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<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family:Palatino">Thought provoking
ANTELBELLUM at Cleveland Public Theatre</span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family:Palatino"> </span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:Palatino">Roy Berko</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Palatino">(Member,
American Theatre Critics Association & Cleveland Critics Circle)</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:Palatino"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:Palatino">In 1939, Hattie McDaniel
was the first African-American to win an Oscar for her portrayal of Mammy in
GONE WITH THE WIND.<span style> </span>She was also
the first African American to be an invited guest to attend the Oscars.<span style> </span>Ironically, she was required to sit
alone at the back of the Cocoanut Grove, the site of the award ceremonies, a
far distance from the white performers in the movie.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:Palatino"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:Palatino">Berlin in the 1930s was a
hotbed of decadence.<span style> </span>There were
over 160 gay and lesbian bars and nightclubs.<span style> </span>The use of drugs, prostitution, cross dressing and other lifestyle
choices were in vogue before the rise of the Nazis.<span style> </span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:Palatino"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:Palatino">It is against these two
backdrops that Robert O’Hara’s ANTEBELLUM, which is getting its regional
premiere at Cleveland Public Theatre, is set.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:Palatino"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:Palatino">The play is part mystery,
part romance, and an adventure that bridges together religion and race in a
time of hatred.<span style> </span>Its underpinning
is expressed in the director’s notes in the program:<span style> </span>“As I see [U. S.] conservative extremists gaining momentum,
I often have the same fear that Gabriel shares in the play, ‘The majority
remains quiet..And it is the minority…which strikes the match.’”</span><span style="font-family:Verdana"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:Palatino"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:Palatino">We watch as the scenes
switch back and forth between a Southern plantation, a Berlin cabaret, and a
concentration camp.<span style> </span>We find
Gabriel, a Black American cabaret singer as he transitions from entertainer and
the lover of a Jewish Southern American male (Ariel Roca) who is in Berlin “on
business,” to becoming a companion to a Nazi officer (Oskar von
Schleicher).<span style> </span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:Palatino"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:Palatino">Meanwhile, in Atlanta,
there is much decadence surrounding the world premiere of the movie GONE WITH
THE WIND.<span style> </span>Into the southern
setting steps Edna, who arrives unexpectedly at the home of Ariel and Sarah
Roca.<span style> </span>Yes, the same Ariel
that we saw in Berlin.<span style> </span>Why is Edna
there?<span style> </span>What havoc will her
appearance cause?<span style> </span>Time will tell,
and the results are shocking and illuminating.</span><span style="font-family:Arial;color:#444444"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:Arial;color:#444444"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:Palatino">O’Hara’s script is well
crafted, but a bit melodramatic.<span style>
</span>It’s appropriately written in both the genre of the overdone romance
movies of the 30s, combined with mystery approaches of the films of that same
era.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:Palatino"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:Palatino">The CPT production, under
the direction of Beth Wood, generally works.<span style> </span>Staged in a runway theatre configuration, with the audience
on both sides of the stage, set up in the middle of the Gordon Square Theatre,
Wood’s stage design allows for easy flow between various settings and keeps the
audience close to the action.<span style> </span>The
major flaw is that the theatre’s high ceiling and hard walls causes echoes and
difficulty in clearly hearing the words.<span style>
</span>The backs of the performers are constantly turned away from one part of
the audience or the other.<span style> </span>The
actors make straight line stage crosses, rather than the traditional figure-8
eights used for this type of staging, which would have opened them to the
audience.<span style> </span>This, plus the southern
drawls and German-American accents, makes clear hearing problematic.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:Palatino"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:Palatino">Nicholas Sweeney as Gabriel,
the cabaret singer, effectively develops his tightrope walking roll, moving
from show boy, to lover, to medical experiment, with clarity.<span style> </span>Dana Hart is properly both horrific and
tender as the German commandant, who acts against the principles of the
theories of the master race with his love for the Black, gay Gabriel.<span style> </span>Laurel Hoffman clearly carries
the audience on a journey asking whether she is a ditz, crazy or a manipulator
as Sarah, the southern belle and unfulfilled convenience wife of Ariel. <span style> </span>Mark Rabant is believable as the
conflicted Ariel.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:Palatino"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:Palatino">Only Audrey Lovy, as
Edna, fails to develop a real character.<span style>
</span>She stays on the performance surface, using forced physical movements
and unmotivated vocal idea development.<span style>
</span>Lovy doesn’t make us understand her real torment.<span style> </span>The program credited-acting coach
needed to work on this.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:Palatino"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:Palatino">Sarah’s GONE WITH THE
WIND gown, as created by Melanie Boeman, is one of the season’s costume
highlights.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:Palatino"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><i style><span style="font-family:Palatino;color:black">Capsule judgement:<span style> </span>ANTEBLELLUM is a production well worth
seeing.<span style> </span>It is a thought provoking
piece, which gets a very good production at CPT.</span></i><i style><span style="font-family:Palatino"></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:Palatino;color:black"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:Palatino">ANTEBELLUM runs through
March 10.<span style> </span>For tickets call
216-631-2727 or go on line to <a href="http://www.cptonline.org/"><span style="color:windowtext;text-decoration:none">www.cptonline.org</span></a>.</span></p>