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<P style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal
align=center><FONT size=3><B style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal"><SPAN
style="mso-bidi-font-family: Arial">con-con’s ‘Lilies’ </SPAN>is a tender
rendering of revenge</B><B style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal"><SPAN
style="mso-bidi-font-family: Arial"><?xml:namespace prefix = o ns =
"urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" /><o:p></o:p></SPAN></B></FONT></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'"><o:p><FONT
size=3> </FONT></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal
align=center><SPAN style="COLOR: #1f497d; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial"><FONT
size=3>Bob Abelman<o:p></o:p></FONT></SPAN></P>
<P style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal
align=center><SPAN style="COLOR: #1f497d; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial"><FONT
size=3>News-Herald, Morning Journal, Chagrin Valley Times, Solon
Times,<o:p></o:p></FONT></SPAN></P>
<P style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal
align=center><SPAN style="COLOR: #1f497d; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial"><FONT
size=3>Geauga Times Courier<o:p></o:p></FONT></SPAN></P>
<P style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal
align=center><SPAN style="COLOR: #1f497d; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial"><FONT
size=3>Member, International Association of Theatre Critics
<o:p></o:p></FONT></SPAN></P>
<P style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal
align=center><SPAN style="mso-bidi-font-family: Arial"><o:p><FONT
size=3> </FONT></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal
align=center><FONT size=3><SPAN
style="COLOR: #1f497d; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial">This review will appear in
the News-Herald</SPAN><SPAN style="mso-bidi-font-family: Arial"> on 10/25/13<B
style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal"><o:p></o:p></B></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal
align=center><B style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal"><SPAN
style="mso-bidi-font-family: Arial"><o:p><FONT
size=3> </FONT></o:p></SPAN></B></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'"><o:p><FONT
size=3> </FONT></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><EM><SPAN
style="FONT-STYLE: normal; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-bidi-font-style: italic"><FONT
size=3>In its playbill for “Lilies, or the Revival of a Romantic Drama,”
convergence-continuum asks its patrons to “deposit conventional thinking at the
door, and join us in renouncing the real in favor of living the
imaginable.”<o:p></o:p></FONT></SPAN></EM></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><EM><SPAN
style="FONT-STYLE: normal; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-bidi-font-style: italic"><o:p><FONT
size=3> </FONT></o:p></SPAN></EM></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><FONT size=3><EM><SPAN
style="FONT-STYLE: normal; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-bidi-font-style: italic">This
may be gilding the “Lilies” just a tad.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</SPAN>French Canadian Michel Marc Bouchard’s play is certainly an interesting
piece of theater, and it is getting a very fine production in its Ohio premiere,
but nothing need be abandoned upon entering </SPAN></EM><SPAN
style="mso-bidi-font-family: Arial">The Liminis Theatre</SPAN><EM><SPAN
style="FONT-STYLE: normal; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-bidi-font-style: italic">
except one’s mainstream inhibitions.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</SPAN><o:p></o:p></SPAN></EM></FONT></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="mso-bidi-font-family: Arial"><o:p><FONT
size=3> </FONT></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US"><FONT
size=3>The play is set in 1952 in the chapel of a prison where Simon Doucet has
spent the last four decades in wrongful imprisonment.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN><SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>In recent years, he has been plotting
revenge which entails drawing a confession from Bishop Bilodeau – a childhood
friend – who was caught up in a love triangle and murder involving Simon and
another classmate, Vallier De Tilly.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</SPAN><o:p></o:p></FONT></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US"><o:p><FONT
size=3> </FONT></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><FONT size=3><SPAN
style="mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US">The
Bishop is held hostage in the prison and forced to watch a play enacted by the
convicts that recount </SPAN><SPAN
style="mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-ansi-language: EN-IE" lang=EN-IE>the
lies, deceit, jealousy, and forbidden passion t</SPAN><SPAN
style="mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US">hat
occurred on the </SPAN><SPAN
style="mso-bidi-font-family: Arial">Québec</SPAN><SPAN
style="mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US">
countryside in 1912.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US"><o:p><FONT
size=3> </FONT></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><FONT size=3><SPAN
style="mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US">Taking
a page from “Marat/Sade” – another play-within-a-play performed by inmates –
Bouchard </SPAN><EM><SPAN
style="FONT-STYLE: normal; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-bidi-font-style: italic">employs
this mode of storytelling to offer insight and perspective on the
</SPAN></EM><SPAN style="mso-bidi-font-family: Arial">narrow religious and moral
values of the recent past.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</SPAN><o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="mso-bidi-font-family: Arial"><o:p><FONT
size=3> </FONT></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><FONT size=3><SPAN
style="mso-bidi-font-family: Arial">As “Lilies” unfolds, one can’t help but
sense that either the original play or </SPAN><EM><SPAN
style="FONT-STYLE: normal; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-bidi-font-style: italic">Linda
Gaboriau’s English</SPAN></EM><SPAN style="mso-bidi-font-family: Arial">
translation of it is weighed down by overwritten dialogue and overdramatized
moments of homoeroticism.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</SPAN>Fortunately, this con-con production – under Tyson Douglas Rand’s tender
