SITE GUIDE
SEARCH
REVIEWS
REVIEW ARCHIVES
ADVERTISING AT CURTAINUP
FEATURES
NEWS
Etcetera and
Short Term Listings
LISTINGS
Broadway
Off-Broadway
NYC Restaurants
BOOKS and CDs
OTHER PLACES
Berkshires
London
California
New Jersey
DC
Connecticut
Philadelphia
Elsewhere
QUOTES
TKTS
PLAYWRIGHTS' ALBUMS
LETTERS TO EDITOR
FILM
LINKS
MISCELLANEOUS
Free Updates
Masthead
A CurtainUp DC Review
The Golden Dragon
|
Theatre deals with people. Theatre is not that good at dealing with theory or with global economic structures. But theatre is good at giving these things a name and a human face.— Roland Schimmelpfennig
|
KK Moggie and Amir Darvish
(Photo by Scott Suchman) |
At Studio Theatre The Golden Dragon, Schimmelpfennig's 2009 play about globalization and the abuse of (often illegal) immigrants is currently having its U.S. premiere. The setting is a small, hot kitchen of a Thai/Chinese/Vietnamese restaurant called The Golden Dragon. Five actors (Sarah Marshall, Joseph Anthony Foronda, Amir Darvish, KK Moggie and Chris Myers) of various ethnicities take on 16 roles. They display the finesse required to make an ensemble perform as a whole. Men play women, women play men, the old play the young and vice versa. For the most part, the actors having been given such a rich opportunity to show their range are very convincing in their roles.
The plot, which unfolds in a series of vignettes, goes like this: a boy from China who works in the kitchen develops a terrible toothache. With no insurance and no papers he dare not go to a dentist. One of his fellow workers removes the tooth with a huge wrench. The boy gets an infection, loses blood and dies. His corpse is dropped from a bridge and floats back to China. The extracted tooth also follows an interesting path.
Other than the kitchen workers the characters include two world-weary airline stewardesses, played admirably by Amir Darvish and Joseph Anthony Foronda. As the woman over 60, a winsome grand-child, and a drunken corner store owner, Sarah Marshall gives a very controlled performance. She's funny, too. KK Moggie is very effective as the Young Woman, boy with a bad tooth, and a cuckolded husband. Chris Myers has the toughest role in that his characters, the Young Man and a crime victim, are the least believable. However, he is amusing as the waitress who wears a lily behind her ear. Myers and Marshall do their best with a metaphor about a cricket and an ant that runs through the piece although some may find the meaning of their dialogue illusive.
Director Serge Seiden keeps his actors and their multiple characters in check, which is particularly important as they could easily slide into parody or farce. Debra Booth's setting -- a spare stage with a bench along the back wall -- serves the actors and playwright well. Michael Giannitti's lighting is excellent throughout but it is particularly effective when he creates shadows that are reminiscent of Indonesian puppets.
Schimmelpfennig is not for the literal-minded. He's not part of that zone. His Dragon resembles an acting exercise rather than a well-told story but it is intriguing and keep its audience in suspense for nearly all of its 80 minutes. Studio is to be commended for introducing Washington to this popular European author.
For or London critic's take on Schimmelpfenng's play go here.
|
The Golden Dragon By Roland Schimmelpfennig Translated by David Tushingham Directed by Serge Seiden Cast: Amir Darvish (Man), Joseph Anthony Foronda (Man over 60); Sarah Marshall (Woman over 60); KK Moggie (Young Woman); Chris Myers (Young Man). Setting: Debra Booth Lighting: Michael Giannitti Costumes: Helen Huang Running time: 80 minutes. Studio Theatre, 1501 14th Street, NW; Washington, DC; 202-332-3300; studiotheatre.org. November 2 to December 11, 2011. Review by Susan Davidson based on matinee performance, November 6, 2011. REVIEW FEEDBACK Highlight one of the responses below and click "copy" or"CTRL+C"
For a feed to reviews and features as they are posted add http://curtainupnewlinks.blogspot.com to your reader Curtainup at Facebook . . . Curtainup at Twitter Subscribe to our FREE email updates: E-mail: esommer@curtainup.comesommer@curtainup.com put SUBSCRIBE CURTAINUP EMAIL UPDATE in the subject line and your full name and email address in the body of the message |
Book of Mormon -CDOur review of the show
Slings & Arrows-the complete set
You don't have to be a Shakespeare aficionado to love all 21 episodes of this hilarious and moving Canadian TV series about a fictional Shakespeare Company
