Helen Farewell

I did get to the final performance of Helen on Saturday, and it was a full house. The audience was paying close attention, and not reacting much. Which I was told was very different from Friday night, when some local theatre folk inspired a raucous audience that laughed a lot.

Comedy can be so strange that way--sometimes, especially for plays with unusual themes or classical authors, there have to a few "laughers" in the audience to give others permission to laugh. But some nights even that's not enough. People on Saturday were talking about the content of the play at intermission and afterwards--they were really listening. But they also weren't laughing, and that can be dispiriting to the actors, and throw off their timing. This was a particular burden on Darcy Daughtry as Helen, because she carries and connects the play--the other characters (except for the servant) have one scene each, and two of them have clearly comic turns. Though it didn't seem to bother her.

And that's the other half of the dilemma for this play, because while Erik Rhea as Menelaus has some funny business, his is more of a tragic turn. So the raucous laughter of Friday turned a bit inappropriate as a response to his story of the young soldier being strangled inside the Trojan horse... Still, it probably would have been more fun to be there Friday.

One oddity about this play and where it was performed, that I doubt anyone else noticed: Down the hall from Gist Theatre, on the way to the water fountain that barely works (left over from when this building was a grade school, and so it is very low as well), the vending machines and a couple of the restrooms, there are offices. Specifically the offices of the Audio-Visual department, where the veteran Philip Hooker has been joined by Jim Goddess. And there are their quite unusual names, side by side, posted on the door: Hooker, Goddess.

And of course that's one of the major themes of Helen: Goddess--or hooker? Hooker--or goddess? Both, it seems...behind the same door.

The Lost "Helen" Review

I saw Helen on opening night, which I of course cannot write about in my print column because I get paid a magnificent hourly wage to write press releases in advance of HSU theatre productions (including Helen). Plus my partner, Margaret Thomas Kelso, is the director. Plus I did some additional dramaturgical research for this production (uncredited, I notice).

But here I am free, free! To judge my own integrity.

It's all a matter of degree, really, especially around here, and especially when inevitably you get to know people who are running these theatres, directing, acting etc. So when I go to see a play, everything else has to drop quietly in the background, deferring to the experience itself.

Anyway, this was the first time I saw the play since that early run-through, so naturally I first noticed the improvements to the set, and the lighting and sound effects I either hadn't seen or heard, or only partially in part of a tech rehearsal.

Then there was the odd feeling about laughing--was I laughing at what I laughed at before, was I missing stuff I'd found funny the first time because--well, because this was the second time? But I knew I was finding new laughs, either in lines I'd missed or because the actors had added new business and emphasis.

But once I got into the flow of the play itself, it was like any other opening night experience. And even with some first night jitters and stiffness here and there, I thought the performances were remarkably good. I'd gotten the feeling that Margaret was thriving in her experience as a director, and I could see why. The combination of the actors' talents and her care in helping them find ways to express the lines, and make them clear--it was all there.

And though I'd read the play a couple of times and seen that run-through, it was only at this performance that I realized what a good play it was. It has its limited focus, which not everyone will agree with. But the writing is splendid. The director and cast really brought out its virtues. Judging from the reviews of the original production and one or two others I read about, I wouldn't be surprised if this is the best production of this play there's been so far anywhere.

I won't say the acting itself was better--I didn't see those other productions. But the effect of those productions was, according to what was written about them, nothing like this one. Even though this is a university production, and brilliant professional actors might find additional nuances in these characters, this production works as a whole in ways that (according to those reviews) it doesn't seem the others did.

This was Missy Hopper's last performance as an HSU student, and it's a great little part for her to go out on--a carefully crafted, expressive, funny character part (if you can call playing a former shepherdess who is now a recovering cow a character part). (And that's another weird thing--I've seen Missy and other HSU students in several parts, but have never written about them, because they were all HSU shows that I can't write about.)

