Small theaters generally don't get reviewed. This can be a blessing for small companies struggling to build positive reputations. While giants like the Guthrie can shrug off a pan, a poor review might mean the end of a mini-drama group.
But the lack of objective reviews of small theaters can spell a problem for strange theater-goers like me. I am one of those odd people who attend "micro-theater" in the Twin Cities even though I don't know anyone in the cast or company. If I try to find a review to inform my choice of play, (if I find anything at all) I am likely to find only accolades written by company followers, pans by people with agendas, or the obnoxious hipper-than-thou pieces that fill up the City Pages.
That means that I have to reply on the theaters' marketing language to help me decide and we all know how accurate marketing can be!
Take for example CalibanCo Theatre of Minneapolis. This group in an excellent example of how audience's expectations are raised by marketing hype and then can be crushed when they view the actual product.
I have seen two shows at CalibanCo. I was lured into the first by publicity that sited numerous "Best of..." awards. The show I saw was a moderately entertaining Greek comedy that was heavy on gimmicks and light on genuine understanding of the play text. Having had a so-so-to-okay time at that one, I went to see a Shakespeare play awhile later. That production was so bad, I still resent the $15 and the three hours of my life I lost.
My conclusion about CalibanCo is that it's a moderately effective church-basement theater troupe that isn't nearly as good as the hype suggests. I revisited their web site while writing this piece to discover such painfully self-promoting language as: "Hailed as the Best Independant Theatre of the Twin Cities!" Well. Okay. But I sure didn't see any evidance of that lofty status when I was at their shows.
I realize that attending any play is a gamble. Back in the '80s when I was younger and had more time and disposable cash, I didn't mind the gamble inherit in attending no-name theater. Sadly, either age or the rising price of gasoline means I am less tolerant of shelling out good money to watch mediocre shows. I'd love the chance to read well-written, objective opinions that counter-balance the marketing hype. I may or may not always agree with the reviews written, but as I have said time and time again on these pages, I can at least tell when the reviews are worth considering.
I did manage to find one audience-member review that I feel effectively conveys my CalibanCo experience. [included below] Although this anonymous reviewer saw a different Shakespeare production than I did, his/her experience of the theater was almost identical to mine. They too were drawn into the "Best of..." hype and felt a tad cheated by the actual product.
I wish I had read the review before I thought of going to see CalibanCo. It's a well-written, thoughtful review that demonstrates a genuine understanding of Shakespeare's text and of directing itself. I appreciate this review because its criticisms are legitimate and well-defended. At the same time, it's not a hate-piece that just bashes the group. There are enough compliments to the supporting players to indicate the reviewer wanted to like the production.
My experience with CalibanCo was that there was a real difference between what the theater promised and what it delivered. I wish more thoughtful pieces could be written about tiny theaters in the area. Actual helpful guides to small theater productions, not just fawning fan pieces or mean-spirited attack columns.
I can't help but think that more well-written reviews might help small theaters to improve. Attack pieces are usually just written by mean-spirited people with grudges. Fawning, gushing reviews aren't hard to get from friends of the company. I doubt if either kind of review motivates theaters to learn or to improve. If thorough reviews like the one below were more readily accessible to audience and theaters, perhaps they might encourage smaller groups to reach a little higher.
-----------------------------------------------------------------One of the unfortunate side effects of today's fast-paced culture is the constant abbreviation of classic works. A lot of theatre companies feel like they have to cut classic plays down to size to make them palatable for our short attention spans. Apparantly, we don't have time for anything over two hours long anymore, and thusly Shakespeare's works, when performed, end up getting hacked mercilessly into smaller forms. It shouldn't be surprising that things get lost in this process.
CalibanCo's version of The Tempest, which clocks in at just under that two-hour mark, reads something like a Shakespearean Reader's Digest. All the characters, plot points and major actions are there, but a lot of details get trimmed along the way. Character development is virtually nil, as there is just no time to squeeze in anything but the scantest of details, and most of Shakespeares poetic language disappears into the ether; but, for the most part, the actors in the show run with that little detail and commit to characters that are painted in with the broadest of strokes.
