THE THEATER MIRROR, New England's LIVE Theater Guide
|
MARQUEE | USHER | SEATS |
INTERMISSION | CURTAIN |
note: entire contents copyright 2001 by Larry Stark
Set Design by Morgan Kaegael
Lighting Design by Kathy Maloney
Costumes by Bonnie Duncan
Stage Manager Kathy Maloney
The Players
There are always surprises in a Rough & Tumble production. In "Archimedes Abercrombie Makes a Movie" --- their fifth "play in gibberish" --- the headlines could read "Garbo talks!!!" (or "BLAblah BLAH!!!" as they'd say in the play). When technician, cameraman and director yell the traditional "Blah! Blahbah! Blah-blah!!" the actors on the set actually Speak Their Lines In ENGLISH! And the effect is electrifying. The hour and a quarter show takes a writer-director from typewriter to world premiere, with half a dozen performers playing twenty-seven distinct characters in fifteen scenes never seen on screen before. Another smash-hit for Rough And Tumble Pictures!
Rough & Tumble Theatre is a repertory company, in every way identical to The American Repertory Theatre except that their p/r budget is tinier, their work is more coherently imaginative, and they only charge $10.00 a ticket. They even have a "guest artist" for this show --- Michael Kaye starring as Archimedes Abercrombie himself. tallest person in the cast, Kaye is in almost every scene trying to communicate the vision of his screenplay to everyone --- producer, cameraman, auditioning actors, star, even to the cop trying to break up their on-location shoot on a busy streetcorner, and of course to the audience as well. A thoughtful, introspective artist, Abercrombie often stares silently out into the audience, his eyes obviously searching not outward, but into his own creative soul.
And of course there are the regulars, familiar to all Rough & Tumble fans, doing their effortless chameleon-acts and switching from character to character with only a bit of costume or a prop to complete the transformation. There's even a particular twist to George Saulnier III's portrayal of the male lead George Lewiston: Off-camera, Lewiston is a round-shouldered schlump; under lights, the camera sees him transform into exactly the sensitive, magnetic hero Abercrombie had in mind when he wrote the script. (Saulnier does it with mirrors, I think... )
Rough & Tumble's goals are: "1) make good theater; 2) make cheap theater". It'll cost you all of ten big bucks to see if their goals are realized --- and if you blow it on a movie instead, will you ever get a chance to buy a drink for the cast after the show? Trust me: live theater is a unique, unbeatable bargain!
Love,
===Anon.