. ("Mars—yes,
Mars," he hisses. "That's the best the big brains could come up with.") But he later recommends, "Give them a name and a place,"
acknowledging that it matters little to most citizens if those labels are right.
But the story is not just one of death and destruction, a losing battle against an unknown and threatening
force. Even in the face of violence and paralyzing fear, there lies a measure of hope. "What's your plan?" the narrator asks
a solider he has met. "I'm going on living," his fellow survivor replies simply, as if there were no other choice.
One person's experience is the frame for the piece, but the production elements and supporting performances
that fill out that frame are essential to the successful creation of this frightening and apocalyptic world. The set is empty
and nearly dark save for a few fluorescent light bulbs. The stark stage and semi-darkness heighten the audience's focus on
the voices (provided by a mere seven actors, who portray a whole army of characters) they are hearing. To manufacture a truly
eerie atmosphere, the production needs nothing more than its fabulous soundtrack (of screams, alien sound effects, and Gary
Anderson's haunting music) and some smoke from a fog machine.
The War of the Worlds has been making headlines lately, as it hasn't since that fateful 1938 production,
thanks to the upcoming Stephen Spielberg-directed Hollywood blockbuster starring Tom Cruise. That movie
is worlds away from the small Kraine Theater, but Bianchi and his peers show that the story is immensely powerful even on
a smaller scale and without all those Hollywood bucks to back it.
Each of the five loosely connected scenes
in "The Dick Dialogues" (at Collective Unconscious through February 14) is preceded by a number from Pretty Flowers, a rock
trio featuring writer-director Russ Josephs. Their lower-than-lo-fi garage-band sound is instantly rousing every time, and
the songs themselves (with titles like "All Men Have Dicks / Not All Men Are Dicks") are witty, original, to-the-point, and
way too short. ... True to the evening's title, each scene is a dialogue, always between two men on the theme of sexuality.
... The tone is lightened by a few fun staging tricks, clever video projections by Elle Burchill in place of scenery, and
especially the entertaining and insightful fun of Pretty Flowers' too-brief numbers. ... The author has chosen
a rich subject, and has recruited some talented actors (particularly Collin Biddle, who brings human dimensions to a straw-man
role and whacks a series of golf balls over the audience without injuring anyone).
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NY Theatre.com Review of The Rivals
Excerpts from:
nytheatre.com review: The Rivals
by Martin Denton · April 6, 2003
My job offers few pleasures so great as the discovery of a new play.
Sometimes circumstance (and the occasional gaping holes in my dramatic education) allow me to experience that pleasure with
a piece already familiar to millions; such is the case with Richard Brinsley Sheridan's The Rivals, which is being
given its belated Martin Denton premiere right now by Titans Theatre Company. One might quibble about this or that detail of the production, but
there's nothing but gratitude and praise to be heaped on these folks for their selection of material. For The Rivals,
which was last done in New York, as far as I can tell, for one week three years ago by The Acting Company, is a wonderful,
very funny, pretty much near-perfect play.
I'm tempted, in fact, to call it the funniest and best-made comedy
between Shakespeare and Wilde (surely someone else has already said something just like that); it certainly presages The
Importance of Being Earnest in terms of attitude, plotting, and sheer, elegant wit. ...
It's all told in language that positively glitters with witty brilliance,
in a very accessible adaptation [e-mail me to inquire about this adaptation] that boils down
five long acts to two hours and a quarter including an intermission. Sheridan's characters are beautifully etched and thoroughly
memorable, and one has indeed become legendary, Mrs. Malaprop's very name having slipped into the language for her habit of
using words incorrectly, as in "she's as headstrong as an allegory on the banks of the Nile" or "he can tell you the perpendiculars."
(I was surprised and delighted to discover just how frequently, and how hilariously, Mrs. Malaprop misspeaks—virtually
every one of her lines contains a classic malapropism.)
Director Heather Ondersma has staged the piece with energy and sparkle,
and ... just about everyone on stage had a handle on The Rivals' requisite high style. Particularly good are
April Armstrong as willful Lydia Languish (doing a splendid job with a delicious tirade about her misfortune at being wooed
by a rich man), Bruce Fuller as the gung-ho Lucius O'Trigger, and Collin Biddle as Acres' cowardly manservant David.
