Two mini reviews: ‘Men on Boats,’ ‘Pride@Prejudice’
Two wildly different moments in history come to life with tongue-in-cheek humor on Valley stages. Here are this week’s theater reviews in a nutshell.
Great Good Fair Bad Bomb
NEW REVIEWS:
‘Men on Boats’ is a rollicking, gender-bending ride
all-female cast of “Men on Boats” isn’t the only quirky thing about playwright Jaclyn Backhaus’ adventure tale based on the journals of Grand Canyon explorer John Wesley Powell. The colorful characters crack wise in contemporary slang as they negotiate the rapids — while “riding” boats the way Fred Flintstone drives his car — and jockey for position in a motley, manly crew where success or failure is also a matter of life or death. With handsomely rustic set design, Arizona State University’s student production is jaunty, fun and tongue-in-cheek (the elevator music during freeze-frame scene changes is hilarious), but it also somehow gives a genuine sense of what it must have been like to brave the frontier at a time when there were no cellphones or helicopters to come to the rescue.
Bottom line: This off-kilter historical adventure walks the line between tense drama and unabashed goofery.
Details: Reviewed Saturday, March 25. Continues through Sunday, April 2. Galvin Playhouse, Nelson Fine Arts Center, Mill Avenue and 10th Street, Tempe. $8-$16. 480965-6447, filmdancetheatre.asu.edu/events.
‘Pride@Prejudice’ pokes friendly fun at Jane Austen
In a classic case of having one’s cake and eating it too, Southwest Shakespeare Company’s “Pride@Prejudice” celebrates Jane Austen’s beloved novel while tweaking the affectations of the multitude of costume dramas that it helped spawn. A cast of five quick-changes through multiple characters (including Austen herself) while consulting their smartphones to offer some context dredged up on the Internet.
This conceit, by adapting playwright Daniel Elihu Kramer, borders on the pedantic and contributes to a nearly threehour running time (including intermission), but the show is a winner thanks to the tongue-in-cheek mugging of the talented actors, including Kyle Sorrell, whose lisping Rev. Collins upstages his own starchy Mr. Darcy, and Katie Hart, who plays the imperious Lady Catherine de Bourgh while sporting a bird hat of ridiculous pomp and circumstance.
Bottom line: Fans of Jane Austen and Merchant Ivory films are sure to be tickled; reluctant tag-alongs might not be converted.
Details: Reviewed Sunday, March 26. Continues through Saturday, April 8. Mesa Arts Center, 1 E. Main St. $15-$44. 480-6446500, mesaartscenter.com, swshakes peare.org.