Machinal

There's good news and bad news about CSU's production of "Machinal". It's good news that CSU is bringing thought provoking theater like The Cripple of Inishmaan and Machinal to Columbus. And it's good news that Mandi Kerr's performance as a borderline schizophrenic is my nominee for the performance of the year on a Columbus stage.

The bad news is that there's no borderline schizophrenic in Machinal.

Sophie Treadwell's play is about a young woman who is trapped in a 1920s New York world in which most women have accepted their roles as wife and mother with no other ambitions. The young woman, who's name is Helen Jones (the play's notes don't give anyone a name to reinforce the idea that we're all just machines), marries her boss because he's the only one who asked her and then consents to sex and a baby because it's just one more step down the slope. She then takes a lover who, in Neil Young's words, is "bound for moving on"; in other words is free of society's rules. Eventually, her need to be free leads her to kill her husband and be executed for murder.

The problem here is that in the beginning of the show, Ms Kerr's Helen appears to be so fragile that she might come apart at any moment and even threatens her mother. One wonders what her boss sees in this nervous, tight hair bun of a girl. She only becomes more unwound as she has the baby and begins talking to herself or to someone unseen and seems suicidal. Then, toward the end of the first act, she shows up in a bar with her hair down picking up a strange man and turning obsessive.

Treadwell's intention was to show how a young woman who had few choices might rebel against the society which persecuted her. She might get along by going along but she might also eventually refuse to submit with disastrous consequences. Ms Kerr's performance was riveting but instead of coming away with a larger understanding of how society molds women (and indeed everyone) into its own image, one comes away dazed. This is also in part because Ms Treadwell ladles on issue after issue from abortion to the death penalty so that one only wants to come up for air.

There's more good news in the staging, directing and casting. Machinal isn't an easy piece to stage and director Dr. Becker found a strong cast and kept the staging tight.

Art Lectures

I've attended two really terrific lectures on art in the last few days.

The CSU Friends of Art held a reception and lecture by Bo Bartlett on Friday. He was quite engaging and showed slides of a number of his pieces and the paintings that influenced them. Sometimes the influence was obvious and sometimes it seemed a stretch but it was helpful to understand where he's coming from with some of the more obscure references. One painting was of a group of folks cutting a man out of a whale. In fact it was a reference to Jonah and Bartlett told the whole story of Jonah in excruciating detail to get to a point explaining his version.

I've opined here before that he was influenced by Rockwell and Wyeth and he verified that. He, in fact, spent five years with Andrew Wyeth doing a film about him and so became very close to him and his mistress. When he talked about Wyeth's passing, he broke up.

CSU's new art display space will have a number of his pieces on loan and that alone should vault them into the top of museums in the state.

On Tuesday night, I heard a lecture by Olga Stone on Orthodox icon art delivered in Columbus' Greek Orthodox Church. The church interior is covered, walls and ceilings, with icons. Ms Stone, a native of Russia who now lives in the UK, covered Christian and Orthodox history as well as some art that has sprung from icons. The church icons were done by a Romanian artist who lived there for a year. I was very much impressed by his artistry, but Ms Stone pointed out that all Orthodox icons are pretty much the same depiction. St. Nicholas, for instance, is always shown with two crosses and a bible on his breast. Christ and Mary always have the same colors. So the Romanian artist pretty much copied the work in the church but you shouldn't let that put you off. It's really something to see and you can see it on Sundays when they worship at 10 am.

The Cripple of Inishmaan

Those of you educated in theater may write me off after this confession, but truth be told, I don't care for trying to wade through actor's accents in theater-especially Irish accents. I once saw Conor McPherson's "The Weir" in London with presumably real Irishmen, and didn't understand a word of it. I can even do without Shakespeare's old English.

Columbus State University's production of "The Cripple of Inishman" is largely understandable but it's a beautifully constructed and written play and it seems a shame to waste any of it. And I couldn't deconstruct some of it including at least one very important piece. Of course, the purpose of the University is to prepare the students and so I understand the need for them to develop an Irish brogue. Ironically, Kori Jackson's accent was probably both the best and the least understandable although when she slowed down toward the end it was easier to keep up.

Putting aside the accents, director Lawrence McDonald has given us a very well cast and tightly directed production of a very Irish play. The joy of the play is its multitude of well drawn characters, each of whom has a sympathetic identity that we can identify with.

Cripple Billy, played by Eddie Zaboroskie, sees an opportunity to escape a world where he is considered bad luck and the most interesting activity of the day is watching cows. It doesn't quite work out but when he returns the secrets of the community come out. Cripple Billy is a challenging part because he must stoically endure slights and insults that shock those of us that haven't lived a life with them and Eddie Zaboroskie never over reacts. His final scene with Kori Jackson's Helen is excruciating in its pathos.

Caroline Thrasher and Kimberly Belflower as Billy's two protective aunts are just right in their anguish over Billy's departure. Both students have turned in very different and excellent performances in other CSU productions and I'm always glad to see them cast. Director McDonald casting is one of the strong points of this production.

Cripple has been one of CSU's most popular productions selling out nearly every show. It's combination of humor, mystery, characters, and pathos make it a riveting evening and CSU has done the community a favor by bringing it to the stage.

This week-end

Columbus State University's theater department opens a new production this week-end and it actually will play on Friday and Saturday of next week-end. I've heard that the cast has been very sick and will be touch and go for Friday but they do have understudies. If you have a choice, you might want to go next week-end since they won't be on top of their game even if they get well.
The Symphony is also presenting a Valentine Day program on Saturday so get off the duff and see something!