Antaeus' Classicfest 2010
Those with a strong interest in classical theatre have precious few outlets to fulfill those needs in Los Angeles, a large city not particularly hip on quality theatre written before World War II. As pointed out in previous articles, Antaeus and A Noise Within have been the most consistently professional in their discovery of older scripts married to a strongly professional delivery.
Antaeus has proven yet again how magnificently gifted they are in artistic expressions with their annual ClassicsFest2010, just concluded this August. Complementing their fantastic (and fantastically-received) production of KING LEAR, ClassicsFest is about showcasing material not generally known to the public for a mere $10/ticket. Such work as Noel Coward’s totally-forgotten 1947 drama about a Nazi takeover of Great Britain in 1940, PEACE IN OUR TIME; a delightful staged-reading of Moliere’s 1672 satire on “learned ladies,” LES FEMMES SAVANTES/THE SCHOOL FOR WIVES; Brecht’s very odd 1940 comedy, MR. PUNTILA AND HIS MAN MATTI; the mistitled THE HELEN FRAGMENTS by Euripides (it’s the entire play, not snippets from other, mostly-lost Greek plays on Helen of Troy); LES BLANCS, a drama by Lorraine Hansberry, who tragically died before it’s Broadway production (starring James Earl Jones), completed by her widower. A drama about the upsurge in African independence movements, possibly based on Rhodesia/ Zimbabwe or South Africa, or The Congo; Sean O’Casey’s funny and well-examined play on marriage, JUNO AND THE PAYCOCK; a thrillingly-funny sit-down reading of Shakespeare’s THE MERRY WIVES OF WINDSOR; Brian Friel’s examination of a possibly-deranged con-artist, his long-suffering wife and his put-upon agent in THE FAITH HEALER, as well as a semi-staged reading of one of Tom Stoppard’s greatest plays, ARCADIA; a generally well-thought-out reading of a 1604 tragi-comedy, THE MALCONTENT, by Jacobean playwright, John Marston, and a quirky comedy by Lope de Vega, based on the same source-material as Shakespeare used for his ROMEO & JULIET, THE CAPULETS AND THE MONTAGUES.
All-in-all, an excellent way to watch productions grow from sit-down readings, to staged-with-script-in-hand, to full productions later in another season. As artistic director Jeanie Hackett says before each night, “it might be brilliant or it might just be a train-wreck, but it’s theatre.”
One thing is true in art: you cannot know if something works until it is up there in front of you. Whether or not the Coward piece gets a full production, having it staged in front of you, even with some deservedly unknown songs by the Master clogging it up, the actors made a heroic attempt to bring it to life. Certainly within the framework of actual historical events, it might have happened if the Battle of Britain – air fights been the British Air Force and the supposed superiority of the German Luftwaffe – had gone the other way. It was a delight to be introduced to the play itself, but as much of the un-known Coward songs remain deservedly so, this workshop production should be re-thought – and re-written somewhat? – before it’s given a full production. Same with the Moliere – there are no shortages of productions of this comedy and (as is true with TAMING OF THE SHREW) its perceived anti-feminist slant – should we educate women if they’re only going to be frivolous? -- is troubling to today’s inclusionist way of thinking. More ambitious and thus more disappointing, is the important African-American playwright Hansberry’s take on the newly-emerging African states that at that time were in the process of throwing off colonial rule, amid the slaughter of the innocents that seemed to be a major part of the actions of the day. It successfully utilized African-based folklore, chanting, drumming, and dancing which energized the tempo and the moods. This enhanced her plot of a young African prince coming home after the death of his father, the King, and his involvement of the revolutionaries around him. Knowing what we now know, fifty years on, is that over-throwing colonialist rule didn’t necessary pay off for the non-rich of those countries. A fully-mounted production is indicated, however, even if her script lacked continuity.
The Greek play was an eye-opener with its good use of actors in a limited space, but some of the directorial touches (three actresses to portray Helen?) didn’t seem to work. The goofiness of the de Vega farce, considering how we all know Shakespeare’s tragic version, is a true find, although the translation wasn’t terribly poetic. Perhaps it needed to be seen in a fully-staged-and-costumed version.
As indicated, most of this year’s choices were well-suited to Antaeus’ strengths, but there was a rich-enough series of discoveries to be had in theatre-of-the-past and one can only hope that Antaeus continues this legacy of entertaining educations.