Feast of Fool's Quentin Tarantino's Reservoir Dogs at Third Street 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 10/4/97
(out of )Filmmaker Quentin Tarantino made his mark with the slickly polished, blood-drenched homage to '70s gangster films, Pulp Fiction. Prior to his phenomenal success, though, was the small-budgeted, even gorier and more lurid cult-classic film Reservoir Dogs. The characters are gritty, the situation intense, and the language is from that narrow, shady subsection of society, the misfit. Writer/Director/Actor Michael J. Alessandro, with Mr. Tarantino's permission and support, has taken this hard-hitting gangster movie and put it on the stage. The results are not perfect, but definitely not from a lack of trying on Mr. Alessandro's part.
The whirlwind action centers on the seven professional criminals and the possible eighth undercover cop in their midst. The show follows from initial contact through botched diamond hold-up to the final tense standoff between former compatriots. The stage script is necessarily episodic, as the movie it is based on, and moves at a fast pace through the many atrocities and the oddly tender moments between thieves. Mr. Alessandro has remained thoroughly faithful to the movie script, which is both a good and a bad thing. The result is an in-your-face production that is at turns ultra-violent and comedic, and occasionally both all at once. This may not be to everyone's liking, but those that don't mind moments of unspeakable violence and poetic words of racism and hatred will probably enjoy this production.
The production itself, though, does suffer from some uneven performances. The most consistent problem was the fact that these generally business-like professionals lack an edge that would make believable their reactions to each unnerving situation. One or two performers are able to bring their portrayals to the next level, such as Kenny Brodie as Nice Guy Eddie, the no-good son of organizer Joe Cabot, who is unredeamably slimy and believable in his actions, and Mr. Alessandro's edgy criminal Mr. Pink, who is the first to smell a rat in the situation, but his obnoxious personality makes the others slow to believe him. Also solid was Marty Berger's portrayal of the abovementioned big man, Joe Cabot.
From there, the performances were generally good, but none skated the thin ice of the situation with the kind of intensity of Mr. Brodie or Mr. Alessandro. An example of this is Jim Yue's portrayal of the sadistic Mr. Blonde, whose itchy trigger finger and interestingly disgusting forms of torture are central to the play. Mr. Yue gave a nonchalance to the character as was needed, yet there seemed to be little seething behind the facade. Mr. Yue simply did not make my skin crawl. Another example was Charles Sohn's portrayal of the older, more sentimental Mr. White, whose central softness is instrumental to the plot. Mr. Sohn was believably sappy, but lacked the basic edginess of his chosen profession. Similar problems existed for the rest of the still generally enjoyable performances.
Mr. Alessandro's direction did contain some very effective moments, especially at the beginning of the second act, as the younger, unproven Mr. Orange moves through several different settings while following an interesting story about selling marijuana. The movements were ingenious, both in writing and in staging, and thoroughly enjoyable. Mr. Alessandro and Felicia Fowler-Alexander's set was grungy and effective for this shoe-string production, and Chris Jeffries-Dowling's lighting was simple but did everything it needed to.
Despite the various performance problems, the show is still
an interesting attempt at making a theatre piece from a film that
might not ordinarily have seemed adaptable to the stage. Kudos
to Mr. Alessandro and Feast of Fools Theatre for a valiant first
effort of such an ambitious undertaking. If nothing else, this
production may bring in audiences who are not regulars to theatre,
and that is a great side effect in itself.
Production Details:
Reservoir Dogs by Quentin Tarantino, adapted to
the stage by Michael J. Alessandro
Third Street Theatre, Phoenix
256-7898
October 3rd-October 25th, 1997