[NEohioPAL]New Professional Theatre in Cleveland: A Review

[Roy Berko]

CONVERGENCE-CONTINUUM, NEW PROFESSIONAL THEATRE
PREMIERS

Roy Berko
(Member, American Theatre Critics Association)

-The Times Newspapers-
Lorain County Times--Westlaker Times--Lakewood News
Times-Olmsted-Fairview Times


It’s rough to build a new theatre, develop a company,
set a clear agenda for what is going to be
accomplished, and stage the first show.  This is even
more nerve-racking when you have your entire life
savings invested in the adventure.  

This is the case with Clyde Simon, the Artistic
Director and Brian Breth, the Executive Director of
convergence-continuum, Cleveland’s newest theatre
company.  The duo met while at Kent State.  They went
their separate ways for a while.  Simon moved on to a
New York theatre career.  Breth acted in various local
theatres while holding a day job.  They finally came
together and decided it was time to offer the North
Coast a new view of theatre.  They contend that their
purpose is to present plays that none of the local
theatres are doing.    They will also run from Spring
to Fall, which is a season when most other serious
theatres take a break.   The fact that their new
facility, The Liminis, located in the Tremont area, is
air-conditioned gives them the luxury of this unusual
timing.  
	
Simon and Breth created The Liminis theatre  by
purchasing a home that was built in 1860, renovated it
into a personal living space, two smaller apartments,
and a theatre that will seat 40 to 60, depending on
the seating configuration. 
	
As the duo states in the program notes for their first
production,"We have long felt that theatre in
Cleveland was the equivalent of comfort food. 
Familiar, bland, and safe.  We longed for more
challenging fare, theatre that forces us and our
audiences out of our comfort zones--both by what is
presented and how."   To preview their goals they
selected the controversial QUILLS.   The show does
yell "not traditional fare." 

As Doug Wright's Obie Award winning play warns, "You
are about to embark on a gothic tale of virtue and
vice, of comedy and terror, of love and shocking
erotica, of brutal censorship and, ultimately, the
uncrushable spirit of the human imagination."   It
continues, " Be forewarned.  This is the imagined
story of the final days of the Marquis De Sade, the
writer, rebel and sensualist who explored the darkest,
even criminal impulses of human passions and was
proclaimed at once among the most devilish monsters
and the freest spirits the world has known."
	
The Marquis De Sade, from whose name sadism comes, was
banished to the Charenton Asylum for the Insane by
Napoleon in an attempt to quiet his "vile" writings
and to "cure" him of his wicked desires.  The play, as
did the movie version which starred Geoffrey Rush,
allows us to glance into the Sade's cell and
experience how he was befriended by the progressive
young asylum director Abbe Coulmier, a priest who
believed in treating his patients humanely and
providing means for creative expression. In this
atmosphere, the Marquis found it easy to strike up a
friendship with the comely young laundress Madeleine,
who helps him to smuggle out his prolific writings. 
The play recounts how the writer’s pen was silenced
through a series of hideous acts that rivaled those
created by De Sade himself.   On an intellectual
level, it examines the conflicts between art and
censorship, libido and inhibition, morality and
brutality, passion and persecution.
	
Though sometimes hard to watch, this play is both
seductive and thought-provoking.  Potential audience
members should be aware that full male nudity, what
some would consider repugnant language, sexual
narration and heinous physical acts are contained in
the presentation.

Convergence-continuum’s production is uneven.  Though
it lists itself as a new professional, non-equity
theatre, the acting levels were often not at a
professional level.  Simon, who has the looks of a
character actor, built well into the role of the
Marquis.   The handsome, boyish-looking Breth was
excellent as Abbe de Coulmier.  Unfortunatley,  much
of the rest of the cast was not up to level of the
leading actors.  Supporting performers often lacked
clear characterizations.  The use of accents and
overacting were distracting.  Laughs were often the
result of stressing titillation rather than meanings. 
The production was also very long with the audience
being confused as to when each act ended.  

There is an old saying in the auto business that one
should be aware that as a new car comes on the market
adjustments will need to be made.  The same needs to
be understood with new theatres.   Be aware that
convergence-continuum, Cleveland’s newest theatre
model did present a thought-provoking play that many
local theatres wouldn’t produce.  The major performers
were proficient.  The new theatre space is intimate
and well-suited for scripts that larger theatres can’t
accommodate.  Now we wait for adjustments to be made
to correct the flaws.

Welcome convergence-continuum.  May you have many
years of success and quickly  mature into a Cleveland
landmark performance venue.

The Liminis Theatre is located at 2438 Scranton Road. 
Tickets for QUILLS, which runs though August 31, are a
reasonable $12 ($9 for students) and can be obtained
by calling 216-687-0074.	  Free parking is available
on the streets around the theatre.


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