Life+Is+a+Dream+Critiquejh

University Theatre produced its first Studio Series production of the season, //Life Is a Dream//, based on the Spanish Golden Age play by Pedro Calderon de la Barca. University Theatre’s production, staged in the Cellar Theatre, was an adaptation of Calderon’s play by director Marla Carlson and doctoral student George Pate. They decided to frame it with a short comedic piece based on Cervantes’ The Marvelous Puppet Show, elaborating the “themes of theatricality, perception, and the manipulation of knowledge” present in //Life Is a Dream//.

Of note in this production are the text, acting, directing, and design.

The story goes that the Polish King Basilio recieved a prophecy that his son, Prince Segismundo, would be the ruin of the nation and the king himself. He proclaims that Segismundo died with his mother in birth and has him locked away in a tower. He grows up chained and guarded by Clotaldo. Two travelers stumble upon the tower, and one, Rosaura, who happens to be Clotaldo’s daughter, reaches Segismondo on an emotional level. She hides in the palace in Warsaw. King Basilio decides to have the rightful heir inherit the throne and has Segismundo drugged and brought to the castle where he awakens to royal splendor and meets his cousins Astolfo and Estrella, whom he falls in love with. The king appears and Segismundo attempts to take revenge, already a proven tyrant. For this, the king has him drugged again and taken back to the tower and continues the plan of having his neice and nephew married to inherit the kingdom together. Clotaldo convinces Segismundo that all the events were but a dream. A group of rebels comes to rescue Segismundo to restore him to the crown, but the lesson he learned compels him to forfeit the crown. He then pairs Astolfo back with Rosuara and Estrella with himself. Then the audience witnesses a more contemporary ending. All this framed within a corporate role playing team building exercise staged by the con artists Ms. Straps and Mr. Boots.

 Carlson and Pate decided to frame the story with a comedy, to enhance and lighten the story. The frame was entwined within the story as characters kept shifting back and forth between their corporate selves and fantasy roles, which in a loose way mirrored each other. The characters would break from their roles to go over the plot for themselves and the audience. This somehow managed to clarify the plot points of Life Is a Dream while simultaneously making the story more confusing. The frame was a good idea, but it could have been implemented better. Because of the constant in-and-out, the import of the main story was somewhat lost. The original script was highly modified, as mentioned before, entwined with the frame. Music was added, sometimes anachronistic. This enhanced the role of the chorus. Regarding Calderon’s original text, the posit that one should behave decorously because this life may turn out to be a dream is somewhat of an oxy-justification, because if life is a only a dream, then rationally one would behave in the way Segismundo originally did, knowing it was all unreal and there would be no real consequences.

 The acting in //Life Is a Dream// was for the most part, very naturalistic in style, although it did get over the top sometimes, for example Stephanie Genito when she first came onstage as Ms. Straps (she fortunately toned it done very quickly), and Goeff Newell as Marcus Wilson (this problem disappeared when the character was role playing as a soldier or servant.) Not to say there were not any performers who were positive standouts. Among other with admirable performances are Jase Wingate, who played Clarence Jackson/Clarin; Dane Alejandro, who played Franklin/ King Basilio; Jennifer Elmore, who played Segismundo; and last but certainly not least, Libby Ricardo, who played Erin Boyle/ Rosaura. Wingate played the clown character in both stories quite well. Notable cases-in-point occur whenever the character is forced into a bad situation and tries to get out, as often claims his innocence or ignorance, when he is killed and goes on with a short monologue before announcing that he will be dying “stage right now.” Alejandro was probably the most convincing businessman and he held himself well as the king. Alejandro was clearly very emotionally involved in the part: he truly seemed pained at the fate and behavior of Segismundo and his kingdom. Jennifer Elmore starred as Segismundo and she was convincing, able to fill herself with rage and desire, ignorance and nobility. She had excellent control of her voice. Libby Ricardo, playing Erin Boyle and Rosaura, often stole the show. She was terrific in all roles she embodied and was able to employ her face, mind, body, and voice in her conveyance of the characters and their situations. She seemed both truly devastated as Rosaura in her first interaction with Segismundo, and then with Astolfo, and really miffed as Erin Boyle that she had played along in this charade for as long as she did. Maggie Blaeser as Tara/Recisunda was also a standout, really buying into the story and pushing it along. Paige Pulaski was notable for her subtlety in playing Estrella. Many of the actors, starring and supporting, were impressive with their singing, which ranged from decent to angelic. Stephanie Genito was a standout vocalist, as was Maggie Blaeser, but all could hold their notes.

 This production fell under the direction of Marla Carlson, who specailizes in physical theatre and dance. This was evident throughout the production, which screamed movement. The director noted that the “drama works out its conflicts through the actors’ bodies.” Almost immediately after the play began a planted “audience member” was called on to volunteer for a role and the first of many interpretive dances began. Dance was used to explain past history, further the story, and help transition between scenes, as when the entire cast danced in unison. Movement was an important part of the staging; it helped, along with the added music and chorus, turn the work into a weird musical of sorts. The actors turned out to be quite good at dancing, especially Elmore and Campbell-Taylor. Carlson decided to cross-cast the play, having male characters played by a female and vice versa. Segismundo was played by a Elmore, a woman, and a few of the men dressed as mothers when the main story began. She claimed that this was because of the cross dressing required on the story, of which I can recall only one instance. That does not hold as a valid reason for casting the way she did, although Elmore did give a good performance as the prince Segismundo.  This production was not fully produced, i.e. the designing and costuming fell mainly on the actors and directors. The costumes were pretty well chosen, with the actors mostly in business attire, and the two musicians in dorky clothing, and Segismundo in street clothing. When it came time for the role playing, the costume design helped clear some inevitable audience confusion by dressing families in the same colors, simple red, purple, and blue vests and skirts. The clown Clarin was given a colorful patchwork vest.

The set was also bare, consisting only of folding chairs placed on stage left and right, where the actors waited until their characters were back in the storyline. There were no curtains and no colors. The only props were a trunk and the costumes and fake swords inside them, and a locket and drummer Tara’s sticks. There was no lighting design. Everything had to be imagined. This pulled the audience into the game along with the actors, who were also challenged by Ms. Straps to see things that were not. It was an effective use of the frame, forcing the businessmen and the audience to play into the game and imagine things that were not there only by others’ suggestions. A shortfall of this was that one never really bought the main story of Life Is a Dream because the frame was ever present. Also, the costume choices were not representational of the characters, so more work on the audience’s part was required.

Overall, I enjoyed //Life Is a Dream//. Though at times it seemed like a bad jab at experimental theatre, it was entertaining and that is all one can ask for.