Johanna Hembry also has a particular take on the character of Athena--it works because she has to convey a lot of attitude and the character as a whole in her short time on stage. Especially important when you're the only representative of the gods who have been manipulating people for decades--raping them, sending them off to wars, hiding and duplicating them, blowing them off course on their way home.

Erik Rhea plays Helen's husband, the one she is waiting for. His scene and his character depends on his interaction with Helen, and that worked very well that first night--it was moody, funny, troubling, and moving in turns. Leslie Ostrom as the servant is on stage longer than anyone but Helen, and she has several long speeches, which now don't seem like long speeches. Her character is a storyteller, and naturally acts out her stories as she continues her duties. Very effective. As I noted before, they all have stage presence, but their performances are also disciplined and authentic.

As Helen, Darcy Daughtry is onstage for the entire play--all but a few brief seconds. It all depends on her. And she's just wonderful. Theatregoers hereabouts have seen her in small roles, but this is her breakout performance: a star is born.

We follow the moods of her character, and we may judge Helen in different ways--is she superficial, imperious, ironic, childlike, knowing, self-deceiving? Yes. And by the final scenes, she is really, really moving. Darcy carries the early scenes and takes you into the play with her charm. But by the end, she is in every moment, and you are with her.

I'm not a big fan of the Gist theatre--the compressed amphitheatre seating is weird and disorienting, and the room is usually too warm. The stage area can be quite big, and some productions have used that potential to good effect, others not so much. But this production uses the stage's ability to be small, and intimate. That absolutely works for this production. Being able to look into Darcy's eyes in that final scene made it very moving.

Darcy was the outsider, a non-HSU person, but she not only overcame that, she set the tone for everyone else by being prepared, working hard and working well with everyone. It's great that she got this opportunity to carry a play, and we're fortunate that she wanted to try.

Now my big worry is whether there's going to be room for me to see it again in its final weekend. HSU shows normally draw bigger houses the second weekend (most run Thursday-Saturday for two successive weekends), and a couple of other events on campus last weekend definitely suppressed the usual attendance. So I expect it's going to be a big, crowded weekend, and I can't see depriving someone who hasn't seen it at all. But I heard that one of the crew said the Saturday performance was especially good, and I want to see what they've made of it. I've seen several HSU shows opening and then closing night--it's always interesting, theatrically and emotionally.

Look at that, I've called actors by their first names. So I guess this does turn out to be a non-professional review, which in some ways is a big relief.

Let the Sunshine Back In: Hair in 2008

Unlike any shows before and few since, the musical Hair was produced in several U.S. cities at the same time it was still on Broadway. I saw it in San Francisco in 1969. I had a friend in the cast, who’d been the lead in the play I wrote and directed at college a year before, a similar 60s-spirited extravaganza called What’s Happening, Baby Jesus? (So we were pre-J.S. Superstar as well.)

 We were a bit snobbish about Hair—it seemed so 1966. A year seemed like a decade then.

 But now everything old is new again, especially as there’s so much linking 2008 with 1968, when Hair premiered on Broadway. That symmetry surprised director Vikki Young when Ferndale Rep decided to do a 40th anniversary production of the original American tribal love-rock musical.

Hair's original Broadway cast include Diane Keaton

 “Forty years ago we were embroiled in an unpopular war, there were racial issues, economic, environmental issues, and it was an election year,” she said. “Here we are forty years later, and nothing has changed. As a matter of fact, we’ve probably stepped slightly backward.”

“When I started this I had no idea that I would be so affected by this play. It is so timely—the images, the songs, the message that it delivers probably is more valid today than it was back then.”

The process of developing the production with a large, integrated cast whose ages range from 18 to 60 was particularly powerful, Young said. She found herself explaining a lot to the younger actors, like who LBJ and Margaret Mead were.

On the other hand, one of the older actors is “just getting to the point where she can do the final number without bursting into tears.”

Ferndale Rep’s production begins this weekend with a preview on Thursday, April 3. It feature’s a five piece band with musical direction by Tom Phillips, and choreography by Linda Maxwell.

