~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Messenger #1

by Mark Jackson

Art Street Theatre
Review in Backstage West by Kerry Reid
Home / Now Playing & Coming Soon / Back to Media List / To email us

MESSENGER #1 -- S.F. (Through Apr. 8)

Reviewed by Kerry Reid

Mark Jackson's Art Street Theatre has long been on the
list of small Bay Area companies that I've wanted to catch
up with, and after taking in Jackson's witty, pointed, and
well-staged version of Aeschylus' The Oresteia this past
weekend, I regret not having done so sooner.

The conceit in Jackson's Messenger #1 is to retell the story of the decrepit House of

Atreus from the point of view of the victimized slaves and messengers who do the

dirty work, and pay the ultimate price, while the spoiled monarchs and their spawn

play out their petty, vengeful agendas. And though this point is hammered home

perhaps once or twice too often, and too early, Jackson's script is a largely

satisfying enterprise. Veering from word-drunk paeans of justice to sharp one-liners

Jackson knows how to weave the poignant and the scatological, the contemporar

and the classical, together in an accessible and entertaining way that adds to the

power of the original tales in a sometimes startling manner.

 

The royals are all double-cast, which allows for a witty and intelligent exploration of

the inevitability of their decadent demises. Gillian Chadsey is a mutely touching

Iphigenia in the opening sequence, and a hilariously potty-mouthed Electra. Kevin

Clarke, as Agamemnon, is swaggering and fey-like a blend of David Bowie and Jack

Nicholson. (Elizabeth Spreen's lustrous gold costumes for the royals, and her

identical Newsies ensembles of knickers, caps, and suspenders for the three

messengers, are eye-catching and adroit.) Michelle Talgarow is a mercurial and

compelling Clytemnestra, and plays all the Furies at once with over-the-top panache.

 

Among the messengers, Beth Wilmurt brings a clear-eyed simplicity to Messenger

#3. Having spent the 10 years of the Trojan War disguised as a boy while her lover

(Karl Ramsey) was at the battlefront, Wilmurt's messenger has learned the truth

about the injustice of both gods and men, yet is still aching for the innocent long-ago

love she enjoyed with her boyfriend. Ramsey is a bit stiff in his role, a failing made all

the more noticeable by Jackson's highly physicalized and choreographed staging.

(Clarke and Chadsey are the standouts in the physical acting here.) David Babich,

as the equivocating Messenger #2, does a terrific job with a speech rhapsodizing

about the Information Revolution: "I have seen that messaging is the wave of the

future. We'll cast our net over great Gaia's earth." For anyone who has despaired of

the lack of actual content and context in the Internet age, this speech resonates

particularly well.

 

Jackson's script does have a whiff of undergraduate zealotry about it-surely it's not

news to anyone that power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely. But

that tendency toward the hamhanded is averted by the skillful performances,

intriguing staging (Ana Hashimoto's simple white cloth columns and red curtain

provide a suitable backdrop), and the sheer passion and audacity of the script. I'll

look forward to more strolls down Art Street in the future.

 

 

 

 

 

Home / Now Playing & Coming Soon / Back to Media List / To email us