what: breach by egan reich (world premiere)
where: the always beautiful den theatre in wicker park
accompaniment: dustin!
drinkability: a+! the den has a full bar with decently priced drinks. we had red wine to pair with our whale blood.
show length: around 90 minutes with a 10 minute intermission
out of four: three/four
i knew i was interested in seeing breach when i caught wind that there was a legitimate 'splash zone' of blood for this show. i've also been extremely curious to see any work by dog and pony so breach was a win-win as a must see for me.
i know the photo i posted above makes it look like a 1800's rendition of CARRIE, but its not, i promise you. breach tells the story of five recently widowed women- their grief brought together by husbands who whale hunted together and were shipwrecked, assumed to be dead in the sea once news arrived to land. in a strange series of events, violet (played by caroline kingsley) comes upon a beached whale in the night. seeing the money in the opportunity of the whale she enlists four other women to come with her to slaughter the whale and gather anything that could be profitable for themselves and their families- as their source of income was lost along with the shipwreck.
director krissy vanderwarker makes a bold choice at the top of the show- keeping the audience waiting in the lobby until all have arrived- then ushering us all into a dimly lit room for the play to begin. the women have just heard the news of their loss as well as the news that violet has discovered something and they have gathered together to drink. we watch the women (standing right in front of us and moving around us) take swigs from unidentified bottles. the women continue to drink in secret (some more and less unbelievable than others) until we transition into the following scene wherein we watch two of the women gather tools for the slaughter- guessing from memories of watching their husband do the deed. after this we're allowed into the theatre and the set is revealed, a great big 'whale' on the edge of the sea.
the true star of the show is that set. courtney o'neill took a concept that is beyond my imagination and created a beautiful creature out of wooden archways- varying in height to mirror the body of a whale. collared button up shirts of varying colors are tied together and draped across the stage to give the illusion of the sea (not to be confused with the fins of the whale which myself and dustin thought for a lot of the show). the women are all over the whale- up and down, tumbling off of it at points, crawling in and out of its crevices, and of course- causing it to spurt blood as they slaughter. the blood effect was somewhat comical feeling at times, but witnessing the women gradually become more covered in blood as their work goes on was a really great addition to the suspension of disbelief.
the concept of this world premiere show by egan reich was played out nicely by the five women on stage. i was only left wishing that there was more expression of genuine emotion- as they all became workhorses- channeling most of their grief into the task at hand. so much of the dialogue was delivered on the same note that i found it to all be bleeding into one another- and with the air of an 1800s dialogue mixed in- it was easy to lose focus on what these women were trying to express.
this is one of the more unique shows i have seen in a while and if you haven't had a chance to catch breach- i'd recommend you hurry up! they close tonight- tickets are $25.
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bonus february show: the mother
what: the mother by bertold brecht
where: oracle's space in lakeview
accompaniment: becky, emily, ally!
drinkability: my four favorite letters: BYOB
show length: just under two hours- no intermission
out of four: four/four
i won't go on about this show on here again- i saw the original run of it last year and you can see my thoughts here. oracle brought back this production after the rousing success of their first run and luckily got to keep everyone in the cast minus one. its still as good (if not better), and you're completely silly if you miss this production.
tickets are FREE through oracle's amazing public access program. the mother runs through march 1st!
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upcoming february shows:
sunday feb 16th, 6pm: the rum and coke collective's endlings
friday feb 21st, 7:30pm: broken nose theatre's from white plains
TBD
join me, will you?