VISUAL SPLENDOR AT BERKELEY REP
(But Hopelessly Convoluted)
By Carol Benet
artssf.com, the independent observer of San Francisco Bay Area theater
Weeks starting March 18, 2010
Vol.
12, No. 80
BERKELEY---Naomi
Adzuki’s world-premiere Concerning Strange Devices from
the Distant
West at Berkeley Rep is a bonanza of beauty with an intriguing
story. The strange device of the title is
the camera
that came to Japan
in the 1880s. It allowed the capture of
a brand new reality, one that is fixed forever---But one that is able
only to
take pictures of part of that reality, thus creating multiple layers of
truth.
The story
starts in the 19th century when a
Westerner Isabel (Kate Eastwood Norris) enters a photography studio
where the
owner, Andrew Farsari (Bruce McKenzie) is taking pictures of a tattooed
Japanese man named Hiro (Johnny Wu).
Soon the
action flips to the 21st century at a
bar with an American professor Dimitri (Bruce McKenzie), who is
researching the
19th century photographer above, meets with his translator,
a seductive
Japanese woman (Teresa Avia Lim). Eventually we are back to the 19th
century with the story of the original woman’s disappearance and the
husband
(Danny Wolohan), a gun dealer, solving the mystery for us.
The stories become so convoluted that later
on you have to catch the many hints that unite them.
What holds the
play together is the magnificent staging with
moving video images on screens that artistically work with the rest of
the
insets where live action takes place.
This is truly a visual splendor.
Yes there are
scenes reminiscent of the movie Lost in Translation
and also of the
latest production of Madame Butterfly
at the San Francisco Opera. Who cares if
the playwright or the set designer (Mimi Lien) borrowed; they picked
the best
sources for their scenes and ideas.
The video and
production design by Leah Gelpe is so
arresting and gorgeous, that to see this melding of live stage with
technology
it is worth the trip to the Berkeley Rep.
Alexander V. Nichols’ lighting design also makes the rest of the
setting
work.
The Berkeley
Repertory Theatre is one of the Bay Area’s treasures.
It offers season after season of plays both
classical and innovative.
Concerning Strange
Devices from the Distant West at the Berkeley Repertory Theatre,
2025
Addison, Berkeley,
runs through April 11. Like most arts organizations, the
Rep is
offering more matinees, Thursday, Saturdays and Sundays. (510)
647 2949 or go online.
#
© Carol Benet 2010
Carol Benet is a regular theater reviewer for artssf.com.
These critiques appearing weekly (or sometimes semi-weekly, but never
weakly)focus
on theater, dance and new musical creativity in performance, with
forays
into recordings by local artists, and a few departures into books (by
authors
of the region)as well.
#
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