There will, however, be no nudity, as there famously was in the original. “At first I was going to do it, but then I thought –why?” Young said. “Back then it was done as a message—today you see nudity on national television. It’s not shocking. This is something we didn’t need to do.”

But there’s no avoiding the political themes, and the Ferndale production won’t even try. That’s certainly in the spirit of the original—it played nationally while it was still on Broadway because the producers wanted to spread its anti-Vietnam war message.

 “I don’t think any of us have ever seen such excitement about a show coming to our stage,” Young said, the anticipation primarily coming from those who remember the show from its LBJ/MLK/RFK-era past. But a young, energetic cast and the show’s eerie relevance today may make it a hot ticket for the Obama generation, too.

 Also beginning this weekend, College of the Redwoods presents La Bete, a comedy in verse by contemporary playwright David Hirson. CR drama instructor Kjeld Lyth directs. This play about a 17th century theatre company was Hirson’s first, and received an elaborate Broadway production in 1991 that resulted in several Tony nominations. New York Times critic Frank Rich praised its ambition to create “a mock-Moliere comedy of manners and ideas as refracted through (or deconstructed by) a post-modern sensibility,” though he didn’t think it succeeded.
 But it was a hit later in London, winning a Laurence Olivier Award for best comedy. It’s since been done by regional theatres.

This production of La Bete will be “performed at breakneck speed in an absurdly high-comic style,” according to the CR description. In this play and his subsequent comedy, Wrong Mountain, playwright Hirson satirizes the contemporary theatre for its high art pretensions and low standards. Critics and audiences have argued over whether he does so successfully.

 Your chance to experience the play and join the argument comes this weekend and next, with performances Thursdays through Saturdays at 8 pm in the CR Forum Theater. There’s also a matinee this Sunday (April 6) at 2 pm.

 Also this weekend, an experiment begins at the Arcata Playhouse where Dell’ Arte, Four on the Floor Theatre and a Canadian company collaborate on a work-in-progress about a Depression-era freak show, called “Crawdaddy: A Freak Tragedy.” It also runs two weekends, Thursdays through Saturdays at 8. Watch this space for more.

 Finally, Helen, a contemporary comedy about Helen of Troy, has its final three performances this weekend in the Gist Hall Theatre, Thursday through Saturday at 7:30 pm. I am involved to a more than usual degree in this HSU production, so use that information in judging my integrity, but I feel readers who usually agree with my observations will want to know about this intelligent, theatrical comedy, and its uniformly fine performances. In particular, Darcy Daughtry, who has appeared in smaller roles in various community productions, is wonderful as Helen.

 One bit of old business: last week I found myself in the odd position of writing a letter to the editor about my own column, objecting to the term “trailer trash” that appeared in a sub-head (that I didn’t write.) The letter was printed under a clever headline I still don’t understand, so I thought I’d better explain here why I find the term objectionable---with an appropriately theatrical anecdote.

 In an American Theatre magazine interview, playwright Lucy Thurber recalled a conversation she had with August Wilson (a great American playwright who wrote about the African-American experience) at a playwrights conference several years ago. Explaining her own plays, Thurber told him, “I write about poor white trash.”

 Wilson asked her, “Are you trash?” “No,” she said, “I’m just using it as a descriptive term to explain that part of the population.” “Again, I ask you,” Wilson said, “are you trash? Are the people that you grew up with trash? Are the people you love trash?”

 "That was a huge, emotional moment for me," Thurber said in the interview. "The language we use about ourselves is important. There is something about having the courage to talk with dignity and trust and faith about these parts of America that are us."

HELEN Wheels at HSU

I'm even more involved than usual in the next HSU production, which begins Thursday. Not only did I handle the media releases and material on the HSU Stage web page for Helen, but I did some dramaturgical research for the director, who also is my partner, Margaret Thomas Kelso. So consider this more of an insider account, if you wish.

