[NEohioPAL] Berko review: STRUCK @ Cleveland Public Theatre

[Roy Berko]

*••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••
*

*STRUCK examines the brain and strokes at Cleveland Public Theatre*



Roy Berko

(Member, American Theatre Critics Association & Cleveland Critics Circle)



STRUCK, now on stage as Cleveland Public Theatre is an interesting piece,
much in the vein of Arthur Kopit’s WINGS, which had a startling production
at Beck Center starring Dorothy Silver, in which the ramifications of a
person having a stroke is investigated.



As I tell my psychology students, the brain is a marvelous, but fragile
thing.  It is the intellectual center of our very being.   It is constantly
in the process of changing, through a process known as coring.   This is
what accounts for teenagers seemingly out of the realm of reality, as they
respond, “I don’t know,” when asked why they did something.  In reality, as
their mind destructs and rebuilds, they aren’t in logical control.  The
mind also has neuroplasticity.  It may be able to be remolded, be retrained.
This ability allows individuals who often learn to write with their right
hands, if they are a lefty and the limb is injured, to make the adjustment,
or to learn again after amnesia hits.



What happens when a person has a stroke?  The incredibly complex ensemble
known as the brain goes haywire.   Thought processes, which happen daily as
we think and speak, get interrupted.  Normal tasks such as remembering what
has happened in the past, thinking in the present, or projecting into the
future become difficult, if not impossible.  What happened?  What is
happening?



STRUCK is the tale of Tannis Kowalchuk who, in 2011, suffered a stroke.  Since
then, she has been on the road to recovery, which has led her on a search
to discover not only what caused the physical problem, but what it means to
be human.  The play leads us into her own mind and its attempts at recovery.



The story is not told in a sequential format.  There is no beginning,
middle and end, per se.  We are not privy to her recovery, though we are
participants in her journey into the world of stroke patient.



As often happens with devised theatre, text, lighting, video, sound and
digital effects blend to make the whole.  It is more presentation than
focused story telling.  The runway stage, with the audience on both sides
of the action, is a whirr of curtains, projected visual images, sounds,
flashing lights, and the words of the actors.



STRUCK, a 70-minute, intermissionless, world premiere, coproduction of CPT
and the National Cultural Laboratory, is well conceived and performed,
though it is more affect then effect.  The video/sound/photography of Dana
Duke and Big Twig Studio and the work of video/digital artists Brian
Calazza and Brett Keyser, help develop Kowalchuk’s angst, as does Stephen
Arnold’s lighting.



Brett Keyser, who CPT regulars know from his performances in DARWINII:  THE
COMEUPANCE OF MAN, OPEN MIND FIRMAMENT, and BLUE SKY TRANSMISSION:  A
TIBETAN BOOK OF THE DEAD, is his usual adept self.  TANIS KOWALCHUK is his
equal as the stroke victim.



Side note:  There has been WATER WAYS, then EARTH, then NICK AND JEREMY and
now, STRUCK.   Cleveland Public Theatre seems obsessed with devised theatre,
productions which have no playwright, but are conceived by the performers
and other theatre staff.  There is nothing wrong with devised theatre, and
there is surely nothing wrong with STRUCK, but four such shows in a row
seems a bit much for a single theatre, in a single season.



*Capsule judgement: STRUCK is an interesting piece of devised theatre, that
clearly illustrates the angst of a stroke on a human and the fragility of
the human mind.*

* *

STRUCK runs through April 6  at Cleveland Public Theatre.  For tickets call
216-631-2727 or go on line to www.cptonline.org.

•••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.neohiopal.org/pipermail/neohiopal-neohiopal.org/attachments/20130402/4cfc491d/attachment-0004.htm>