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The Good Person of Setzuan
By Bertolt Brecht
Directed by Roger Bechtel
Produced by Big Picture Group
At the Athenaeum Theatre
2936 N. Southport
Chicago, IL
Call 312-902-1500, tickets $10 - $15
Thursdays thru Saturdays at 8 pm
Sundays at 3 pm
Running time is 2 hours, 10 minutes with intermission
Through July 29, 2007
Poor acting and worthless multi-media doom Brechr morality tale
Relaying on multi-media gimmicks including 18 TV monitors, 3 video cameras, 2 stand-up microphones, director Roger Bechtel forgot to cast anyone who can act in his ill-fated attempt at a Brecht play. I must say that this may be the worst collection of actors to hit the stage in many a year. They simply had no clue on presenting dialogue, being in character and being in the moment. They also had no understanding of Brecht’s script and little skill level necessary for delivering comedy, satire and irony. The only method used to display emotion was screaming.
Doing a play with Chinese characters necessitates casting Asian actors. This production had only one. The Caucasians donned large black fake eyebrows to hint at being Chinese. The acting was so stilled, the delivery so sing-songy and the voices and accents so contrived that my annoyance was complete. The feeble attempts at comedy failed to gain any laughs. Several performers mumbled, some spoke too fast running words together while others over played their characters giving the show a junior high feel at best.
Doing a complex comic morality play such as The Good Person of Setzuan would tax the skills of a veteran theatre troupe. These players were totally overmatched by the material. Neither the director nor all of the actors had a workable concept of staging a Brecht play. The media gimmicks were also sophomoric. Don’t waste your time and money on this boring show.
Not Recommended
Tom Williams
Tom99@chicagocritic.com for comments
Talk Theatre in Chicago podcast
Date Reviewed: July 12, 2007
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