In Mixed Company's Desdemona a play about a handkerchief and Othello She Told at PlayWright's Theatre
(out of 
)Mark S.P. Turvin
(home office) (602) 912-0117
I can be reached for comment via e-mail at: mspt@goldfishpublishers.com
Reviewed 2/13/98
(out of )In Mixed Company has always tended to take the road less traveled, and the overall results have been impressive, if mixed at times. Always producing the kind of shows that would never have been seen in Phoenix, they generally do well, even if the individual results of each production have not. In Mixed Company's latest is a microcosm of that, with an impressive production given to a lackluster script, and while the show looks great, it is at turns infuriating and befuddling. Director Kevin Kerrigan takes on these two feminist plays, but brings to his direction the same over-the-top attitude that he gives his performances, and while it works with the first play of the evening, it is the absolute wrong choice for the second.
Local playwright Brenda Edwards begins the evening with Othello She Told, a sort of pre-show explanation of Othello. This all takes place from the point of view of a lecturer, played a bit brusquely by Julie Whelihan, concentrating on Desdemona's part in the proceedings. This short one-act is funny, as it pits an Enthusiastic Audience Member, hilariously overplayed by Debra K. Stevens, against a Gen X Audience Member with an Attitude, believably played by Heidi Sulzman. In trying to explain Othello and Desdemona to the dense Attitude girl, the three act out portions of the play, with funny results. This is the most enjoyable part of the evening, as this short play never intends to be anything more than funny and expository, and meets it's expectations well.
Unfortunately, this short play is then followed by Paula Vogel's feminist tract about the offstage going's on of the poorly defined character of Desdemona. In this revisionistic consideration, Desdemona is a spoiled brat as far from the virginal Shakespeare creation as possible, while Emelia, Iago's wife and Desdemona's hand maiden, is portrayed as an uptight, religious Irish washer woman. Even more unbelievable is the heretofore unknown relationship between Desdemona and Cassio's squeeze, Bianca, who is played with a Cockney brogue and a prostitute's attitude.
Since this play is taking place while the Bard's play occurs offstage, there is an eerie quality to it that is very reminiscent to Tom Stoppard's Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead. The only major difference is that Ms. Vogel has decided to revamp her characters for her own political and feminist attitudes, with mixed results. Using feminist theories of drama, such as presenting the play through an annoying series of blackout scenes, some as short as 30 seconds, some as long as 10 minutes, the play does not "work" in a conventional sense, though this is precisely Ms. Vogel's point. Rather than a rising action and climax, the play presents a series of images which, strung together, form the whole meaning of the show. Unfortunately, I feel it loses something in the translation, but, fearing being called a misogynist, I must avoid calling it poorly presented. For me, it simply did not work. And, despite a beautiful set and production values, the actual show didn't become much clearer.
Ms. Steven's overplays Desdemona as a hateful, preening, oversexed kitten, making it difficult to feel sympathy for her ultimate and destined demise. Ms. Whelihan does a better job with the moralistic Emelia, easily portraying her two-faced attitudes with the lofty Desdemona and the base Bianca. The most interesting performance was given by Ms. Sulzman, who plays the vulgar Bianca well, and reveals her twist of character in a believable way.
Despite the torturous text and uneven performances, the show looked great. Holly Vesely's scenic design created the back room of the Cyprus fortress wonderfully, and Dave Vaught's lighting of the intimate space was nearly perfect. With few exceptions, Celia Erickson's costumes were good character indications and hilarious statements all at once, and Bill Osborne's sound was generally flawless, though there were moments when the songs and sounds were a bit overwhelming.
Paula Vogel's work is not likely to be given many productions
in Phoenix, although her best known work, The Baltimore Waltz,
is an impressive script. One has to wonder why In Mixed Company
chose this lesser-known work of Ms. Vogel's rather than the equally-unlikely-to-be-produced,
though better known script. While In Mixed Company does have its
heart in the right place, it would do better to avoid going to
extremes in its search for obscure and experimental scripts, especially
when there are others of better quality by the same author.
Production Details:
Desdemona a play about a handkerchief by Paula Vogel, and
Othello She Told by Brenda Edwards
PlayWright's Theatre, Phoenix
834-3032
February 12th-February 28th, 1998