may #1: the robbers

saturday night i had the pleasure of seeing strangeloop theatre's THE ROBBERS.

what: the robbers by friedrich schiller

where: the side project theatre space in roger's park 

accompaniment: dddddustin

drinkability: you can buy soda at the ticket office. tis all. :..(

show length: 3 hrs with a 15 minutes intermission

out of four: one/four

what intrigued me most about THE ROBBERS and what ultimately got me in their seats was strangeloop's decision to make this formerly all-male (save one character) cast into an all-female cast. last year i was in an all-female production of quentin tarantino's RESERVOIR DOGS and my first month of this blog saw an all-female cast of JULIUS CAESAR. i am enchanted when companies choose to do this because right off the bat they're making a statement. and you as an audience member have the chance to figure out what exactly that statement is.

the robbers (a tale i was previously unfamiliar with) is richard iii mixed with a bit of macbeth and king lear. its the tale of one brother (francis) who decides he wants to be the top of two siblings and seeks to have his father disown him, woo his wife, and generally remove his brother (charles) from his general world. death, deception, lies and corruption unfold in this three hour (yes, three) tale. 

the set was somewhat of an interior of a home, with a couple of simple staircases, small playing spaces used as bedrooms and balconies, and the main floor space with a few twigs, branches, and an idea of a tree/woods on stage right. an unspoken/modern pre-show begins wherein we get to see all members of the cast on stage walking in and out, grabbing books and items from the set, then leaving excitedly with their cohorts. shortly after, the play begins...with no real explanation of what the preshow exactly meant or stood for in any way as all characters change clothing, lose the modern appliances (soccer balls, headphones, etc.) and appear in 'period' clothing, never to return to the outfits & props as used within the first 5 minutes of the show.

in short i think the best thing that could have been done to help this production is some cuts. its a hard argument when i hate thinking how engrossed we are in our twitter society of 140 characters (or less) and instagram gives us just a quick visual into everything we need to let you know that we're currently doing. i'm not saying cut this play in half, but an easy hour could have been shaved off of this show. the cast had an opportunity to say a lot of beautiful and complicated things that i think would have been highlighted if they were simply that: highlighted.

getting back to the aspect of an all-female cast, i was curious going in to see if pronouns would be changed to reflect the all-female cast (something i also was curious about in JULIUS CAESAR) and was disappointed when they didn't. but at the same time i admired the strength and grounding the two leads (played by margo chervony & holly robison) brought to their roles. they are manipulative, well spoken leaders who aren't afraid to do what it takes to defend themselves. they also had a hefty responsibility to carry the weight of the dialogue in the show.

the stand outs to me in this production were pat parks (seen as old moor/father dominic/pastor moser but shining in the father dominic role) & letitia guillaud (seen as amelia). both had the best command of the dialogue and most emotional connection to the words coming out of their mouths. while not prominent characters, these two shined for me.

i walked away still unsure as to why brad gunter and the folks at strangeloop made the decision to make this an all-female version of this tale. sure, the women were perceived as strong. sure, they were shown to be manipulative and sword-weilding. (libby beyreis from babes with blades choreographed an awesome short knife fight about 3/4 of the way through the show. kudos.) but while a bunch of girls can be strong, tough, manipulative, and well spoken, it often felt forced: as if these girls were pretending to be boys pretending to be men...a band together in the woods a la lost boys style. i'd urge strangeloop (and any other company for that matter) to simply let strong women be strong women. you'll get your point across, i promise you.

-------------

upcoming may shows:

friday may 10, 10:30PM (NYC): upright citizens brigade's gentrify

friday may 17, 8pm: strawdog theatre's big love

saturday may 25, 7:30pm: the hypocrites' ivywild

join me, will you?