[NEohioPAL] Berko review: "Amazons and Their Men" @ convergence-continuum

Roy Berko via NEohioPAL neohiopal at lists.neohiopal.org
Sun Aug 10 07:37:26 PDT 2014


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*“Amazons and Their Men” script better than convergence-continuum staging*



Roy Berko

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



In 1932, Leni Riefenstahl attended a rally where Adolf Hitler spoke.  She
was so mesmerized by his public speaking ability that she reported that she
had an apocalyptic vision that included a stream of water touching the sky
and shaking the earth.



She became a National Socialist, commenting about Hitler, “I felt very
happy that such a man had come.”  She requested and had a meeting with
Hitler, was hired to direct the movie, “Victory of Faith,” a propaganda
film about a Nazi Party rally at Nuremberg in 1933.  This was the first of
many films she would direct, funded by the Nazi Party, including “Triumph
of the Will,” which was recognized as an epic, innovative work of
propaganda filmmaking.



Riefenstahl was invited to film the Olympic Games in Berlin.  Her film,
“Olympia” included technical and aesthetic achievements never before seen
in sports filming, including slow motion shots and using multi-cameras to
shoot a single scene.



“Amazons and Their Men,” a play by Jordan Harrison, which is in production
at convergence-continuum, relates the tale of The Frau (as Riefenstahl was
called), trying to make a film about Penthesilea, an Amazon queen who falls
in love with Achilles during the Trojan War.



The Frau used to direct beautiful films for a fascist government. Now she's
trying to make a film that's simply beautiful. She casts herself in the
lead role of the Amazon queen, Penthesilea.  To portray Achilles, she
recruits a male (The Man)  from the Jewish ghetto. Her own sister (The
Extra), plays all the nameless Amazons killed in the background.  The Extra
also moves scenery and props.  She casts a beautiful young telegraph youth
(The Boy) to play a young Trojan.  Complications set in when The Man and
the Boy fall in love.

The movie hits a further snag when the Minister of Propaganda, who has been
footing the bills for the filming, pulls his support and financial backing
due to the eminent start of the Second World War.

Jordan Harrison, the playwright, has written a number of plays, but is
probably best known for his writing of the Netflix hailed series, “Orange
is the New Black.”

 “Amazons and Their Men, has been called “a brash play,” “a dramatic
masterstroke,” a play “filled with dazzling wordplay.”  It is, in fact, a
well written, creative, often funny script.  In a good production it would
not only grab and hold the audience’s attention, but educate about an era
of film and history, little known to many.

Unfortunately, con-con’s staging is not an effective production.  Actors
stumble over lines; characterizations are not well developed; the contrast
between the stylized acting needed for the scenes of the film, and the
realism for actors in real life, is not well developed; the scenic design
and special effects don’t always work; accents are inserted at odd places;
the costumes fail to complete the images they are intended to create.

Jack Matuszewski as The Boy, portrays his role as it should be.  His acting
in the “film” is stylized, contrasting with his realistic “real” speeches.  He
also physically fits the role.

Clint Elston (The Man) is generally unbelievable in his scenes.  He failed
to texture the character and did not separate his “film” acting from his
“real” self.

I saw the staging on opening night, and maybe that was why usually
rock-solid Lauri Hammer seemed to be having line problems as the Frau.
Hopefully,
as the run goes on, this problem abates.  The stumbling made it impossible
to evaluate how she will develop the role.  As presented, she did not grab
and hold the characterization.

Jaclyn Cifranic did a nice job of playing multiple roles as The Extra.  Her
film scenes tended to have the right stylized acting, which separated those
characters from those in which she portrayed The Frau’s sister.

*Capsule Judgement: Jordan Harrison’s “Amazons and their Men” is a well
written play that tells a fascinating and revealing story of filmmaking and
Nazi Germany.  Unfortunately, the convergence-continuum production does not
live up to the potential of the script.*



“Amazons and their Men,” runs through August 30, 2014 at 8 pm Thursdays,
Fridays and Saturdays at convergence-continuum’s artistic home, The
Liminis, at 2438 Scranton Rd. in Cleveland’s Tremont neighborhood. For
information and reservations call 216-687-0074.



Con-con’s next show is “The Pillowman,” a dark dramatic comedy of a writer
who is accused of violence against children.  It the runs September 26
through October 18 .


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