Interludes

VIEWPOINTS – Streaming Diary: A newly urgent ANGELS IN AMERICA (excerpts) & FAR AWAY; escaping into art in GIVE ME YOUR HAND & ZOO MOTEL

• By drediman
• October 18, 2020
• No Comments

Here are my thoughts on some of last week’s viewings.

A pair of classics, newly urgent

Caryl Churhill and Tony Kushner are indisputably two of our most visionary playwrights, conjuring plays that are at once specific yet mythic. That their works have stayed relevant over the years is a testament to their innate understanding of humanity and society, as well as their intoxicating way with words. I recently got a chance to stream two of their masterworks. Last weekend, to support the important work of amfAR, I tuned into a stylish Zoom rendition of select scenes from Mr. Kushner’s monumental Angels in America. (HIGHLY RECOMMENDED). Directed with vivid visual panache by Elle Heyman (in consultation with the playwright) and acted with great care and passion by a star-studded cast (e.g., Glenn Close, Laura Linney, Patti LuPone, etc.), the hourlong, unconventionally-cast presentation effectively captured the spirit of the sprawling work, despite essentially being a greatest hits reel of the two-part play (which takes approximately seven hours to perform in its entirety). But more importantly, by making the connection between the AIDS epidemic of the 1980/1990s and the current covid pandemic – particularly with respect to the irresponsibly stunted government response to both national crises – I came away from the virtual production energized and with a new sense of urgency that I haven’t felt since first read the play when I was in high school. Then we have Far Away, and Caryl Churhill’s phantasmagorical 2000 allegory, which is currently being streamed in a simply-presented, powerfully-acted Zoom production (RECOMMENDED), courtesy of the folks at Potomac Theatre Project. Clocking in at only 40 minutes, the play is a master class in suggestion and concision. When I first saw it nearly two decades ago, I was struck by the wild imagination of the work’s grim but disarmingly poetic vision of humanity’s dystopian endgame. However, it speaks even more potently now, pointing more tangibly to the real threat of encroaching fascism and the factionalism that has become the dominant force in our politics and personal world views.

Escapism through art

Thankfully, apart from raising a revealing and at times unflattering mirror to audiences, theater also has the ability to take us away from the troubles of our often difficult realities. This week, two virtual productions swept me away, allowing me to escape my sometimes too-cozy apartment, at least for an hour or two. The first of these escapist entertainments was Irish Repertory Theatre’s streaming of Give Me Your Hand (RECOMMENDED), an aptly self-advertised “poetical stroll through the National Gallery of London”. Based on the poems of Paul Durcan, the 75-minute piece takes a series of paintings from the famed art museum and speculatively delves into the inner lives and relationships of their diverse subjects. Although many of these fictional characterizations are unexpectedly and disarmingly quirky, they’re invariably rendered by Dermot Crowley and Dearbhla Molloy with inviting warmth and vitality. This past week also brought me Zoo Motel (RECOMMENDED), Thaddeus Phillips’ one man “live cinematic theatre play”, which has been co-presented by the Miami Light Project. Filmed live for each timed performance from Colombia (yes, from South America!), the work is a joyous cornucopia of pleasures, combining cinema, puppetry, theater, magic/illusion (credit: Steve Cuiffo), and immersive techniques in a dreamlike ballet of associative narratives. The work is true to the ambitious, out-of-the-box creativity that has marked Mr. Phillips’ past theatrical adventures (notably Red-Eye to Havre de Grace and 17 Border Crossings, both at New York Theater Workshop), even if at times its interactive segments fall flat given the understandable challenges posed by the virtual format. Nevertheless, the show astonishes with its constantly shifting perspectives, which is achieved with seamless fluidity, thanks to Mr. Phillips’ painstaking craft. One of Mr. Phillips’ main assets in this project is designer Steven Dufala, whose anything-goes funhouse set gives Zoo Motel a playful, saturated look that pops nicely on Zoom.