direction – overcomes these intrusions.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</SPAN>Rand evens out the melodrama by coaxing realistic performances from his
cast and allowing each scene to smoothly transition from one to the next without
hesitation or undue fanfare.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</SPAN><o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="mso-bidi-font-family: Arial"><o:p><FONT
size=3> </FONT></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="mso-bidi-font-family: Arial"><FONT size=3>In fact, the transition from
Act I to intermission is so subtle that uncertain audience members remain seated
and silent for most of the 15 minute break.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>Some may be there
still.<o:p></o:p></FONT></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="mso-bidi-font-family: Arial"><o:p><FONT
size=3> </FONT></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><FONT size=3><SPAN
style="mso-bidi-font-family: Arial">The excellent ensemble in this production
includes Bobby Coyne and Michael Regnier as young and old Simon, Jack
Matuszewski as Vallier de Tilly, Eric Sever and Dennis Sullivan as young and old
Bilodeau, Robert Branch, Joe Dunn,</SPAN><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial Narrow','sans-serif'"> </SPAN><SPAN
style="mso-bidi-font-family: Arial">Charles Hargrave, and Clyde Simon.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN><o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="mso-bidi-font-family: Arial"><o:p><FONT
size=3> </FONT></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><FONT size=3><SPAN
style="mso-bidi-font-family: Arial">Simon turns in a particularly moving
performance as the fallen Countess de Tilly, who is gleefully lost in a dilution
of affluence and privilege. <SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>He
alone taps the playbill’s </SPAN><EM><SPAN
style="FONT-STYLE: normal; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-bidi-font-style: italic">renouncement
of the “real in favor of living the imaginable,” and does so with astounding
</SPAN></EM>virtuosity.<SPAN
style="mso-bidi-font-family: Arial"><o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="mso-bidi-font-family: Arial"><o:p><FONT
size=3> </FONT></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="mso-bidi-font-family: Arial"><FONT size=3>The other two portrayals of
women by men, turned in by Joe Dunn and Robert Branch, are wonderfully
understated presentations that speak volumes about this production’s
affectionate approach to the material. <o:p></o:p></FONT></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; BACKGROUND: white" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="COLOR: #222222; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-language: EN-US"><o:p><FONT
size=3> </FONT></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-language: EN-US"><FONT
size=3>The men in this play are prisoners with limited resources, so it is
fitting that the costumes by sade wolfkitten – which are embellished prison
uniforms – are make-shift and thread-bare, and that the set design by Jim Smith
is simple and utilitarian.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>Only the
prisoners’ access to technology that projects images of locations from outside
the prison seems unrealistic and unnecessary.<o:p></o:p></FONT></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-language: EN-US"><o:p><FONT
size=3> </FONT></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><FONT size=3><SPAN
style="mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-language: EN-US">Also
striking a false cord is the production’s employment of nudity or, more
precisely, its selective nudity. <SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>Having </SPAN><SPAN
style="mso-bidi-font-family: Arial">Matuszewski’s Vallier fully exposed during a
pivotal moment of intimacy with Simon makes sense, but it is odd for Coyne’s
Simon to be sporting modern-day jockeys and disingenuous to remain in
them.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="mso-bidi-font-family: Arial"><o:p><FONT
size=3> </FONT></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><FONT size=3><EM><SPAN
style="FONT-STYLE: normal; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-bidi-font-style: italic">The
lily appears in literature and mythology as a </SPAN></EM><SPAN
style="mso-bidi-font-family: Arial">symbol of purity and innocence. Venus, it is
said, saw the lily as she rose from the ocean and became jealous of its
beauty.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>Lilies are also associated
with death, in that one regains lost innocence and purity when life is
through.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="mso-bidi-font-family: Arial"><o:p><FONT
size=3> </FONT></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><FONT size=3><SPAN
style="mso-bidi-font-family: Arial">Innocence, jealousy and death – these are
pretty much the focal points in </SPAN><EM><SPAN
style="FONT-STYLE: normal; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-bidi-font-style: italic">Bouchard’s
play and the fundamental elements that make this story so universally
interesting</SPAN></EM><SPAN style="mso-bidi-font-family: Arial">. </SPAN><SPAN
style="mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-language: EN-US"><o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-language: EN-US"><o:p><FONT
size=3> </FONT></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><FONT size=3><I
style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal"><SPAN
style="mso-bidi-font-family: Arial">“Lilies</SPAN><EM><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'">,</SPAN></EM></I><EM><SPAN
style="FONT-STYLE: normal; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-bidi-font-style: italic">
</SPAN></EM><EM><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'">or
the Revival of a Romantic Drama</SPAN></EM><I
style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal"><SPAN style="mso-bidi-font-family: Arial">”
runs through <A name=_GoBack></A>November 2 at convergence-continuum’s The
Liminis Theatre, 2438 Scranton Rd., in the historic Tremont neighborhood.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>Tickets, which range from $10 to $15,
can be purchased by calling 216-687-0074 or visiting <A href=""><FONT
color=#3b5998>www.convergence-continuum.org</FONT></A>.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></I></FONT></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><B
style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal"><SPAN
style="mso-bidi-font-family: Arial"><o:p><FONT
size=3> </FONT></o:p></SPAN></B></P></FONT></DIV></BODY></HTML>