more, fleas!
when my performance studies big sis, bess (reviewer for HuffPo) suggested that i join her in committing 5+ hours to sophocles i thought, this could be awesome.
but even more likely, it could be suicidal…
well, at least we’re in it together.
lucky us, it was awesome! and they fed us! my first experience with the flea was indeed an enjoyably epic night at the theatre, topped off with curried eggplant, red wine, and cookies!
Ajax/Jocasta [“These Seven Sicknesses” by Sean Graney (Jan 19 - *extended thru* Feb 26) @ The Flea]
what i LOVED:
- the stage/staging (a long corridor of space surrounded on either side by audience boxes, with important entrances, exits, and action at both ends)
- the delicious costumes (lots of fur and leather and belting, yum)
- the delicious lack of costumes (YES naked man chest)
- the delicious catering (served by the company members themselves during intermissions!)
- brave acting choices and certain commitment to the tragedies
- lots of blood
- lots of death
- tribal tattoos?
- and a real sense of community, brought to life by the bevy of young folks that put this show together. they bring you in from the beginning, chatting you up between acts. it is warm, fun - like a party.
my one complaint (and maybe i am just getting crotchety in my mid-twenties) but: WAS IT TOO “SEXY?” the actors - “bats,” the flea’s resident company - were altogether a young hotass bunch, perhaps to their slightest detriment. its hard to see an electra/klytemnestra combo looking more like sorority sisters than mother-daughter. it reminded me a bit of college theatre, where teens and twenty-somethings ran the whole character gamut from 0-100 years old. and the stripping down, and the making out, and the wet nightgown. the cinematic fight sequence lit in blood red. intoxicating in a moment but gimmicky once i realize i’d been had.
but hey, maybe its those little naive sexy moments that prepared me for the next epic death or tragic flaw to come. certainly the cast’s apparent youth and vigor contributed to the vivid energy of the production and the general atmosphere of the evening; for that, i’ll take the soft scenes with the sharp ones and walk away with an evening well spent.
