By
Matthew Crosby
Actors' Furniture Group at Theatreworks until April 1, 2000
Reviewer: Kate
Herbert
Is it possible that a
newborn infant bears the taint of original sin? Ar humans innately evil? Mat
Crosby's play, Butcher, is an abstract study of guilt and innocence, love and
death, good and not-so-good.
Actors' Furniture Group works in the style of Tadashi
Suzuki, a Japanese director with whom most of the company have studied either
here or in Japan.
The method is to make both physical and vocal demands on
actors and to focus on the internal "animal energy" rather than the
intellectual exterior.
There is, though, a
surprising dichotomy in the play. The text is often confusing and
intellectually demanding. There is little action on stage and limited dynamic
or emotional range. The animal energy is still trapped in its cage at this
stage.
The narrative involves Milos (Dean Linguey), a butcher, and
his wife, Maeve (Lynne Santos) who run a butcher's shop during a war,
probably somewhere in Europe in World War Two.
Maeve and Milos tilt in and out of vaudevillian comedy.
The story is linear but abstract with interjections from the
devil (Glynis Angell) and a Stage
Manager (Ben Rogan). The SM is testing the thesis that humans are innately
evil.
Crosby's text is poetic, often rich but also obscure in
meaning. He incorporates purposely unfunny jokes. Life is comic-tragic. Music
by Robin Cuming is evocative and well placed. The show could benefit from even
more. A single song seemed too little.
The sparse set is barely lit. Actors emerge in slow motion from dark
recesses of the cavernous space of Theatreworks.or appear in torchlight.
This is a confusing production that could benefit from a
hefty edit. It could make a tight one hour play.
by Kate Herbert
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