Take for example the relationship and marriage of Ferdinand, played by Brian Watson Jones, and Miranda, played to sweet-faced perfection by Maren Bush. There is a nice chemistry between them, and, while Jones struggles a little in his own monologues, the pair of them seize instantly on the simple, almost childish, innocence that drives them together. In another plotline, Andy Chambers and Anna Olson, who play the clownish, drunken mariners Stephano and Truncilo, push their dysfunctional sexual relationship (which was tacked on by some gender-switching in casting) into great comic moments. In fact, I have never seen someone play drunk onstage as effectively as Chambers, who is both hilariously and believably intoxicated as he stumbles stupidly into a plot to assassinate Prospero. The major strengths in this play were borne out by actors who committed to the simplicity that this drastic cutting left them and who enhanced their shortage of text by developing good onstage relationships.
Prospero comes out ahead in having the most dialogue saved from the editor's scissors, but, unfortunately, Jeremy Cottrell's performance as the great magician is sadly lacking in a lot of elements. Cottrell swings back and forth between raging angrily at his enemies and offering kindly, fatherly advice to his daughter; but he fails to get at the age and world-weariness that drove Prospero to exile himself on the island in the first place. It doesn't help that he was obviously too young-looking for the part and that he took no great pains to develop a physicality that suggested anything sagelike or magical. In fact, the only times when he doesn't move like a lumbering 30-something is when he is casting a spell, in which he strikes an strange-looking pose reminiscent of a samurai preparing for battle. It feels uncomfortable, especially since the magical movement has not been woven into the rest of his character.
Prospero's magical folk, on the other hand, play and move like they really do come from another world. Four spirits, played by Margot Leclair, Lacy Habdas, Haley Chamberlain, and Nicole Shrader, twist, dance, creep and crawl, never leaving the stage for one moment. They effectively fill in where the constraints of CalibanCo's basement stage leave off. Who needs crazy lighting cues and elaborate sets, when a bevy of laughing spirits can become anything from a storm-torn ship at sea to a mass of stinging, torturous insects? Led by the spirit Ariell, played with with wonderful fluidity by Jodi Meshbesher, they create their own magical world with a strange combination of modern dance and movement. Meshbesher especially creates her own dialogue with her movements alone, which is good, because most of her own dialogue is drowned out by the severe cutting and some awkward staging. Jared Reise, as Caliban, contributes a childishly twisted and frenetic character who is at once both malevolent and sadly damaged. It's hard to be sure whether you should pity him or hate him, which is how you can tell that someone has really captured Caliban.
Despite these good elements, The Tempest is also chock-full of awkward directoral choices. Take, for instance, the moment when Prospero and Ariell's relationship is suddenly heightened by a sexually-charged kiss that emerges inexplicably and is never addressed again. Then there is the evil relationship between the duke Sebastian, played by Andrew Cleveland and Antonia (once again, a character that has been gender-switched from the original text, played by Heidi Berg). Their plotting is subjected to a wild bout of sexual teasing, which, at first is intensely interesting and serves to heighten the text, but which eventually succeeds only in drowning out their words and making the audience miss just why the hell they would want to assassinate their own queen. After that, there is the magical madness scene involving this pair and queen Alonsa, played by Elizabeth Sibley. The screaming and wailing elicited from them (especially from Cleveland) completely masked Ariell's best speech. There are other points where major characters' lines are given to one of the spirits for no apparent reason.
And, through it all, poor Will Love, who plays Gonzalo, is stuck with a character who is supposed to be the example of loyalty and goodness, but one which is rendered almost non-existent by the script cutting and by direction that left him off to the side or behind most of the action. Elizabeth Sibley's Queen Alonsa suffers much the same fate. I couldn't help but watch them and imagine that they would have given very good performances if they had actually been given roles of any substance to work with.
Overall, The Tempest was a modestly good production from a small theatre company, but, unfortunately, CalibanCo has been blessed/saddled with this year's Best Independent Theatre award from City Pages, which automatically raises people's expectations when they see a show from the company. If CalibanCo continues to do productions that are just OK like this one, they run the risk of suffering the same fate as a musician who wins the cursed Best New Artist award at the Grammys. The company is especially facing a challenge now, as The Tempest marks CalibanCo's last performance in their little couch-filled basement space. They will soon be out on the street with no theatre of their own like most of the other small theatre companies in town, and they will have to do some great work to maintain their newfound status.
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