In Praise of Southern Theater

SPOLETO 2010

For two weeks every spring, a multifarious collection of dancers, singers, musicians, and puppeteers descends onto Charleston's stages and infiltrates her parks during Spoleto Festival USA. This year, along with the (sensational!) standbys like chamber music at the historic Dock Street Theatre, Lizz Wright and The Ebony Hillbillies performed in the same cistern yard as Brazilian vocalist Fabiana Cozza and Afro-beat duo Bassekou Kouyate and Ngoni Ba. Marion Square and Calhoun Park were flooded with artists whose booths showcased everything from dog portraits to smashed wine-bottle cheese trays (and jewelry made from the discarded, recycled excess of stained-glass church windows—both at Old World Glass Studio), and from handcrafted wooden rockers to Charleston's own sweet grass baskets. During Spoleto, FLORA, AN OPERA was revived in the Dock Street Theatre, which hosted the show during its first season. FLORA may not have been the most coherent opera, with its tangents and trailing storylines, but, as one of the first ballad operas, performed in the first purpose-built theater in America, its revival was fascinating and fantastic, illustrating, as so many of the shows did, that at Spoleto USA, the sky's the limit.

My Spoleto experience began with Les Ballets Trockadero de Monte Carlo's surprisingly light-footed drag ballet. The performance encapsulated everything I love about the Festival—it was an evening show, a fantastically diverse audience (—I admit, the crowd was mostly white, mostly casual. But: everywhere there were exceptions to this. There was a couple in drag in the front row; a ballerina in a skirted leotard behind me; an elegant Whitney Houston lookalike in an evening gown brushing by me on her way to her seat—), and the dancers, all men, all classically trained, all made up and wigged and tutu-ed, were phenomenal. Once, not so very long ago, the thinking was that men could not perform en pointe, that they were not built for the shoe and it was not built for them, and yet there were the ballerinos, dancing away on their toes—and they could do it! Flawlessly—or, rather, in such a seamless way that it would have been easy to forget what a feat they were carrying out had they not inserted certain, specific slips and sight gags that only served to illustrate their skill. It was Buster Keaton stuff, maybe smarter, full of historical reference and cultural relevance and it was out of the closet and out of this world and the audience roared with appreciation.

Compare whatever mental image you can conjure of a man in drag impersonating an aging prima ballerina to the über-realistic puppet shows, PHILOMON AND BAUCIS and CINDERELLA, executed by The Colla Marionette Company. The stars of these productions are the puppets: beautifully constructed and individually carved, their glass eyes sparkle with animation. Each character is cast—as an actor would be cast—from thousands of puppets and each performs his or her duties with the aid of puppeteers who can manipulate everything from the movement of a wrist to the crane of a neck, making the shows completely different. Philemon, Baucis, Jupiter, and Mercury are characterized by almond-shaped eyes and aquiline noses, whereas the leading men and women of CINDERELLA are sharper and punchier, with wispy hair and pointy beards for the men. The costumes added to the distinctiveness—drapey tunics and togas dripping with gold for the gods of PHILOMON AND BAUCIS and bustled, medieval-looking ball gowns and tall hennins for the CINDERELLA gals. PHILOMON AND BAUCIS, a Haydn opera, relied on ballads to drive the action forward; the CINDERELLA production was more kid-friendly with a lightheartedness provided by a menagerie of animal characters and simple narration.

The festival concluded with a moving concert by The Carolina Chocolate Drops on the lawn of Middleton Place. Between traditional string band standards and a soulful rendition of "Hit 'Em Up Style," singer Rhiannon Giddens acknowledged the significance of a black string band performing the finale on the grounds of a former plantation. The message was the same one espoused by band member Justin Robinson on the Chocolate Drops website: "Tradition is a guide, not a jailer."

—MF

DRACULA
Arkansas Shakespeare Festival 2010

directing, adaptation, and sound by Todd Olson
lighting by Ken White
costumes by Bob Kuhn

Given contemporary desensitization to the old-school vampire, it's a wonder anyone would take on the task of presenting him without gobs of Hollywood gimmicks or a trace of irony attached. Which is part of what made Arkansas Shakespeare Theatre's recent production of DRACULA so impressive. With just a fog machine, sound and lighting effects, a scrim to reveal or hide multiple layers of action often occurring simultaneously, and (not least) the possessive powers of its actors and excellent cleverness of its creative leaders, the production achieved a glamouring energy that could hold the audience in eerie silence or cyclone it to the edge of frenzy.

—AC