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Sunday, 6 May 2007 10:13 pm
WOMEN - IN - ART! WOMEN - IN - ART!
On Friday night, I ushered Wendy Wasserstein's The Heidi Chronicles. Having come to Arena Stage's Fichandler Theater many times over the last decade, I've grown accustomed to the round stage, where breaking the fourth wall means breaking all four walls. But this show used a device I'd never seen in a play before. Hanging from the ceiling was a set of four square screens at 90-degree angles to one another. I soon decided not to watch from a corner; I would see two screens at once, and they did show slightly different things. (My mom had sat on the other side during the first of two acts, and from what she said, the other two screens mirrored them.) These screens provided (1) a sense of setting -- e.g., a basketball hoop and a clock for a gym, or a cityscape -- (2) montages of cultural events as the play progressed over decades, (3) lecture hall slide presentations, and (4) a showing of It's a Wonderful Life during the holiday season. Neat stuff.
The play itself is about a woman who becomes a renowned teacher and writer on women in art. I may have to hunt down the script to review her lessons at the start of each act, as they must be well-researched. I'm sure I was never taught much about women in art, and even my most feminist history teacher had little to tell us on women's history in general.
Heidi deals with a number of enchanting but questionable characters, from her erudite but aggressive lover to her feminist fellowship to her fun gay male friend to her baby shower companions. Everyone who gets more than a minute of dialog ceases to be a type, thanks to a writing style that had me hanging on every line. I might mention that this is one of the few plays I've seen in which females definitely outnumber males.
Be warned -- your reaction may depend on your generation. For me, it was frequently very funny or pleasantly bittersweet. For my mom, the first act brought painful memories. But we both decided that the second act was a little weaker. In particular, Heidi's university speech left something to be desired for the real audience as much as for the recorded one.
The actors? Honestly, they're almost always impressive at Arena, and this was no exception. But any production in which the same actor plays a character at both 18 and 48 will require a pretty strong suspension of disbelief. At least they got the mannerisms down.
Overall, a fine way to make 2 hours and 40 minutes blow by.
The play itself is about a woman who becomes a renowned teacher and writer on women in art. I may have to hunt down the script to review her lessons at the start of each act, as they must be well-researched. I'm sure I was never taught much about women in art, and even my most feminist history teacher had little to tell us on women's history in general.
Heidi deals with a number of enchanting but questionable characters, from her erudite but aggressive lover to her feminist fellowship to her fun gay male friend to her baby shower companions. Everyone who gets more than a minute of dialog ceases to be a type, thanks to a writing style that had me hanging on every line. I might mention that this is one of the few plays I've seen in which females definitely outnumber males.
Be warned -- your reaction may depend on your generation. For me, it was frequently very funny or pleasantly bittersweet. For my mom, the first act brought painful memories. But we both decided that the second act was a little weaker. In particular, Heidi's university speech left something to be desired for the real audience as much as for the recorded one.
The actors? Honestly, they're almost always impressive at Arena, and this was no exception. But any production in which the same actor plays a character at both 18 and 48 will require a pretty strong suspension of disbelief. At least they got the mannerisms down.
Overall, a fine way to make 2 hours and 40 minutes blow by.