Repertory Theaters and Company
Bay Area Repertory Theaters/Companies
- American Conservatory Theater (ACT), San Francisco
-
Aurora Theatre, Berkeley
-
Berkeley Repertory Theatre
-
Dean Lesher Regional Center for the Arts, Walnut Creek
[Home of the Center REPertory Company] - Marin Theatre Company, Mill Valley
- San Jose Repertory Theatre
-
Magic Theatre, San Francisco
[Home of Word for Word] -
Julia Morgan Center for the Arts, Berkeley
[Home of Word for Word]
The shape of things
![[pic]](files/2002/11/06/20021106-1-1.gif)
The Shape of things
Aurora Theater Company
A Theatre Report by [Me]
Several weeks ago, I attended the Aurora Theatre Company production of "The Shape of things" - Neil Labute's follow up play to his trilogy "the latterday plays". The play depicts a dramatic story of the romantic relationship between the two main characters: Adam and Evelyn. It was directed by Tom Ross and performed by Arwen Anderson, Stephanie Gularte, Craig Marker and Danny Wolohan.
Describing the full plot of this play without giving away the ending is a bit like discussing the movie "The Usual Suspects" and not saying anything about the character Keyser Soze. I will attempt to avoid doing the play a disservice by spoiling the ending any worse than I have already done. Suffice it to say, it is the final twist that gives this play the character and personality that we come to expect in a plot that has remained un-pillaged by a Hollywood influence.
The play follows the lives of four characters: Adam, a rather geeky looking security guard for an art museum; Evelyn, a saucy local art student; Phillip, Adam's best friend and Phillip's wife Jenny. Adam and Evelyn meet at Adam's work in a foray of arguments about art and censorship. The play then follows the two throughout their courtship. We find that their relationship contains much of the same issues we deal with in our own relationships, at least in the beginning.
The script is filled with subtle suggestions that tinker with the audience's mind. Comments like "I have you" fool the audience into thinking the reference is to the immediate relationship between the characters. When we reach the climax of the story we discover that comments like these offer a more profound insight into the true nature of the protagonists' relationship. It is a hearty meal for both people who fancy themselves as intellectuals and for those who truly are. Even audience members like me who find themselves a little overwhelmed by veiled references to complex plots are drawn in by the more carnal aspects of the actors' performance. The author has even been kind enough to throw us some more obvious bones with the close resemblance of the two main characters' names to the characters in the book of Genesis even though I may have been a little too dim to understand the full implications of this reference. In the end we discover that the play was less about the relationship itself and more about the purpose of art and societal taboos.
In a play like this, there are many factors that influence the performance. One such factor is the theater itself. The Aurora's small size creates a very engaging setting for the audience. As we are drawn into the lives of our four characters, we are almost unaware of our surroundings in the theater itself. Even the back seats put us in an almost uncomfortable intimacy with the actors. The engaging physical relationship between the two main characters put us in a voyeuristic vantage. At times I would feel uncomfortable looking directly at the characters and get the sense that I was invading their privacy. In fact, it would be difficult to believe that this was not Ross' intention, once we are made aware of the story's true plot. The theater creates a theater outside the stage. When we happen to glance to the other side of the theater, just past the stage itself, and we realize that we can clearly make out the reactions of other audience members. It's almost as engaging to watch the people watching the play as it is to watch the play itself. In fact, it can be rather frightening when we come to the realization that the members of the audience opposite us have just a view of us that is just as clear as our view of them. It then becomes clear that the audience is just as much a part of the performance as the actors themselves.
The play is very entertaining and offers much in the area of social commentary and titillating prose. It is sure to entertain even the most critical participator and I can think of no better setting for this production that in the cozy Aurora Theater.
Free TeleZapper
![[pic]](files/2002/11/04/20021104-1-1.gif)
This month's
Wired magazine
has a really cool blurb about how the
TeleZapper
works. Apparently these machines that war dial phone numbers are designed to
remove numbers from their database when they hear those
tones
that are sent
out during the "The phone number you have dialed has been disconnected..."
message. The TeleZapper people figured out that you can send out just the
first tone of the series and get these machines to think your number is no
longer in service. Well as it turns out, you can record the tone onto your
answering machine and get the same affect, without paying the fifty bucks
for the telezapper! To set this up for yourself, just download the
tone
put your answering machine near your computer speaker, and play the sound at
the beginning of your outgoing message.