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GOOD
Ark Theatre Company
by C.P.
Taylor
directed by Richard Tatum
featuring
Mary Elizabeth Barrett, Tracy Eliott, David Ghilardi, Ross Gottstein,
Jocelyn Jackson, JoAnna Jocelyn, John Murphy, Donald Robert Stewart,
Brandon Turner
SEPTEMBER
11 - OCTOBER 24, 2004
1647 South La Cienega
Boulevard
For tickets
323-969-1707
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Ghilardi great
for "GOOD"
The
Arc theatre Company allows one of it's own to create a powerhouse
performance that carries the cast and the production of
the current play on the boards, GOOD, written by CP Taylor and
directed by Richard Tatum.
First
performed in 1981, Taylor 's play is set in the 1930's, as
Hitler and his Party began to catch up average citizens into the
realm of their machinations and manipulate and hypnotize the
national psych into murder. The character of Halder represents a haunting
exploration of one man's gradual "descent by degrees" into
the heart of the fear and ideas that created the nightmare
of Nazi Germany. Halder is a Frankfurt literary professor who
lectures on Goethe and is perhaps a typical warped momma's boy
at the top of the play lured in and out of musical trances that
transport him to theories and worlds outside his own existence. How
the character transitions from writing a novel advocating
euthanasia because he can't bear his blind mothers pain to
committing the acts he is capable of in the end is a cautionary tale
for all watching and a form a neurosis for our Halder himself,
brilliantly played by David Ghilardi.
Director
Richard Tatum, with skilled and deft hand infuses both his program
notes and the production with clear imagery correlating then and
now, the Party of Hitler and the carried away patriotism of today's
American culture that is little by little, snuffing out dissent by
degrees itself. Thankfully, Tatum does this without taking liberties
with the script and the underlying commentary does not overshadow
Ghilardis performance.
The
Supporting cast runs the gamut from excellent to amateur; it takes
real chops to share any stage with a talented lead and if there are
weakness they are made all the more glaring by contrast. JoAnna
Jocelyn as Halders mother delivers a great performance both in the
physicality of a dying woman and the intense focus that she must
have to hold on to the remnants of the human being she once was.
Both determined and completely infantile in the same moment,
Jocelyn embodies the part and provides a character that is clearly the
catalyst for her sons novel.
Ross
Grottstein's character of Maurice starts out strong and is played
for then and for now; the character as everyman, which Grottstein
pulls off admirably. To play a self hating Jew who would turn
his back on all he is and represents for a chance to assimilate and
eventually just escape takes a great degree of passion. Grottstein
appeared to underplay the growing panic and desperation that comes
to a climax when he realizes he will not escape eventuality and
because of that we lose a key part of the tragedy; the point at
which the cost of selling one's soul and one friends becomes clear.
Mary
Elizabeth Barrett as Helen, Halders frumpy, old, sexually
unavailable wife is so depressed and self pitying that it is
difficult to see the characters humanity. Jocelyn Jackson as
Anne seems a little too young and too green to provide the spark and
depth acting wise to play opposite a performer like Ghilardi. She
has talent but is overwhelmed when sharing the stage with this
particular actor. Brandon Turner does a great turn as Freddie and
Donald Robert Stewart gives an unadulterated perfect performance
interpreting his directors take on the politics of past and present.
Tracy Eliot and John Murphy round out the cast and do strong work in
allowing eight different characters to bloom among them, especially
Elliot as Bouller and Elizabeth, and John Murphy as each of his
characters including a great start to the top of the show.
The
set was sparse and the stage extremely dirty. I always wonder why
smaller companies can't put a little more thought and effort into
productions that may not have a budget, to take the play space out
of the realm of a class and into the play itself, but none of that
mattered as the night went on and we were taken into the spell that
is Halders rapture and Ghilardi's master work. It is the strength of
his performance that elevates all around him and a talented director
that makes the most of his company's members. The Arc Theatre
Company once again proves it has the talent to pull off great works
in it's production of "Good", and we can all identify with
the authors intent that freedom and morality can be lost if we as
individuals and as a society do not remain vigilant. - Kevin
Kindlin
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