[NEohioPAL] REVIEW: CHESAPEAKE, in Canton

[Tom Wachunas via NEohioPAL]

Ruffly Speaking

By Tom Wachunas 

   “I thought it would be very interesting, if somebody came back tolife as the dog of their worst enemy. I got very excited when I realized Icould kill my protagonist at the act break.” - playwright Lee Blessing, commenting on his play, Chesapeake 

   Considering the societal bad blood soprofusely flowing in America of late, Canton’s Seat of the Pants Productionsdesigned its Summer season of plays, under the collective name of ACTS OFDISSENT, to, in the words of Craig Joseph,“…dramatize and "storify" some of the conflicts that exist in Americatoday in an effort to move hearts and open minds, thereby creating an avenuefor increased understanding and potential dialogue.”  Joseph stars in the current production of Chesapeake, a one-man show written byLee Blessing in 1999.

  The setting for Chesapeake harkens to the tumultuous“culture wars” that began during the late 1980s (and raged through the 1990s),when vitriolic conservatives, including North Carolina Senator Jesse Helms andhis dour cronies, sought to diminish or dismantle the National Endowment forthe Arts (NEA) for its perceived promulgation of “indecent” art.  

   Here we meet Kerr,a bisexual artist whose NEA-supported performance piece draws the ire of oneTherm Pooley, a blustery Southern conservative. After winning his Senate seatlargely by stirring up public furor over Kerr’s “obscene” art, Pooley campaignsto shut down the NEA. The outraged Kerr in turn concocts an elaborate act ofrevenge – which he considers a performance art work in itself - and steals theSenator’s beloved Chesapeake Bay Retriever, Lord Ratliff of Luckymore,nicknamed ‘Lucky,’ and affectionately called ‘Rat’ by Pooley. But before Kerrcan fully consummate his nefarious invasion of Pooley’s life, things goterribly wrong, taking a simultaneously bizarre and utterly hilarious turn whenLucky literally inhabits the body of Kerr. Or is it that Kerr inhabits Lucky? Thisentire performance is surely a metaphysical monologue.

   As Kerr, CraigJoseph is brilliantly commanding. He immerses himself in a seeminglyinexhaustible reservoir of performing stamina to sustain an astonishing rangeof postures and vocal nuances. Something of a neurotic anarchist at heart, Kerrstruggles through his pride and vulnerability to define and perhaps breach theshifting boundaries between art and life. He wags his shaggy tale with anincessant alacrity as endearing as it is quick and startling. So there’s astaccato intensity in the way Joseph pours out the confessional cascade ofKerr’s childhood memories,  recollectionsof the other characters (including Pooley’s alluring personal assistant, andPooley’s domineering wife), and the fiery allocutions of his aesthetic philosophy,however confused it may be. As viewers, we become witnesses to an increasingly funnybut ironic and complex transformation. It’s an extraordinary morphing whereinJoseph’s most riveting sleight–of-personality is his portrayal of theself-aware Lucky. While seeing life from Pooley’s perspective, Lucky/Kerr alsotemporarily poses as God, hoping to direct Pooley’s NEA policy decisions. 

    In a future time and place, maybe this playwill be regarded simply as a curious, sardonic caricature that skewered the self-righteoussloganeering and misguided visions of myopic politicians and artists alike. Butas it is now, and beyond considering potential elimination of the NEA (alwaysan easy target in the panoply of Federal budget expenditures), Blessing’s play (ablessing of a play) still speaks with palpable urgency and thought-provokingwit to our acrimonious times.

   At the end I wasreminded that now more than ever before, we need to start seeing each other notas adversarial agendas, but rather as faithful retrievers, so to speak, ofcultural dignity and peace. These days, maybe America is like that old jokeabout the dyslexic agnostic insomniac who stayed up all night, thumbing throughthe Bible, looking for Dog. 

   Chesapeake, at the Black Box Theatre,located in GlenOak High School, 1801 Schneider Street Northeast, Canton, OH /Performances are Friday and Saturday at 8 PM, Sunday at 2PM, June 16 -18

Tickets are $15, and can be purchased at                          www.chesapeakecanton.eventbrite.com  
   For other commentaries by Tom Wachunas onthe arts in the greater Canton area, please visit his blog, ARTWACH, at   www.artwach.blogspot.com
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