Fine work is also offered by Barry Ford and Christine Campbell as the two stodgy hypocritical elders, Sir Anthony Absolute
and Mrs. Malaprop.
Titans Theatre Company is a fairly new addition to the off-off-Broadway scene, and on the basis
of this first production reviewed, a welcome one. Certainly their choice of this classic comedy, too rarely given a look by
their contemporaries, is an excellent one. If you've never seen The Rivals, I suggest you take in this production right
away. Last update: 11 April, 2003
Issue date: 04.11.2003
No war, just laughs for these ‘Rivals
by Marissa Harris
Contributing Writer
Life can be tough when dealing with
New York's seemingly endless winter and the even more dreary war coverage filling our television screens. If you are longing
for some lighthearted, fabulous fluff, the Titans Theatre Company's whimsical farce "The Rivals" will free your mind of all
those woes for a few blessed hours.
This production of "The Rivals," written by Richard Brinsley Sheridan in 1775,
boasts new comedic insights and rewrites inspired by a recently unearthed prompt script from a popular production
of the 1880s. Over a century later, Titans' version of "The Rivals," directed by Heather Ondersma, superimposes the modern
on the old, creating fascinating blends of new and old theater artistry.
The audience sees the lines of demarcation,
but they are ignored in the good spirit of the play itself. The plot resembles any Shakespearean comedy: a web of mistaken
identities, scandalous servants, insults, stray letters, a few duels to the death and several weddings by the end. The show
is hilarious, fast-paced and provides pure entertainment, but superb design and captivating performances are the play's true
pillars of strength.
Generally, the cast shows a mastery of quick-paced, Marx Brothers-style slapstick, but also has
a tendency to border on the ridiculous at points of heightened action and plot.
"The Rivals" does not challenge you
to think, analyze or change the world. It is comedy in its purest, most concentrated form - free from politics, vicious satire
and the evils of mankind. •
"The Rivals" runs April 3 through April 27 at the Abingdon Theatre, 312 W. 36th
St. For reservations call 877.737.3285 or visit www.titanstheatre.org.
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Excerpt from review of The Wonder!: A Woman Keeps
a Secret.
DRAMA QUEENS
Theater companies rediscover classical works by women
By Paulanne Simmons
for The Brooklyn Papers
This must be the season of the woman - or the woman playwright.
Kings County Shakespeare Company and Flying Fig Theater are both presenting
obscure plays by female playwrights. Both feature young ladies determined to defy a father or a brother, avoid a convent,
and marry whom they please. Both take place in sunny and exotic cities (at least in the eyes of Englishmen). And both plays
feature rogues who are bested - but not bedded by - good and true women.
'Wonder' woman
"The Wonder!: A Woman Keeps a Secret," written by Susanna Centlivre in 1714,
is based on the premise that it is the odd woman who can take charge of her own life and manipulate men so that she gets her
own way. Indeed, this was probably true in the 18th century.
Today, in Western societies, it is more likely the odd woman who is dependent
on her husband or father and submissive to their wills. And so, plays like "The Wonder!" have become period pieces that are
only performed by ambitious, academic or feminist companies like Flying Fig Theater, which is currently presenting "The Wonder!"
at Fort Greene's South Oxford Space.
Director Michaela Goldhaber, a Fort Greene resident, has clearly done her
homework on Centlivre and the drama of her time. The production is replete with robust sword fights, bawdy flirtation and
ironic asides. Add to this Goldhaber's casting of a racially diverse group of actors and actresses, and the unique qualities
of this particular theater space - the beautifully restored, wood-paneled Great Room, with its recessed stage and large windows
that are perfect for hasty and clandestine exits and entrances - and the production is nothing if not visually arresting.
Although Centlivre seems to cherish the thought of women taking control of
their own destiny, the only way she figures they can do this is by finding a good man and getting him to marry her. The women
in "The Wonder!" don't use their considerable intelligence to run businesses or contribute to the arts and sciences, but rather
to outwit their fathers.
But what the heck. For us in the 21st century, "The Wonder!" is not so much
social commentary as light entertainment - which was probably exactly what it was meant to be in the first place. And it's
far better to concentrate on the obvious talent of many of the actors than to nitpick on the tentative liberties taken by
the playwright.
If "The Wonder!" disappoints as feminist propaganda, it certainly succeeds
as lively entertainment. Go see it - and take your daughters
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