CurtainUp
CurtainUp
The Internet Theater Magazine of Reviews, Features, Annotated Listings
HOME PAGE

SITE GUIDE

SEARCH


REVIEWS

REVIEW ARCHIVES

ADVERTISING AT CURTAINUP

FEATURES

NEWS
Etcetera and
Short Term Listings


LISTINGS
Broadway
Off-Broadway

NYC Restaurants

BOOKS and CDs

OTHER PLACES
Berkshires
London
California
New Jersey
Philadelphia
Elsewhere

QUOTES

TKTS

PLAYWRIGHTS' ALBUMS

LETTERS TO EDITOR

FILM

LINKS

MISCELLANEOUS
Free Updates
Masthead
A CurtainUp Review
OUT CRY


The properties of the play are the properties of our lives. .—-Felice
OUT CRY
Mia Katigbak
(Photo: Czerton Lim)
Tennessee Williams may not have been the most "realistic" of playwrights, given the psychological uncertainty which tends to pervade his work. But he's never been considered particularly avant-garde either. Complex and dysfunctional as they are, Williams' characters are often drawn directly from his own experience, and are memorable in part because of the emotional truths they are able to express. Maybe this explains why OUT CRY, one of his later and lesser known works, isn't performed much. Experimental and edgy, it feels more like a work by Pinter than Williams, and the disconnect between an audience's expectation and the play's reality is somewhat discomfiting. It's therefore difficult, in a way, to make a definitive pronouncement on the National Asian American Theatre Company's (NAATCO) new production of the play at the Abingdon Theater since it doesn't really work, but it's unclear who's really to blame.

Out Cry, sometimes alternatively called The Two Character Play, follows a brother-sister team of actors towards the end of a long and wearying tour. Felice (Eduardo Machado) and Clare (Mia Katigbak, the company's artistic director) have been abandoned by their fellow actors, who have left only a note accusing them of being insane. Despite an incomplete set (well-designed by Czerton Lim, though really underutilized in the staging) and almost wholly absent company, Felice convinces his sister to go on with the show. In this case the show is the aforementioned Two Character Play, about a reclusive brother and sister who refuse to leave their home. The parallels are obvious, and as the play proceeds it becomes clear that the fear and panic of the characters reflects the same anxieties in the actors—and are increasingly difficult to contain within the illusory frame of the theater.

It's an interesting premise, but in practice the work that Williams called his most "beautiful play since [A Streetcar Named Desire]" has a hard time deciding how avant-garde it wants to be, or how committed to it. A huge sculpture periodically makes odd mechanical sounds at the beginning, frightening both actors, but this stops after a few minutes and is essentially forgotten for the rest of the play. Phones are randomly connected and disconnected, but this too is never explored in any detail, nor applied to the play's larger context in any meaningful way. Yet the incredibly eccentric behavior of Felice and Clare continually pushes the action out of any realistic frame.

Williams evidently wasn't fully comfortable with this mix, and making it work is a daunting task. On paper the experience to pull it off seems to be there: Machado has been a theater fixture for many years, and his knowledge of every aspect of dramatic production ought to be good preparation for this work. But again, in practice Machado doesn't invest his character with any memorable presence. Felice is intended to seem somewhat in control of Clare, but he delivers his lines flatly and with little energy. It's hard for the audience to care about his circumstances when he clearly doesn't. Katigbak is much more successful representing Clare's paranoia and schizophrenic tendencies, but she can't do it alone as too often she's forced to do so that.

Though, taken as a whole, the acting isn't up to the play's challenge, this too is an uncertain verdict, because director Thom Sesma content to let the text wander on without real distinctiveness or message. This is particularly frustrating given the play's flashes of wit and thoughtful dialogue ("Don't worry about the ending, it'll come to us, Clare. I think you'll find it wherever you hid it.") This is Tennessee Williams, after all. But it's also Williams playing at being Pirandello, and navigating that masquerade is tricky business. I give NAATCO full credit for making the attempt, but effort only goes so far, and in the end this one doesn't really pay off.

For more about Tennessee Williams and links to other Williams plays reviewed at Curtainup, see our Tennessee Williams Backgrounder.

OUT CRY
Playwright: Tennessee Williams
Directed by Thom Sesma
Cast: Mia Katigbak (Clare), Eduardo Machado (Felice)
Set Design: Czerton Lim
Costume Design: Candida K. Nichols
Lighting Design: Stephen Petrilli
Sound Design: Jane Shaw
Running time: One hour, fifty-five minutes (includes one ten minute intermission)
Abingdon Theater, 312 W. 36th St., (212) 868-4444
Website: http://www.abingdontheatre.org/
From 11/29/08 to 12/21/08; opening 12/04/08
Tues. - Sat. @ 7 p.m., Sun. matinee @ 3 p.m.
Tickets: $20
Reviewed by Gregory A. Wilson based on December 3rd performance
REVIEW FEEDBACK
Highlight one of the responses below and click "copy" or"CTRL+C"
  • I agree with the review of OUT CRY
  • I disagree with the review of OUT CRY
  • The review made me eager to see OUT CRY /li>
Click on the address link E-mail: esommer@curtainup.com
Paste the highlighted text into the subject line (CTRL+ V):

Feel free to add detailed comments in the body of the email.

South Pacific  Revival
South Pacific


In the Heights
In the Heights


Playbillyearbook
Playbill 2007-08 Yearbook


Leonard Maltin's Classic Movie Guide
Leonard Maltin's 2008 Movie Guide


broadwaynewyork.com


amazon




©Copyright 2008,

GUCCI

|

Aluminium Chronograph

|

PEAK new fashion ladies venting air spring heighten casual sport shoes P8004E

|

Tiffany & Co Hook and Eye Ring

|

mbt shoes

|

MBT Shoes

|

Tiffany&Co Daisy 925 sterling silver rings

|

Rolex

|

Louis Vuitton

|

Affliction Boots

|

Nike Shoes

|

Nike Dunk

|

MP5 Wholesale

|

Atlanta Falcons

|

Abercrombie Pants Wholesale 002

|

Louis Vuitton

|

UGG Boots Mulberry Genuine Australia classic Tall Ugg Boots

|

GUCCI Handbags

|

UGG Boots Classic Argyle Knit Chocolate 5879

|

Louis Vuitton Business Card Holder Ebony

|

MBT Men's Kisumu Tan Sandals

|

MBT Chapa

|

ugg boots

|

MBT Kisumu 2 White Men's Sandals

|

Nike Shoes

|

Louis Vuitton Monogram Denim Messenger Bag PM m95865

|

Bailey Button Uggs

|

Sexy Costume QS0169

|

Phone Wholesale

|

Bikinis Sets

|

Wholesale

|

Car DVD Player

|

LV

|

Tourbillon

|

Tiffany tiffany replica ring

|

Superleggera J12 White

|

Tiffany

|

rolex

|

Mouse Wholesale

|

Nike Air Max 2003

|

Monogram Groom

|

GUCCI

|

Wholesale

|

Nike Air Max LTD (dark blue/white) No.372340

Elyse Sommer.
Information from this site may not be reproduced in print or online without specific permission from esommer@curtainup.com