Standing in Line at the Coliseum


Reviewed 2/9/06

Those familiar with George Bernard Shaw’s wit and style may not recognize the kinder, gentler Shaw that seems to have penned Androcles and the Lion. This homey version of the fable of Daniel in the Lion’s Den offers several chortles, a few guffaws, and a the occasional gut-buster, but it’s views of Christianity and Roman Paganism are not nearly edged with the rapier-like cuts in his other, denser tomes. This gentle comedy is as close to a farce as the Bard of Dublin ever comes. Desert Rose Theatre, the self-sanctioned keeper of the classics, is mounting this rarely seen play with equal parts clever ideas and unimpressive stage pictures. Director Katherine Stewart has turned the play’s theme of a storybook into a literal set piece as originally conceived by Kimberly Phelps and made real by LeeAnn Jensen, which is a wonderful concept. However, Steward is prone to letting her actors stand by the sides of the ongoing scenes in lines, creating an almost school pageant-like air added to by the actors’ readings.

Androcles (Joshua Scott Hunt) is a simple tailor who speaks to the animals. We watch him make friends with a Lion (Elizabeth Piro’s papier machepuppetry awkwardly worked with sweet growls by Alan Penny) by plucking a thorn from his paw while his thorn-in-the-side wife (Tami Bailly) shrews beside him. Androcles is a proto-Christian in Roman times, and he is soon captured and brought to Rome along with the saintly Lavinia (Toni Robison-May), the violent Viking Christian Ferrovius (Garry Myers), and the sniveling Spintho (Jim Landua) by the Legion Centurion (John J. Caswell, Jr.) and his loud, drill sergeant-like Captain (Matthew Higbee). They are marched to the Coliseum to be fed to the gladiators and the lions for the pleasure of a lisping Lentulus (Hal Key) and a rather knobby-kneed Caesar (Gary Helmbold). Of course, feeding to the lions winds up to be a blessing for this community.

DRT always seems to balance a certain amount of professional drive with amateur means, and so it is the good and the bad of this presentation. Some of the actors are well in control of their roles, such as Hunt, Robinson-May, and Myers. These three, and to a smaller extent Bailly, Higbee and Caswell, are obviously enjoying themselves in a way that is equally enjoyable to the audience. There are a few though, such as the outrageous Key and the bulging-eyed Landua who take their humor to embarrassing extremes. It is these moment, and the director’s awkward blocking, that balance such professional touches as the three strongest performances, the set, and Gerry Ellis’ armor design.