I went to see a play yesterday afternoon (Wednesday the 21st) at the Senri International School in Senri, Osaka. It was put on by the The Voice, an amateur theatre company based out of Kobe, Japan.
I had read about the production in the Kansai Scene and was pretty determined to go. I have sorely missed theatre and was quite looking forward to the show.
The stage of the Senri International School is an old-fashioned proscenium stage, about the size of Allen Theater. The pre-set was unlit with decorative piano music greeting the audience upon our arrival. The set itself was pretty linear and was primarily downstage, even spilling over into the apron, with a table and chair thrust far DSL. The pieces were simple: a wood-frame door, two couches SL and SR as well as folding screens; there was a slightly impoverish look to the whole set.
When the play began, the first character entered from the door CS. There was a very odd lighting choice in that the lights seemed to come up half-way through what seemed to be the opening of the scene. Of course, this may not have been intentional, but if it had been, I think it probably would have been better if the lights had come up on the empty apartment and then have the entrance.
Here we meet George and his brother Sam, played by one Jonathan Mendelsohn and Dustin North respectively. George has just returned from a trip and his brother chastises him about the condition of the apartment. George is not paying attention and is more focused on the mail he is sifting through thrust DSL. His movements are a little stiff and mechanical, as are his gestures; in contrast to Sam who is pretty natural and comfortable in movement. At first, I attributed it to the character, but as the play progressed, I really think it was more the actor.
At the end of the scene, we are then shown Jennie’s apartment which is SR. Suddenly, the set falls into place and it is all pretty well thought out. Jennie, played by Jen Neales, has just returned from a trip of her own, and she is followed closely by her friend Faye, played by Asuna Osako. We learn that Jennie is recently divorced and that Faye has marriage trouble of her own.
From here, we watch the events of these four lives unfold. The set-up between Jennie and George, thrown together by their well-meaning loved ones Leo and Faye. The burst of attraction and affection that is between our two protagonists as well as the conflict that is their sudden marriage.
Overall, it was a good show. There was a moment where Jennie was in George’s apartment and told him she was going to run home. Instead of going out the door, she just jumped across the stage, totally breaking my disbelief. I had a panic attack for like five seconds; I mean, her next scene wasn’t imperative. She could have at least walked towards the door, stepped into the frame and promptly stepped back out again. Then again, that would have been my choice.
The blocking was pretty good, had all the nice angles we studied about in directing and various other theatre classes. For the most part, the lighting itself seemed to be done with fresnels and I could have sworn they were using a scoop at one point. Or so it looked like to me. Mostly warm tones, I’m guessing at ambers, but then again, it’s been a helluva long time since I’ve had to do any kind of lighting so for all I know they were using straw or no color blue and no color purple. But it was definitely warm.
The audience itself was mostly Western, hence there was clapping at the end of Act I, much to my relief. It seemed like the majority of the people were friends of the actors or some such. At least in this time around , no one fell asleep like when I went to see The Taming of the Shrew last year.
There were a lot of great moments in the show. It seemed to me that Jen Neales had a strong presence, and our main fellow Jonathan Mendelsohn had a great stage voice but the gestures were distracting to me; and the supporting players were equally strong in their own right.
Watching the show made me miss theatre all over again.
0 Responses to “Review of The Voice’s production of Chapter Two by Neil Simon”