Location: Chicago, IL
Time: August 2008
Director: Sandy Shinner and Jessica Thebus
Set Designer: Daniel Ostling
Lighting Designer: JR Lederle
But her tendency to write in deliberately elusive, falsely ethereal metaphors (“Your hair will be my orchestra and…I love you”) while letting directors and designers fill in the blanks is a gamble she loses this time. With the exception of Dan Ostling’s striking water-stained walls, nothing in Shinner and Thebus’s weirdly unemotional production—it’s mostly just Stark reciting sophomoric poetry, a little trickling rain and some helium balloons—can convince us that Ruhl’s 80-minute play comes from a place of unique theatricality.Christopher Piatt, Time Out Chicago, October 23, 2008
The production was spot on. The set and lighting design was simply beautiful to see and had a sort of calming effect on the senses. Minimalist in design, each piece of furniture, balloon, or piece of string seemed to perfectly fit in Shinner and Thebus's picture. The lighting used huge, vast shadows to communicate secondary layers of action. The sound design was absolutely crystalline and pitch perfect. The performances were very strong (especially Joe D. Lauck as Eurydice's father - a construct created by Ruhl to add motivation to the Wicked-style, "let's see this story from her angle" approach) and it in no way seemed a preview. The cats at Victory Gardens have their shit together and Skinner, Thebus and company are at the top of their game. http://donhall.blogspot.com/2008/10/review-eurydice.html
No comments:
Post a Comment