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| Sabrina Spalding, Victoria Reibel and Tony Pike in The Bald Soprano. Photo by Kelly Moore. |
The Bald Soprano
Written by Eugene Ionesco
Translated, Adapted, and
Directed by Tad Chitwood
Reviewed by Craig Nolan
Highley
Entire contents are
copyright © 2013, Craig Nolan Highley. All rights reserved.
I can honestly say I have
never been more bewildered and confused by a play that entertained me so much.
Don’t look for a lot in the
way of meaning or themes or even common sense in Savage Rose’s new production
of Ionesco’s absurdist classic. You won’t find any. What you will find is an
hour of laugh-out-loud silliness performed by a uniformly excellent cast. Yes,
I left scratching my head; but my sides were sore from the constant hilarity.
Written by Eugene Ionesco in
the late 1940s and first performed in 1950, it was inspired by the playwright’s
attempt to learn the English language. Its nominal storyline involves an
increasingly bizarre dinner party hosted by the Galettes (Michael Roberts and
Karina Strange) and attended by the Martinis (Tony Pike and Sabrina Spaulding).
As they continue in their escalating meaningless banter, they are frequently
interrupted by their maid Mary (Victoria Riebel) and her lover, the Fire Chief
(Brian Hinds). The lunacy escalates as the voices get louder, culminating in
what appears to be a complete nervous breakdown by the entire cast.
I have never read Ionesco’s
original French play or any of its English translations. But from what I can
tell, director Tad Chitwood’s new translation is quite faithful aside from a
few four-letter words and modern references. The meaning of all this lunacy has
been debated since it was written, and some interesting theories were presented
by some of my fellow audience members. I rather think it was deliberately
pointless. It isn’t called Theater of the Absurd for nothing!
Performances were top-notch
all around, with special props to Tony Pike for maintaining his constant state
of bewilderment, as if he is the only character who realizes strange things are
going on around him. Michael Roberts is also quite funny, as his lunacy
escalates right along with the plot. And Karina Strange never quite tops
herself after her hilarious foreign-language curtain speech at the top of the
show.
Tech aspects such as the set
design, sound and lighting were on par with the performances. It continues to
amaze me what great things can be done in that small space at the Bard’s Town.
This was a nice change of
pace for the Savage Rose Classical Theater Company. Sadly, the show will have
closed by the time this review posts (it ran eight performances over two
evenings), but hopefully it found its audience. I for one would love to see
some more examples of classic Absurdist plays performed locally. Rhinoceros, anyone?
Featuring Brian Hinds, Tony Pike Victoria Riebel, Michael Roberts, Sabrina Spaulding and Karina Strange
August 30-31, 2013
Savage Rose Classical
Theatre Company
At The Bard's Town
Theatre
1801 Bardstown Road
Louisville, KY 40205
(502) 749-5275
Brilliant!
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