Theater picks in 99 Seat Beat
A look at the plays “Bliss” at Moving Arts, “Cleo, Theo & Wu” at Theater of NOTE.
P.G. Wodehouse nailed it when he wrote “Unseen in the background, Fate was quietly slipping lead into the boxing glove.” The puckish, woeful machinations of Fate — that lightning event that changes the course of destiny, the happy coincidence that smooths the path to romance — fuel this week’s selection of plays.
Seeking ‘Bliss’ at Moving Arts
The essentials: Jami Brandli’s splendidly imaginative play transforms tragic Greek heroines into 1960-era New Jerseyites with man problems. Bitter, pillpopping Clementine (Clytemnestra) has a lethal score to settle with her brutish husband. Shunted aside by her philandering spouse, domestic diva Maddy (a.k.a. Medea) spectacularly snaps, while 17year-old Antonia (a.k.a. Antigone) must escape her suffocating uncle to pursue her true but fatal love. Meanwhile, agonizingly omniscient Cassandra tries to break the curse put on her by the god Apollo and alter the events that have doomed her and her ill-fated counterparts unto the generations.
Why this? “Bliss” ran in San Diego to rave reviews — for obvious reasons. Recently named one of the Humanitas Prize PLAY LA Playwrights for 2018-19, Brandli is very much a talent to be followed, and “Bliss,” the first in her planned four-play “reclaimed Greek myth cycle,” is a gem that warrants wider viewing. Although her female characters seem initially comic, Brandli does not blunt their tragic proportions, and the 1960 setting is an inspired choice that emphasizes their limited options and restrictions — the same issues confronted by their Greek predecessors hundreds of years ago. Brandli disguises her political pungency with comedy — the perfect medium to massage an important message across the footlights.
Details: Moving Arts at Atwater Village Theatre, 3269 Casitas Ave., Atwater Village. 8 p.m. Fridays,
Saturdays and Mondays; 2 p.m. Sundays. Additional performance Nov. 27 at 8 p.m. Ends Dec. 2. $30. (323) 472-5646. www.movingarts.org
‘Cleo, Theo & Wu,’ of NOTE
The essentials: In Kirsten Vangsness’ world premiere, directionless Lucy is entrusted with the fate of the universe by a group of prominent women of past history, while a genderless space creature with a feminist bent takes her careening through time and space. No heroine in the Joseph Campbell mold, the comically distracted Lucy routinely retreats into her comfort zones of food, sex, and the pursuit of money. Will Lucy ever awaken to the wonders around her and embrace her destiny as “the one”?
Why this? A company known for championing new works, NOTE has been in the vanguard of local experimental theater for almost 40 years. No exception to the company’s penchant for risky new works, Vangsness’ mind-bendingly nonlinear and experimental piece skips along the surface of reality while making some surprisingly cogent philosophical points. With her long list of illustrious credits, director Lisa Dring seems the ideal interpreter to corral Vangsness’ cheeky stream-of consciousness into a comprehensible format.
Details: Theater of NOTE, 1517 N. Cahuenga Blvd., Hollywood. 8 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays; 7 p.m. Sundays. Ends Dec. 8. No shows Nov. 23-25. $25. (323) 856-8611. www.theatreofnote.com