Helen is a comedy about Helen of Troy adapted by contemporary American playwright Ellen McLaughlin from a play by Euripides. Years ago, Eric Bentley suggested that university theatre should mount four kinds of plays: the great classics of the past, new plays, modern classics, and forgotten plays. This play is a fairly new, very modern forgotten play that adapts an ancient forgotten classic. (Although, by some cosmic coincidence, the rarely performed Euripides version of Helen was done at UC Santa Cruz earlier this month. )

Ellen McLaughlin has done closer adaptations of other Greek plays, but this is more her own. She's also an actor--in fact, she was the original Angel in Angels in America, from its first workshops through Broadway. Her working relationship with Tony Kushner continued when he directed the New York production of Helen at the Public Theatre. But I only found a few productions of it since. So this is a rare opportunity to see it.

I saw a run-through a couple of weeks ago, before the tech stuff was added. I've heard film directors say that the biggest part of their job is done in casting the movie. When I saw the run-through, I felt that way about this cast: they're at least half the battle. There are only five actors, and only two of them have more than one big scene. But they all look right for their roles and they all bring something interesting to their characters, and perhaps most importantly as a starting point, they all have a strong stage presence. Stage presence is really a mostly intangible combination of factors that adds up to someone your eyes and ears are drawn to, someone you just have to watch when they're on stage.

The casting coup was Darcy Daughtry, who plays Helen. Helen is on stage for all but a moment of the play, and it turns out that Darcy can hold that stage with ease. She's been in North Coast theatre since she was a child, I'm told. I've seen her in several North Coast Rep productions, and in last season's Othello. But not in a role this major. Judging from what I've seen, and what I've heard Margaret say about the work she's been doing on the part, I think this could be a breakout role for her. She's got an immense charm and assurance. She holds the stage, and she takes you with her.

This is Margaret's first full length play as a director here. She directed several plays at her last job, including one with a very large cast. (I ran a follow spot for that one, and did some sound, as I recall. ) In fact, shortly after we met in Pittsburgh, she directed a short play I wrote. Directing can be exhausting and thankless, but she's really been thriving on this experience. She's already looking for another play to direct, for the HSU season after next. She seems happier doing this than working on the play she wrote (Relative Captivity) while it was being done last term. I attribute a lot of that to working with Darcy, but directing as a practical matter, as an activity even apart from the outcome, is about relationships as much as anything else. I can't say for sure, but she seems to have "a happy set" (borrowing from movie lore again.)

(Of course, these are human beings--and besides that, college students. And it's spring. So with all the people involved--cast, crew, etc.-- a romance beginning, a romance ending can both wreak their little havoc on efficiency. It happens.)

Directing in an academic setting has its particular challenges as well as opportunities. Mounting the best show is just part of it; the learning experience for students is another. Seeing how that works in previous college productions I've observed has certainly fed back into how I review plays in any academic setting. But as far as what becomes visible, the opportunity is for all of us to discover something fresh and new. Sometimes that leads to surprisingly new ways into a play. That's very likely with Helen, partly because it's been done so few times.

But there are other complications in an academic setting, like the calendar. Between the run-through I saw and the dress rehearsals this week, there was spring break. That certainly complicated the publicity, and it seems to have made this week more frantic. But all theatre is like that--as in that famous, favorite quotation from Shakespeare in Love:"Let me explain about the theatre business. The natural condition is one of insurmountable obstacles on the road to immense disaster…" " So what do we do?" "Nothing. Strangely enough, it all turns out well." "How?" "I don’t know. It’s a mystery."

Of course, it's not all mysterious. There's a lot of planning, vision, care, effort and sacrifice as well as last-minute creativity and sudden concentration. I've heard about some new tech stuff being added to Helen, as well as sound and light problems on the way to being solved. So I'm wondering if I should sneak into the last dress rehearsal tonight, or wait for opening night Thursday. I guess it will depend on how late I am putting up more posters.