TRIPPED UP, EN ROUTE TO TROY 
                                              By Georgia Rowe
        artssf.com, the independent observer of San Francisco Bay Area theater, music and dance 
                                                                 Week of April 4-11, 2009
                                                                  Vol. 11, No. 88
          With “War Music,” playwright-director Lillian Groag manages the impossible: she makes the Trojan War seem dull.  Based on Christopher Logue’s translation of Homer’s the “Iliad,” Groag’s play, which opened in its world premiere production April 1 at the American Conservatory Theatre, amounts to a three-hour gloss on the great literary epic; it struts and frets and waxes poetical, but in the end, it all feels fairly empty.
            The familiar characters are all in place – the Greek army, with its celebrated warriors Agamemnon and Achilles; the Trojans, hauled into the war by Paris and sustained by Hector.  The gods and goddesses (Zeus, Hera, Athena, Aphrodite) hang around, bickering amongst themselves and tormenting the mortals.  Thirteen actors play all the parts, with Daniel Ostling’s sets, Russell H. Champa’s lighting, Jeff Mockus’s sound and Beaver Bauer’s costumes (red berets and khakis for the Greeks, blue berets and khakis for the Trojans) delineating locations and allegiances.  An original score by John Glover (performed by Glover, Andy Strain, Darren Johnston, Hadley McCarrol, Chris Froh and the Del Sol String Quartet) adds an atmospheric wash.
            Groag’s staging employs the fluid scene changes, overlapping narratives and contemporary idioms that have become the trademarks of director Mary Zimmerman (not surprisingly, both set designer Ostling, and choreographer Daniel Pelzig, have collaborated with Zimmerman.)  Yet, unlike Zimmerman’s finest works (including “Metamorphoses” and “Argonautika”), Groag brings no particular point of view to the production.  The scenes pile up, one after another, in an increasingly distant pageant, with even the central characters failing to register in compelling dramatic terms.
            The language of the play is part of the problem.  “War Music” is most effective in small, focused exchanges – an argument between Hector and his wife; an intimate scene between Achilles and his follower, Patroclus; a comic interlude for a coquettish Helen and seven besotted old men.  Elsewhere, the show is overburdened by its narrative; larded with high-flown poetry, it feels turgid and recycled. Other writers, from Shakespeare to Seamus Heaney, have told these stories with greater clarity and specificity.  What’s lacking is a uniting vision; if Groag had a pressing reason to re-tell the story of the Trojan War, it remains obscure by evening’s end.
            The actors, all playing multiple roles, labor heroically to bring the production to life.  Lee Ernst’s bloodthirsty Agamemnon, Gregory Wallace’s proud Hector, Jud Williford’s preening Achilles and Sharon Lockwood’s angry Hera give apt performances; Jack Willis’s dissipated Zeus, Christopher Tocco’s doomed Patroclus and David A. Moss’s Scamander make fine contributions.  Rene Augesen does an impressive triple turn as Helen, Thetis and Aphrodite.  Best of all are Anthony Fusco, Charles Dean, and Andy Murray, who, in addition to key roles, serve as a roving chorus.  They’re good, but they’re only telling us what we already know. 
            ”War Music” continues at the American Conservatory Theatre, San Francisco through April 26.  Running time is 3 hours.  For tickets/information call 415-749-2228, or visit www.act-sf.org
<>        ©Georgia Rowe 2009
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            Georgia Rowe has been covering the dance, theater and modern-music scene in the San Francisco Bay Area with relish -- and a certain amount of salsa -- for years.
    These critiques appearing weekly (or sometimes semi-weekly, but never weakly) will focus on dance and new musical creativity in performance, with forays into books (by authors of the region), theater and recordings by local artists as well.
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