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Go west, young man (and woman)
By Ed Rampell
When the curtain rises at L.A. Opera, audiences often applaud for the brilliantly executed sets -- a Spanish piazza in Carmen, an Italian prison in Tosca, a mad scientist’s lab in The Fly – as if they are co-stars in the production. Don’t expect to see elaborate backdrops, etc., in Steven Berkoff’s West at Venice’s Electric Lodge, which is at the other end of the stage experience. In fact, the playbill for the Bruce Cooper-directed production of West doesn’t even have a set designer credit for this pay, which seems to epitomize the theatrical theories of Polish director Jerzy Grotowski.
My first lover, an aspiring actress named Liz who attended the American Academy of Dramatic Arts in New York, was an advocate of Grotowski, author of Towards a Poor Theatre. As Liz explained Grotowski was a sort of born again dramatist who eschewed onstage special effects, flashy scenery and the like and believed in getting back to the basics where the play per se was the thing. Instead of competing with movies (which generally surpass the stage in terms of rock ’em sock ’em special effects theater should concentrate on its innate attributes and strengths: acting and text in a live experience. It’s a sort of theatrical version of Italian Neo-realism and the Danish Dogma School of filmmaking.
With its completely bare stage (except for a few chairs) this production of West embodies Grotowski’s poor theatre ethos, and the results are anything but poor. This is a richly complex drama about gang violence in 1963 London, marriage, romantic relationships, winning, revenge, mass media and the madness of machismo run amok. Brad Schmidt as Mike is the leader of the pack who feels compelled to avenge the death of a fellow gangbanger by a rival gang. The mano a mano clash of the titans between the two gang leaders (Joshua Schell powerfully portrays Curly) is expertly acted and blocked by fight choreographer Joe Sofranko. (But I can’t tell you more about this battle royale because the first rule of Fight Club is: Don’t discuss Fight Club.)
What will probably surprise American audiences is that instead of baggy pants, hoodies, doo rags, jeans, leather jackets, etc., West’s gang members wear suits and ties. These characters seem related to the so-called “Teddy Boys,” a post-WWII subculture of British toughs. Mike’s droogies are ably portrayed by a quartet of gifted rising talents: Dixie Arnold, Brick Patrick and Joshua Zain. Dennis Kleinsmith portrays Mike’s father Sid, a working class sod who denies his son as facilely as he slights his wife, Pearl.
She’s insightfully portrayed by Kate Roxburgh; her housewife’s wheedling and negotiating with an emotionally distant husband and breadwinner in order to curry favor is heartbreaking and dead on the money, in terms of observing human behavior and translating it into acting. In a dual role (several of West’s cast deftly play more than one role), Roxburgh’s waitress in a telling restaurant vignette that is the opposite of Jack Nicholson’s celebrated rebellious turn in an eatery in Five Easy Pieces also reveals much about human characterDuring her comedic scenes, Annie Burgstede as the redheaded, lovelorn Sylv steals every humorous scene she’s in. She alternates between being a games- playing sly seductress and a vulnerable woman who turns a telephone into a character as she waits in vain for Mike to ring her and rescue Sylv from her crushing loneliness. Burgstede who should have a bright future as a comedienne.
West’s denouement reminded me of the finale of a Napoleon Chagnon anthropological account of the Amazonian Indians, the Yanomamo: Trapped in a never ending cycle of conflict, the primitive tribesmen embark on yet another senseless act of warfare which, in turn, will lead to more reprisals, and so on, ad infinitum. So, perhaps the moral of Berkoff’s story is one about endless violence, as his angry young men mindlessly fight for an illusive and elusive “victory.” As an actor -- as well as a playwright –- who has portrayed a Bond villain opposite Roger Moore in 1983’s Octopussy, this British playwright knows a thing or two about the heart of human darkness.
Also about the influence of mass media on the folks out there in TV-land. There is a droll spoof of the opening credit sequence of Hawaii Five-O -– arguably television’s finest montage title sequence –- acted out with relish by the cast, including outrigger canoe paddling panache. This is all the more remarkable given that Jack Lord’s detective-in-paradise series premiered on CBS in 1968 -– five years after West is set. But this is just a mere quibble as the scene is extremely enjoyable and well done.
One other point, according to an audience member and aspiring actress named Kim, who –- like several of the thesps attended L.A.’s American Academy of Dramatic Arts -– only one person in West’s cast is actually British. This surprised me, as the characters’ Brit accents are so finely drawn that they’d beguiled this Yank into believing he was indeed watching mad dogs and Englishmen. Nevertheless, in a city sometimes seething with gang violence, West is well worth seeing..
West is being performed through Feb. 6 at the Electric Lodge, 1416 Electric Ave., Venice, CA 90201, on Fridays and Saturdays at 8:00 p.m. For more info: 310/823-0710; http://hellion-pictures.com/west
