<div dir="ltr"><br><span style="color:rgb(255,0,255)"><br>••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••</span><br><br>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-autospace:none"><b style><span style="color:black">“Amazons
and Their Men” script better than convergence-continuum staging</span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-autospace:none"><span style="color:black"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-autospace:none"><span style="color:black">Roy Berko</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-autospace:none"><span style="color:black">(Member, American Theatre Critics Association, Cleveland
Critics Circle)</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-autospace:none"><span style="color:black"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-autospace:none"><span style="color:black">In 1932, Leni Riefenstahl attended a rally where Adolf
Hitler spoke.<span style> </span>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.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-autospace:none"><span style="color:black"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-autospace:none"><span style="color:black">She became a National Socialist, commenting about Hitler,
“I felt very happy that such a man had come.”<span style> </span>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.<span style> </span>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.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-autospace:none"><span style="color:black"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-autospace:none"><span style="color:black">Riefenstahl was invited to film the Olympic Games in
Berlin.<span style> </span>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.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-autospace:none"><span style="color:black"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-autospace:none"><span style="color:rgb(28,28,28)">“Amazons and Their Men,” a play by Jordan Harrison,
which is in production at convergence-continuum, </span><span style="color:black">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. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-autospace:none"><span style="color:black"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:14pt"><span style="color:rgb(38,38,38)">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.<span style> </span>To portray Achilles, she recruits a
male (The Man)<span style> </span>from the Jewish
ghetto. Her own sister (The Extra), plays all the nameless Amazons killed in
the background.<span style> </span>The Extra also
moves scenery and props.<span style> </span>She casts
a beautiful young telegraph youth (The Boy) to play a young Trojan.<span style> </span>Complications set in when The Man and
the Boy fall in love.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:14pt"><span style="color:rgb(38,38,38)">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.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:14pt"><span style="color:rgb(38,38,38)">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.”</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:14pt"><span style="color:rgb(38,38,38)"><span style> </span>“Amazons and
Their Men, has been called “a brash play,” “a dramatic masterstroke,” a play
“filled with dazzling wordplay.”<span style>
</span>It is, in fact, a well written, creative, often funny script.<span style> </span>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.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:14pt"><span style="color:rgb(38,38,38)">Unfortunately, con-con’s staging is not an effective
production.<span style> </span>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.<span style> </span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:14pt"><span style="color:rgb(38,38,38)">Jack Matuszewski as The Boy, portrays his role as it
should be.<span style> </span>His acting in the
“film” is stylized, contrasting with his realistic “real” speeches.<span style> </span>He also physically fits the role.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:14pt"><span style="color:rgb(38,38,38)">Clint Elston (The Man) is generally unbelievable in his
scenes.<span style> </span>He failed to texture the character
and did not separate his “film” acting from his “real” self.<span style> </span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:14pt"><span style="color:rgb(38,38,38)">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.<span style> </span>Hopefully, as the run goes
on, this problem abates.<span style> </span>The
stumbling made it impossible to evaluate how she will develop the role.<span style> </span>As presented, she did not grab and hold
the characterization.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:14pt"><span style="color:rgb(38,38,38)">Jaclyn Cifranic did a nice job of playing multiple roles
as The Extra.<span style> </span>Her film scenes
tended to have the right stylized acting, which separated those characters from
those in which she portrayed The Frau’s sister.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-autospace:none"><i style><span style="color:black">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.<span style> </span>Unfortunately, the
convergence-continuum production does not live up to the potential of the
script.</span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-autospace:none"><span style="color:black"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-autospace:none"><span style="color:black">“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.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-autospace:none"><span style="color:black"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color:black">Con-con’s next show is “The Pillowman,” a dark dramatic
comedy of a writer who is accused of violence against children.<span style> </span>It the runs September 26 through
October 18 .</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color:rgb(255,0,255)"><br></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color:black"><span style="color:rgb(255,0,255)">•••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••</span><br>
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