Roy Berko
(Member,
American Theatre Critics Association & Cleveland Critics Circle)
Cleveland Public Theatre
is noted for championing works by local artists. The theatre’s newest offering, EARTH PLAYS (Part Two of the
Elements Cycle) invited directors,
performers and writers to focus on the themes of the earth and sustainability,
using the technique of devised theater.
Rather than using a script
written by a playwright, devised theater encourages collaborative creation,
which may take the form of spoken dialogue, poetry, mime, music, dance, and
electronic illusion as conceived by director, writers and performers. The process involves selecting a theme
and then extracting ideas from that central axis.
EARTH PLAYS uses
mythology, reality, and creation to examine the earth, its inhabitants, human
cruelty, insensitivity, willful ignorance, greed, desire, short human shelf
life, and love.
This is not improvisatory
theatre. There is a script and the
audience experience from night to night is fairly parallel. But, it is also not the traditional
theatre of Shakespeare, Wilde or Williams. It is often abstract, doesn’t follow the well-made format of
beginning (exposition), middle (story development), and conclusion (dénouement).
That lack of traditional format may be off-putting to some.
The overly long first act
of EARTH PLAYS is quite uneven and often abstract. Adding to the issue is the constant physical movement of the
audience. Numerous times during
the opening segment participants are asked to change seats. The choreography of the chair movements
is creative and well executed, but the purpose is not totally clear other than
to add to the whimsy of the presentation.
Though unique at the start, after a while the shuffling around becomes tedious.
Hearing also is
problematic as CPT’s performance space has a high ceiling and hard walls,
causing echoes and dead spots.
Especially difficult to hear is MEANTIME ANTHROPOCENE, a segment
conceived and directed by Pandora Robertson, which was staged on scaffolding at
the rear of the traditional stage.
The “three stooges” dance/farce concept was very creative, but many of the
lines could not be clearly be distinguished.
A journey to the center
of the earth in search of a dead brother, global warming, and a five-part
segment entitled THE DIGGERS, with text by Margaret Wise Brown, did little to
grab and hold audience attention.
The second act, however,
was much more effective. The sad
plight of Smokey the Bear, the earth poetry of Walt Whitman, a creative dance
segment performed by dancers entirely encased in plastic grocery bags, and an
ending which pleaded for saving the environment, were all well conceived.
EARTH POOL, devised by
Raymond Bobgan, found ten actor/dancers writhing in mud, illustrating a human’s
journey from dust to dust, the circle of each human returning to the earth.
A highlight vignette was
THE TRANCED, conceived, directed and performed by Chris Seibert. The segment was a mesmerizing probe
into the relationship of earth mothers.
Jeremy Paul’s equally effective SPARROW, found biologist, sperm donor,
juggler Val Kozlenko probing human isolation and the curse of science.
The experience ended with
Darius Stubbs, Carly Garinger, and Beth Wood pleading for the earth. Wood’s appeal is especially effective
as delivered in a beseeching and quivering voice.
Capsule judgement: Cleveland Public
Theatre is noted for its experimental theatrical work. Though not for everyone, Ray Bobgan and
his well intentioned group of creators, again challenges the senses in EARTH
PLAYS (Part Two of the Elements Cycle) through the devised theatre method of
creation.
EARTH PLAYS (Part
Two Of The Elements Cycle) runs through March 9, 2013. For tickets call 216-631-2727 or go on
line to www.cptonline.org.
