Our Town Was Made for You and Me

David Cromer, who has reworked Our Town for the Almeida Theatre, also stars in the production in the role of stage manager, photo courtesy of Marc Brenner

             The Almeida Theatre has welcomed actor/director David Cromer to work his magic with Thornton Wilder’s Our Town. The play has been hailed as one of the best-known and most-performed plays in the United States. It was first introduced on Broadway in 1938 and was revolutionary for its time because it disobeyed typical theatre customs. The play is lacking in set and relies on minimal props and natural lighting to tell the story. Wilder broke the fourth wall, which is usually the boundary separating the audience from the action.

Use your imagination! Mrs. Gibbs (Anna Francolini) prepares "food," photo courtesy of Marc Brenner

             Indeed, these breaks from normal conventions are evident from the very start of Our Town. The audience is subjected to what can barely be called a stage due to its inclusive nature. Members of the audience are actually situated in the same vicinity as the actors. Two tables with four chairs reside on the space to make up the layout. Cromer acts as the stage manager throughout the play, and as he comments directly to us, this is “scenery for those who think they have to have scenery.”

 Audience members are seated in close proximity to the actors and to the "scenery for those who think they have to have scenery," photo courtesy of Marc Brenner

             Our Town is appealing because it takes the humdrum and twists it into a production that is watchable and simultaneously relatable. As the description of the play on the Almeida Theatre’s website states, “We all grow-up, we fall in love, we have families and we all die. That is our story.” That is everyone’s story and it’s a universal one at that. You would think that watching a play about something we enact everyday would be monotonous, but if anything, it makes you even more invested in the storyline.

David Walmsley during rehearsal, who plays Emily Webb's friend and eventual husband, photo courtesy of Marc Brenner 

             As little Emily Webb (Laura Elsworthy) awkwardly flirts with her neighbor, George Gibbs (David Walmsley), I can feel the collective sigh of the audience as they recollect their own personal experiences with adolescence. George attempts a marriage proposal over milkshakes and we watch on throughout the marriage ceremony. Emily and George have a family together, but Emily dies young giving birth to their second child.

Laura Elsworthy (Emily Webb) pictured with Daniel Kendrick (milkman Howie Newsome) during rehearsal, photo courtesy of Marc Brenner

             Just like the changing of seasons, we lay witness to a speeded-up version of life’s stages. It was life portrayed in two hours and five minutes, including two intervals, to be exact. You need to be cognizant not to take intermissions from life however. Mrs. Webb (Kate Dickie) and Mrs. Gibbs (Anna Francolini) gossip like neighbors do and prepare food for dinner. The cheery milkman Howie Newsome (Daniel Kendrick) does his rounds, pulling along his imaginary (at least to the human eye) cow. Dr. Gibbs scolds his son for focusing more on baseball than helping his mother.

Milkman Howie Newsome delivering milk with his "cow" in tow, photo courtesy of Marc Brenner

             Professor Willard (Joe Bunker) takes the stage, providing us with a lecture and reciting statistics about the town. Cromer hands members of the audience slips of paper with questions on to ask Willard, which was an inclusion representative of the friendliness and involvement of small towns. In the Almeida Theatre that night, we were all a town in our own right.  

Professor Willard (Joe Bunker) tells the audience all about the history of the town, photo courtesy of Marc Brenner

             Mrs. Soames (Annette McLaughlin) is the emotional wedding guest as she gushes about Emily and George's beautiful wedding. Members of the community attend choir practice at the local church. Then, of course there is the town drunk and church organist, Simon Stimson (Christopher Staines). Compared to the utter normality of the rest of the town, his unruly behavior lends itself to perpetuating the rumor that he is becoming evermore unhinged.

Simon Stimson (Christopher Staines) drunkenly leads the local church's choir group which leads to an interesting practice session, photo courtesy of Marc Brenner

             In succinct summary, that is the story of Our Town, but the message is much greater in the grand scheme of things. After Emily dies, she descends to a resting place in the graveyard with others who she once knew in the town. One such resident is Stimson, who took his own life. At first, she is just as full of life as she was when she was alive, but this quickly takes a sharp turn for the worst. Emily is puzzled about the cold detachment of the residents of the surrounding tombstones. She realizes that she is able to revisit a prior time in her life, so she chooses one of her birthdays at home with her parents.

Wally Webb (Arthur Byrne), another resident of the graveyard, photo courtesy of Marc Brenner

             At this point, the only semblance of a set throughout the entire performance is revealed behind a curtain, fully equipped with things such as: food, a staircase, a kitchen area, a dining room with a table and chairs, and windows. The actors’ British accents have also morphed into American ones, a very subtle change that implies the sameness of all towns. One is like the other is like the other. The people might change, but the stories stay the same.

Emily helps her mother, Mrs. Webb (Kate Dickie), with food preparation, photo courtesy of Marc Brenner

             With increasing panic, Emily notices that her parents and her younger self hardly look at one another during this otherworldly experience. She exclaims, “That's all human beings are! Just blind people.” Stimson seconds this thought from the grave, claiming that people live in a “cloud of ignorance and blindness.” Perhaps most profound, however, is when Emily poses the question, “Do people realize life as they live it?” Cromer comes in at this point and quips, “Some; saints and poets do.” The answer is most likely a realistic no, especially in London, where everyone seems to be in some sort of a hurry.

