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| Laurie Jerger and K. Brian Neel in I Never Betrayed the Revolution (Truman Buffett) |
I Never Betrayed the
Revolution
Through November 23, 2014
AJ Epstein directs a world premiere play that is absurd and deceptively simple. Playwright
Christopher Danowski, a longtime associate of Epstein’s, writes short, simple, slightly
humorous (at first) scenes of a pan-Slavic citizenry restive and oppressed by
its government in I Never Betrayed the
Revolution. We’re (overly) helped by scenic descriptor cards presented by a
dour-faced, eyes black-lined, Kate Kraay,
who exemplifies the severity of their mood. While the play could use more
polishing, it has something important to say about governing.
Chris Dietz is a
political poet, Letkov, whose subversive writing causes his disappearance from
his love, Daleka (Laurie Jerger). She
and Henryka (Susanna Burney) and
Josef (Matt Aquayo), Alina (Ty Bonneville) and Januscz (Andy Buffelen) keep the faith and long
for a world that is free. They want food, security, and the ability to have or
at least grow what they need. Isn’t that what we all want, essentially?
K. Brian Neel is
General Chuchelow, played as a haphazard, Funky-Chicken-dancing, crazy
administrator who loves his desk, but is under the power of unseen governors.
He exemplifies the Peter-Principle-executive (rising to his level of
incompetence), easily deposed and just as easily, eventually returned to power.
As the short scenes pile up, the disconnection and the
simplicity begin to slowly disappear, and a rather dark statement of government
power begins to take shape. For a brief moment, Daleka and her idealists get a
chance to take power, but they don’t know what to do with it. They have not
planned for the moments after the
power shift. They have not considered or calculated what skills might be needed
for running a government or how to manage thousands of restive citizens.
The hope of the people is pretty palpable. The desires are
relatively simple, yet, on a huge scale, much more complicated than a
neighborhood or a town.
The inevitability of their downfall is clear, and the turn
of the rotating governmental forces is well-greased. This reviewer felt pretty
disheartened applying the lessons of the play to more than just Russia or
Ukraine or Egypt, and felt that even the United States was implicated in the
thesis of the script.
The cast does a solid job using a pan-Slavic accent and
short moments to create memorable characters. Jerger portrays the heart of the
script in an almost tear-producing way. The absurdity starts out being a bit cute
and funny, but after a while, the darkness takes over. If that is what the
playwright hoped to create, he is successful.
With a simple set, mostly of wall panel statues and a
symbol-changing wall flag, Richard Lorig’s
set keeps everything moving. Andre
Nelson’s sound design and music choices are Slavic-government appropriate. Sarah Mosher’s costumes provide simple
and effective visuals, and Epstein provides appropriate light design, as well.
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