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Disclaimer:
The reviewers' opinions are their own and do not necessarily reflect the views of TheatreLouisville.org. |
Peer Reviews Toulouse-inations
It is a happy thing to herald the arrival of yet another independent theatre company in Louisville, especially one willing to offer original material. It is a bold and daring enterprise, and Catclaw Theatre is the latest troupe to brave the storm. So if the maiden production is somewhat lacking, it is no less an act of courage. Catclaw founder Jeffrey Scott Holland's Toulouse-inations is a rumination on the life of the 19th century French painter Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec. Focusing largely on his relationships with prostitutes and his love of drinking absinthe, the one-act play is less a biography with a fully developed narrative and more a pastiche of scenes, uneven in their effect. As fascinating a subject as Mr. Holland has chosen, it never seemed clear what he was after in this particular telling. The inclusion of a character named Dr. Francis J. Tumblety seemed curious, and although we learn from the program notes that he was a suspect in the Jack The Ripper killings, it was unclear to me what he was doing in this play. Occasionally the script seems to be onto something, but the ideas peter out and fail to sustain throughout the evening. During one of the most interesting scenes, Toulouse meets with a fortuneteller and some magic begins to happen as the artist succumbs to an absinthe-fueled hallucination, but the fact that the lighting seemed focused on an empty portion of the stage during this exchange was distracting. As the scene played out, the lighting kept adjusting as if cues were being rewritten during the course of the production. By the time the scene had ended, a nice, atmospheric visual effect had been achieved but the scene was diluted. Equally promising were portions involving a playwright discussing her latest work. These moments held the potential for some nice self-referential commentary on contemporary theatre, but never quite hit their mark. There were some bright spots among the performances. Sydney Hymson brought a fey and whimsical quality to Lautrec that was a refreshing change from the popular conception we have of the famous figure, and Hy Stein delivered a veteran touch to the clichéd role of a vulgar American art dealer. The stage is also populated with several female characters, many of them in colorful and scanty costumes that portray the tawdry sexuality surrounding Lautrec. All of these women were certainly a strong visceral presence on stage, providing no small amount of sexual heat, but particularly charming was Shermia Love, whose performance of the musical number "Nothing Is Ever What It Seems" was the highlight of the evening. Several other good moments were registered by Joyce Lynette Thompson, George Bailey, Kate Holland, Ashley Rose Stallings and Andrena Senola Johnson, who lent some sexy style to the introductory number, "Toulouse-Lautrec". Whatever its failings, I think I liked what it seemed the play was striving to accomplish. I liked the blurring of the period distinction, so that we related to the characters in a more contemporary context, and I liked the loose, funky structure that the one-act structure allowed. If the mission of this new company is to explore a more experimental theatre than what Louisville audiences are accustomed to, it should be encouraged. I am curious to see what they come up with next.
Toulouse-inations Posted August 8, 2008
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