Rebecca Gibbs (Jessica Lester) and her brother George enjoy simple pleasures, such as stargazing, in the town, photo courtesy of Marc Brenner

             I left the theatre concerned for my own mortality, having just viewed the final scene where Emily comes to terms with her death and adopts a stoic stance to the outside world. Even as her widowed husband visits her at her grave, she joins the others in miniscule talk of things such as the weather.

Mrs. Soames (Annette McLaughlin) during rehearsal, photo courtesy of Marc Brenner

             The nature of life is that of a never-ending vicious cycle, much like the washing cycle of a load of laundry that spins and spins until it eventually must cease out of domestic exhaustion. When referring to Mrs. Webb and Mrs. Gibbs, Cromer says, half in jest and half in truth, "They brought up two children apiece, washed, cleaned the house — and never a nervous breakdown." Unlike human beings, plays and the characters in them are eternal. Well, let’s all hope we keep pleasure in our lives to a maximum while keeping nervous breakdowns to a minimum.

             Catch Our Town at the Almeida Theatre before it ends its run on November 29^th. Purchase tickets (while you still can!) here.   

That's all folks! As the stage manager, Cromer (pictured here during rehearsal) provides a running commentary throughout the play, photo courtesy of Marc Brenner

Shadow Play All Grown-Up

Photo courtesy of Pilobolus

             As children, we’ve all experimented with hand shadows, forming our fingers into makeshift dogs or rabbits to project onto our walls. However, where the hand presents limitations, the body is fully equipped to contort into a vastly larger array of shapes. The number of us nimble enough to do this is so slim that I doubt those of you reading this have even attempted to morph your body into a meaningful creation. Enter the Pilobolus dance company, founded by a group of Dartmouth College (New Hampshire, United States) students in 1971. They magically transform their bodies into creatures, objects, and scenery as they transport us to a fantastical place in Shadowland.

Photo courtesy of Sadler’s Wells

            Shadowland is a coming-of-age story that is lighthearted and whimsical, an unarguably feel-good performance. We are introduced to a teenage girl who is struggling to find her independence while her dependence still relies on her parents. She falls asleep only to find herself trapped in Shadowland, where she embarks on a journey that incorporates shadows, dance, music, circus, acrobatics, and gymnastics. The performance optimizes several moving screens of varying shapes and sizes, front-of-screen choreography, and effervescent mood-altering color schemes. We all regress back to our younger selves, delighted by the simplicity, but still able to appreciate the complexity of such a creative endeavor.

Photo courtesy of Pilobolus

             What makes Shadowland so clever is its constant switch between being engulfed in the world of surreal shadows and the out in the open vulnerability of the dancers in their true form. We soon come to realize why it is we could never surpass our hand dogs and rabbits. Here we see toned and flexible individuals who possess a true awareness of their bodies and how to use them. Some of the choreography includes the dancers wearing minimal clothing, but this is not intended to shock the audience. As if their clothes were inhibiting their freedom, the cast continues to flaunt their muscular bodies, but this time, without any restraints. Watching them in such a pure state adds a new layer of awe to their graceful movements, which are made to look effortless.

Photo courtesy of Pilobolus

             Lauren Yalango as the sweetly curious and courageous teenager is the driving force behind the performance. Not a moment passes where she is not center stage and fully energized, an impressive verification of her stamina and agility. Playing with perspective, lighting, and angles, the realm of Shadowland flickers across a giant screen with all the precision of a film, except shot in only one take. Our teenage heroine faces many adventures - getting chased by crazed cooks, meeting a centaur, and being given a dog’s face on her girl’s body by a giant hand, just to name a few.

Our teenage protagonist just before she morphs into a dog-girl, photo courtesy of Pilobolus

             Shadowland is like a dream you never want to wake up from, equal parts vivid and ethereal. Through the use of a strategically chosen soundscape, humor that is universally enjoyable, and a nostalgic storyline, this multifaceted performance heightens all of the senses, reminding us not what it means to be alive, but to actually live.

"Sit!" Good dog, photo courtesy of Pilobolus

             Just when we are lead to believe that the show is over, it takes on a completely new direction. The cast spells out “Cheers, London” by using their bendable anatomy before we travel to New York and London. Iconic tourist attractions and landscapes are suddenly manifested from the previously barren screen, much to the gleeful amusement of the crowd. The members ofShadowland step out to take their final bow. Hardly looking ruffled or out of breath, they exit amidst an explosion of silver confetti, which I found to be a most appropriate end to celebrate a youthful and rejuvenating show. The illumination of the theatre’s lights acts as the metaphorical click of the fingers to snap us out of our mesmerized trance.

Photo courtesy of Sadler’s Wells

Photo courtesy of Sadler’s Wells

             Although the performance’s unfolding events could never naturally occur in real life, that’s precisely what makes it so uplifting. We all need some kind of escapism once in a while, and Shadowland provides that for us, expertly and unapologetically. Clearly having honed their craft, the Pilobolus dance troupe uses shadows, formerly associated with child’s play, and gives them a sophisticated grown-up edge all of their own. The whole show maps out like a magic trick. The audience grapples with how the whole spectacle is even made possible, but if we’ve learned anything from when we were younger, it’s best to remain in the dark, or otherwise risk spoiling the magic. Magic may just be smoke and mirrors, but in the case of Shadowland, what happens behind this very large “smoke screen” should remain hidden there.

Photo courtesy of Sadler’s Wells 

             Shadowland has been created in collaboration with Steven Banks, lead writer of animated series SpongeBob Squarepants, with an original score from musician, producer, and film composer David Poe, and seen by nearly a million people worldwide.To catch Shadowland before its finish on March 30th at the Peacock Theatre, check ticket availability here.