True
West
Reviewed by Timothy John Papp, offoffonline.com
June 3, 2005
"…it is the unpredictable energy surrounding Mark VanDerBeets's performance that makes this production of True West memorable. VanDerBeets exudes raw animalism in his performance as he swaggers his way across the stage, shoving his little brother, tearing the phone off the wall, and destroying Austin's typewriter with a nine iron. He is repulsive and abusive while maintaining a charismatic air throughout."
True West
Reviewed by Jessica Williams, Block Magazine
June 2, 2005
Sarah Vanderbeets' direction of "True West" is a paragon of unrelenting detail in the discovery of the dualities of life and the deterioration of family structures. Successfully, she secured a thick mist of tension to the air throughout the play's entirety.
Danny and the Deep Blue Sea
Reviewed by David Kornhaber,The Village Voice
December 3-9, 2003
Incest and murder bring together the lovers in John Patrick Shanley's grueling study of romance in New York's lower depths. In this latest revival, the play receives a dose of much-needed tenderness from the inspired performances of Sue Ball and Ian Kerch. From a barroom courtship involving attempted strangulation to a touching tenement aubade, the star-crossed derelicts move easily between violence and vulnerability and display a fine ear for Shanley's fierce lyricism.
Danny and the Deep Blue Sea
Reviewed By Paulanne Simmons
December 8, 2003
'DEEP' DRAMA Gut-wrenching staging of an early Shanley work in Williamsburg
The Charlie Pineapple Theater Company is located on a quiet street in Williamsburg. The theater seats two dozen people and has no fancy stage trappings. But if the company's latest production, "Danny and the Deep Blue Sea," is any indication, it is here that you may see some of the best drama this side of the East River, or perhaps the Mississippi.
"Danny and the Deep Blue Sea" was the first published play of John Patrick Shanley, a native New Yorker best known for his screenplay of the 1987 film, "Moonstruck," which starred Cher and Nicolas Cage.
"Danny and the Deep Blue Sea" was originally presented as a staged reading at the 1983 National Playwrights Conference at the Eugene O'Neill Memorial Theater Center in Waterford, Conn. It received its professional premiere at Actors Theatre of Louisville in February 1984, and in June 1984, it opened at the Circle in the Square Theatre in New York City.
The play is subtitled "An Apache Dance." Originated by Parisian ruffians, this dance is performed as a violent confrontation between two people.
In "Danny and the Deep Blue Sea," the confrontation is between Roberta (Sue Ball) and Danny (Ian Kerch), two violent and depressed borderline psychotics who meet at a bar at a time in their lives when they might otherwise have jumped into the abyss.
From the moment the lights go up on Danny and Roberta drinking beer at their separate tables, director Mark VanDerBeets keeps a steady tension going. In fact, the unrelenting misery of these two outcasts who are trapped in their own guilt and fury is so overpowering during the first half-hour of the play, it can be difficult to resist the temptation to get up and walk out.
Do not give in to this temptation!
The anxiety produced by the play is directly proportional to the rewards of watching it through to the end.
Danny and Roberta are not people most of us would like to know. Danny is a paranoid truck driver who is known as the "Beast" thanks to his constant brawling. He believes he may have killed his last victim after repeatedly punching him in the face and finally stomping on his chest. He sometimes feels he is choking, his heart is failing, and he is dying. He longs for peace.
Roberta is 31 and the mother of a 13-year-old who, she admits, is "messed up." She has committed incest with her father (whom she hates) mostly as a way to curry favor and exert power. She still lives in her parents' home, and although she thinks her mother is unaware of her unnatural activities with her father, she insists that her mother's eyes follow her wherever she goes. She feels she cannot escape, but she longs for romance and a caring touch.
Roberta and Danny speak the vulgar, disturbed language that rises from the gutter and the depth of their anguish.
Ball and Kerch perform magnificently in roles that are undeniably exhausting. Except for a few brief moments between the bar scene and the scene in Roberta's bedroom, where she eventually convinces Danny to make love to her, they are never offstage. Much of this time is spent cursing, striking, sobbing and throwing objects. The emotional energy is tremendous - and miraculously, always under perfect control. (Hats off to VanDerBeets here, too.)
But perhaps most inspiring to watch is the way Ball and Kerch take their characters through the painful stages to what turns out to be (beautifully and believably) a simple love story.
One reason "Danny and the Deep Blue Sea" is so disconcerting may be that it brings out the demons we all harbor: loneliness, isolation, fear and the memories and dreams we try to keep from the light of day. Surely what makes it so rewarding is the inexorable road to salvation it presents - a road that is paved with forgiveness and hope.
"Danny and the Deep Blue Sea" plays through Dec. 6, Wednesdays through
Saturdays at 9 pm at the Charlie Pineapple Theater, 248B North Eighth
St., between Roebling and Havemeyer streets, in Williamsburg. Tickets
are $12. For reservations, call (718) 907-0577.
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Orphans
Reviewed By Sarika Chawla, Backstage.com
December 19, 2002
The Charlie Pineapple Theatre Company opens it doors for the first time with a presentation of Lyle Kessler's "Orphans." This trendy little theater is nestled in hipster Williamsburg, sporting 45 newly donated comfy red seats. For a self-proclaimed "nuts and bolts warehouse," this theater offers a surprisingly polished and powerful performance of Kessler's highly acclaimed play. The show was first presented in 1985, and was made into a film in 1987 starring Albert Finney and Matthew Modine.
"Orphans" is an emotional drama about orphaned siblings in a North Philadelphia tenement. Treat (Todd Wall) is subtle and complex as a petty thief with a volatile temper, who convinces his younger brother Phillip (Mark VanDerBeets) never to leave their house because he is allergic to the outdoors. VanDerBeets gives a rawly gripping performance as the socially stunted man-child, who is old enough to shave but can't tie his shoelaces. There are hints that VanDerBeets is actually educating himself through newspapers and literature, but he has no concept that there is a world outside of their apartment filled with stacks of tuna fish and cereal boxes.
Their worlds are turned upside down when Wall brings home a well-dressed drunk named Harold (Maurice Richard) and then decides to hold him hostage for ransom. An orphan himself, Richard reveals that he is a mobster on the lam, and works his way into the boys' lives. Offering them a few thousand dollars and words of encouragement, Richard slips into an odd father figure role, but in the meantime tears the brothers apart.
"Orphans" is a highly charged and terrific play, and under the direction
of Alexandra Carter these three fine actors live up to its standards.
There are a few frustrating gaps, such as the characters' ages
(presumably the boys are in their 20s, and Richard is substantially
older, but that's just a guess) and the time period in which this story
occurs (though there are references to hi-fis and records.) But with a
performance such as this one, the Charlie Pineapple Theatre Company is
certainly one to keep an eye on.
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