Mysterium
19211 Dodge Ave.
Santa Ana, CA
August 11-26, 2012
Saturdays and Sundays at 5:01pm
directed by Jesse Runde
Walking up to the box office at the Church of the Foot Hills, and having already done my research on tickets, I had decided to purchase tickets at the door, rather than spend the service charge for the tickets on the internet which would have been approximately $18. As I spoke to the box office, I asked for two tickets, and was told, "That will be $40." I thought I misheard, so I asked the gal running the office to repeat it. Sure enough, $40 it was. My theatre-going buddy and I turned to enter the theatre when I was told that I could sit where I liked, and if I had my own chairs, I could use them to, as well as bring in my own food. Confused, I turned to see that the production would be taking place on the playground of the pre-school attached to this church. As I entered the play-yard, I saw three Big 5 pop-ups with banquet chairs melting underneath.
Clearly not dressed for the surprise theatre in the park experience, and now out of cash from the ticket prices, I realized that there would be no snacks for us, as we watched people pull out Subway sandwiches and wine. We settled into our chosen seats as I had the epiphany as to why the performance would be starting at 5pm. Duh! Sunlight! August! Hot!
We concept for the show was 1950's Cuba, which worked really well for the heat wave/humidity in So. Cal right now as we waited for a breeze to find us. The Latin Music blasting from a small stereo along the back wall helped set the scene for the Cuban feel. The music was well utilized, although there were no pain to hide the sound operator from view, especially when she inadvertently hit a wrong cue, leapt from her table, and frantically tried to stop the iPod.
The set was very simple, but clearly done on a tight budget. The feel of the "Hotel Leonato" was created by small cafe tables and chairs, curtains blowing the breeze and palm fronds that were used later to hide behind by several characters. The main section of the set was a set of platforms that seemed hastily nailed together, and even more hastily painted. The actors had a difficult time navigating the narrow steps, and the Friar even tripped on them at one point in the show.
The costume designs were very effective, with the only eye-rolling part being that the "good guys" were wearing white military uniforms, and the "bad guys" were wearing black military uniforms. OK, we get it.
There were a few actors who clearly have some Shakespeare chops. Jeff Lowe as Benedick, and Tiffany Berg as Beatrice were by far the most effective actors, followed closely by Don Formaneck as Leonato. Deva Gregory's take on the over-sexed Margaret was very solid and entertaining, and Krystin Bergmasco's Ursula was funny, albeit a bit on the over-done side. The biggest problem was the "Cuban" accents that many of the actors employed to give a sense of "reality" to the sweltering playground of the show. Shakespeare, even done by seasoned professionals is about the language, and the accents seemed to hinder my understanding of the words. In many case, it seemed as though some of the actors were so concerned with the dialect that the words were merely secondary. That and the Scottish twinge that some actors dropped into made the whole thing a bit distracting.
Some of the choices made by the actors came across as bad acting. Claudio, played by a very striking-looking Lance Smith seemed alarming constipated by the end of the play, making Claudio more of a clown than a young man who has had to face how gullible he really is. Antonio, played by Scott Charles Felver, never once looked at another actor, but rather the ground, or sneaking glances at the audience.
The direction seemed solid in terms of keeping to the concept, but with so many young actors in the production, a little more teaching seemed to be needed. There were many times where actors were stuck in lilting vocal patterns, and many of the soliloquies were addressed straight to the audience rather to the characters themselves. The choice of Dogberry and Verges driving an imaginary car was very clever, but when Borachio and Conrad got in the car, I lost my interest.
When it comes down to it, I would have enjoyed the show much more for $7 and a heads up about the outside venue than the $20 ticket price for a show where I needed to wear sunglasses. If you could get a discounted ticket and bring some lunch, it's a nice way to spend a few hours. Just check the weather first.
