Randuwa II

Wednesday, March 15, 2023

My Little Zoo: American Black Bear

Dinner: Yukon Gold Potato and Kale Casserole

Dinner: Greek Lemony Chicken, Potato and Spinach Soup

Sunday, March 12, 2023

1st Stage: How The Light Gets In

What do you get when you toss together, 1) A divorced travel writer who never travels and is about to discover that she has breast cancer, 2) A young tattoo artists who uses his art to save others, and in the end loses his brother to a drug overdose (the person he most wanted to save), 3) A teenage girl who lives beneath an oak tree in a Japanese garden having fled a home where she was sexually abused, and 4) a renowned Japanese architect who's creative muse died ten years ago along with his young bride?

You might think a helluva depressing play. But you'd be completely wrong. "How the Light Gets In" is smart and sad, and written with a lot of tender care. It's also funny, it finds the humor in the darkness. It's redemptive, it demands of its characters more than they realized they were able to give. And it ends on note of hope. Not a grand display of fireworks and an epic poem, but a soft landing, a paper crane floating on a pond, a haiku.

Three of the cast members were familiar to me. Two from shows earlier in the season, Jacob Yeh played the sheriff's deputy in "The Rainmaker," and he is in the role of Haruki Sakamoto, the architect from Tokyo who has been commissioned to design a tea house for the Japanese Garden, and is haunted by the sorrow of wife's death from breast cancer 10 years before. Joel Ashur just weeks ago was featured in Mosaic Theatre's "Bars and Measures". Now he is Tommy Z tattoo artist with a heart big enough for all of the wounded people he seeks to help, but not big enough to comprehend the death of his brother. Both actors were wonderful in their roles, however, the greater accolades go the women.

The program stated that Madeleine Regina was making her professional acting debut with this role, and you could have fooled me. She was a joy to watch inhabit the world of this broken teen as slowly she found her way into the lives of people she could trust. She brought everything to the role and it was as much the way she told Kat's story with her body as it was the way she owned the playwright's dialogue. Finally, Tonya Beckman as Grace Wheeler was simply perfect. From the moment she entered the stage, I didn't see an actor, I saw Grace Wheeler. I was compelled to laugh with Grace Wheeler, to stress with Grace Wheeler, and to weep with Grace Wheeler. Thinking back on everything I've seen this season, I honestly believe this performance is worth a Helen Hayes nomination (the local version of the Tony's).

The other stand-out aspect of this production was the amazing set designed by Kathryn Kawecki. She brings to life a Japanese Garden with elements that easily become a tattoo parlor, a hospital waiting room, Grace's apartment, a freeway overpass, without moving a single pebble or blade of grass. The meandering pond is filled with water. Water to float a paper boat on. Water to wade in on your way to a brighter future.

This is a play that I honestly am tempted to go back and see again. It is extended through March 26. If you live in the DMV, seriously consider going. I promise you won't regret it.

Kat Lane (Madeleine Regina) watching the world from a safe distance.

Grace Wheeler (Tonya Beckman) and Haruki Sakamoto (Jacob Yeh) meeting in the Japanese Garden, where Grace volunteers as a docent.

Tommy Z (Joel Ashur)

Saturday, March 4, 2023

Shakespeare Theatre Company: King Lear

First up a confession: I've never seen nor read King Lear. It's so ubiquitous within the cannon of Shakespeare's works that it's easy to feel like you know the story anyways. While I sort of did, I also sort of didn't.

Can I say that of all of the Shakespearean tragedies that I've seen, setting aside Romeo & Juliet because it's just in a league of its own. I like King Lear best (or second best) of all! (I've scene all of the major ones now with the exception of Othello.) I came expecting a play about the betrayal of scheming daughters and the unraveling of a foolish old king--and I got that; but what I also got which was just as powerful is the betrayal of one brother over another! The story line of the relationship between Edgar and Edmund and their father, Gloucester was just as compelling. In fact, I was surprised by the lack of stage time given to the daughters. None of them really have roles that are anything but predictable and, well, flat. The juicy stuff goes to King Lear, Edgar and Gloucester, and to a lesser extent Edmund.

The cast was made up of many fine actors and a few mediocre ones. I wasn't overly impressed with any of the actors playing the daughters, but all where fine, none detracted from the production. Of the women in the cast, one did stand out, Shirine Babb in the role of Kent. Banish in the first moments, only to return in disguise and do her best to protect her beloved king. She was quick and embodied the character invisibly. Craig Wallace, a member of the regional theatre community royalty, played a wonderful Gloucester, and Matthew J. Harris' take on his estranged son, Edgar, was nothing short of compelling. The final scene of the first half has Edgar in the guise of Tom leading his blinded father off toward the cliff's of Dover to commit suicide having had his eyes gouged out by Cornwall and Regan, and realizing that he had placed his faith in the wrong son. It was such an overwhelmingly tender moment that I cried--and I was NOT alone.

All of this aside, the show ultimately belonged to Patrick Page. Most recently having played Hades in the musical Hadestown to universal acclaim, he brought his A-game to the role of Lear. There was never a moment when he wasn't the epitome of the tragic king. I don't know what words I can use to extol his portrayal of this iconic role. He was funny and fierce, flamboyant in his esprit de corps, and fragile in his growing feeble-mindedness. I'm still feeling something electric inside my chest just thinking about it. As my first Lear, it's hard to imagine that I'll ever discover a better Lear.

The stage started out in the hanger of an airport. A versatile set of flats that move in and out and back and forth to transform along with quickly switched in and out furniture pieces into a hand full of other settings. At one point a downed wingless four passenger plane slid onto stage to form the place of shelter King Lear and his comrades sought shelter in from the stormy night of betrayal by Goneril, Regan and Cornwall. Lighting and projections were used to great effect throughout. The costumes were fine. I don't know who to give credit to for Gloucester's "eyes," but whoever made them and whatever they were made of--bravo! Torn from Gloucester's face in a blood bath and then thrown upon the ground only to be stomp upon by Cornwall obliterating them into gooey-looking drop-sized projectiles flung all across the stage--Shakespeare would have been delighted by the realism and gore.

King Lear continues through April 8th, plenty of time to see it before it's gone. It's being performed at STC's smaller venue, the Klein Theater (formerly the Landsburg); and today's matinee performance was sold out--SRO.