- OTHER MEDIA
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- SF Bay Guardian November 10, 2010 (Rob Avila)
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- Dark Porch Theatre's latest (a reworked version of the piece it premiered
at the Garage in July) is a fractured meta-theatrical tale about death.
Not to put too fine a point on it, writer-director Martin Schwartz approaches
the subject with what you might call deliberate absurdity, basking in whimsical
inspiration with serious intent. Roxelana (a compellingly earnest Molly
Benson) pursues an affair with the confident but completely in-over-his-head
KC (Brandon Wiley), the handsome young employee of her husband (Scott Ragle),
who goes tellingly by the moniker Baby Death God. Her three vaguely psychotic
neighbors, meanwhile, known as The Intrepid Gentlemen (the amusingly anarchic
trio of Natalie Koski-Karell, Bernard Norris, Matthew Von MeeZee), invite
her to the wake for their dead dog, over whom they are unnaturally bereft.
Between scenes an interviewer (Rachel Maize) queries members of the cast
on a variety of subjects, including attitudes toward human sacrifice. (The
actors feign indignation at the idea.) It all gradually comes to make some
kind of sense, but letting go the effort to make any sense of it helps
in the appreciation. Smoothing the way are likeable performances, not least
Nathan Tucker's wonderfully controlled hyperbole in the part of consummate
thespian Foreplay. Integral and pleasingly unexpected passages of movement
(choreographed by producer Margery Fairchild), as well as a permeating
spirit of morbid fancy, further contribute to an intentionally jagged work
that may be difficult to define but not hard to enjoy.
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