Kushner's shorts long on depth
Joe Kempkes
Issue date: 10/29/09 Last update: 10/29/09 at 2:35 AM PST
Section: Movie Reviews
Written by Tony Kushner and directed by Tony Taccone, Berkeley Repertory Theatre's current production of "Tiny Kushner: an Evening of Short Plays" reminds us why theater still matters in America.
Kushner used the short play format wisely to advance more provocation, information, rage and delight than is possible in a single full-length play.
Each of the five plays were free-standing and created an entire world with a dizzying amount of magic, verve, silliness and, sometimes, profundity.
Looking for a common theme in such a diverse group of subjects as the life of the Queen of Albania, Prop 13's Howard Jarvis and Richard Nixon's therapist Dr. Arnold A. Hutschnecker challenges even the most attentive theatergoer.
Kushner's five scripts did have a connective tissue that could be best described as the contents of his unique world view--political, gay, ironic, serious and humorous --sometimes all of these qualities in the same play.
What really made this production special were the performers who brought Kushner's words to life. Veterans of the Guthrie Theater in Minneapolis, Jim Lichtscheidl, Valeri Mudek, Kate Eifrig and J.C. Cutler totally inhabited and fleshed out the various characters created by Kushner.
As with his monumental "Angels in America" Kushner stretched the envelope beyond the mere boundaries of genteel taste and everyday conformity. His laying bare the facts of Nixon's bombing of Cambodia made war crimes seem mundane. Mundane, that is, to the perpetrator Nixon. To the victims the horror was re-doubled, the human insult magnified.
After Howard Jarvis convinced California voters that lowering taxes would be to their benefit, he then got hung out to dry himself when he needed state services and they weren't available due to lack of funding. Only Kushner could highlight Jarvis's poetic justice by recapping California's dark history in the form of a modern day morality tale.
The most poignant piece was "Dr. Arnold A. Hutschnecker in Paradise." Lichtscheidl played the noble doctor to perfection getting the nuances down perfectly to reveal the inner-workings of the diabolical Mr. Nixon at work.
These five plays cement Kushner's reputation as America's preeminent playwright.
Kushner used the short play format wisely to advance more provocation, information, rage and delight than is possible in a single full-length play.
Each of the five plays were free-standing and created an entire world with a dizzying amount of magic, verve, silliness and, sometimes, profundity.
Looking for a common theme in such a diverse group of subjects as the life of the Queen of Albania, Prop 13's Howard Jarvis and Richard Nixon's therapist Dr. Arnold A. Hutschnecker challenges even the most attentive theatergoer.
Kushner's five scripts did have a connective tissue that could be best described as the contents of his unique world view--political, gay, ironic, serious and humorous --sometimes all of these qualities in the same play.
What really made this production special were the performers who brought Kushner's words to life. Veterans of the Guthrie Theater in Minneapolis, Jim Lichtscheidl, Valeri Mudek, Kate Eifrig and J.C. Cutler totally inhabited and fleshed out the various characters created by Kushner.
As with his monumental "Angels in America" Kushner stretched the envelope beyond the mere boundaries of genteel taste and everyday conformity. His laying bare the facts of Nixon's bombing of Cambodia made war crimes seem mundane. Mundane, that is, to the perpetrator Nixon. To the victims the horror was re-doubled, the human insult magnified.
After Howard Jarvis convinced California voters that lowering taxes would be to their benefit, he then got hung out to dry himself when he needed state services and they weren't available due to lack of funding. Only Kushner could highlight Jarvis's poetic justice by recapping California's dark history in the form of a modern day morality tale.
The most poignant piece was "Dr. Arnold A. Hutschnecker in Paradise." Lichtscheidl played the noble doctor to perfection getting the nuances down perfectly to reveal the inner-workings of the diabolical Mr. Nixon at work.
These five plays cement Kushner's reputation as America's preeminent playwright.
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