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Saturday, Jul 19, 2008
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Don't Miss This 'Stuff' at ACT! |
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| Don't Miss This 'Stuff' at ACT! | ||
| Miryam Gordon - SGN A&E Writer Stuff Happens ACT Theatre by David Hare directed by Victor Pappas Through July 22 How many adjectives can you put in one sentence? Let's see: magnificent, powerful, gripping, masterful, disturbing, absorbing, majestic, Shakespearean, symphonic, flowing, ironic, amazing. Could there be more? Yes, but I'll stop now. "Stuff Happens" at ACT Theatre is, hands down, one of the best theatrical events I have ever seen. It is the most complete production in every detail. The script, taken from public record, private revelations to the playwright, and his imagination of private conversations, is solid, thoughtful, consistent in tone and language from the public to the private, and a horrible collection of examples of power-for-power's-sake you can imagine. David Hare has taken choice bits of quotes from Bush, Cheney, Rice, Powell and many other political figures and woven them into a tapestry of lies and distortions and chicanery that crystallizes how the U.S. got dragged into the mess of Iraq by duping the U.N. and the American public with questionable "intelligence" and made-up minds of our highest leaders. However, while the script is a wonderful script, the production at ACT is the amazing part. This production, in the round, is the most fully-realized use of the "round" I have ever seen. Victor Pappas, director, and his design team, Robert A. Dahlstrom, scene, Catherine Hunt, costume, Mary Louise Geiger, lighting, Dominic CodyKramers, et al, have used every bit of technical excellence to amazing effect. The gently rising sections within an all-white, circular White House seal are seamless changes of location and function, set off by excellent lighting placement and timing. The costumes are crisp recreations of fashion politics (Bush in suits, Air Force regalia, and shirtsleeves). Victor Pappas has corralled an astonishingly complete team of actors who inhabit their characters with total concentration. The named characters, Mark Chamberlin as Tony Blair, Frank Corrado as Donald Rumsfeld, Charles Dumas as Colin Powell, Tracy Michelle Hughes as Condoleeza Rice, Larry Paulsen as Paul Wolfowitz, Michael Winters as Dick Cheney, and R. Hamilton Wright as George Bush, are flawless. They are not caricatures of these famous people. Their performances are respectful recreations of public figures whose mannerisms we have come to know. Nine other ensemble actors fill in figures such as Laura Bush, John Negreponte and Hans Blix. Each of the ensemble, wholly competent in multiple roles, also becomes narrator, fixing the timing of quotes and context as the play moves along. Within such a solid cast, there are almost too many good performances to call out, but even so, a particularly wonderful characterization by David Pichette, of Dominique de Villepin, Prime Minister of France, must be mentioned. His nuanced performance points out the numerous inconsistencies presented to the international ruling bodies, and put in stark relief the picture of an administration orchestrating its will against any naysayers. If you miss this production, you won't know how much you missed, but if you see it, you could know what a tragedy it would have been if you had missed it. This "Stuff" is for real, both as political revelation and as a top-notch theatrical event. For more information, go to www.acttheatre.org or (206) 292-7676. |
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| picture top: (l. to r.) David Pichette (Ensemble), Richard Ziman (George Tenent), R. Hamilton Wright (George W. Bush), Tim Gouran (Ensemble), and Charles Dumas (Colin Powell) in Stuff Happens by David Hare. Photo: Chris Bennion picture bottom:Charles Dumas (Colin Powell) and R. Hamilton Wright (George W. Bush) in Stuff Happens by David Hare. Photo: Chris Bennion |
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