“The People’s Critic”

It was a pleasantly warm spring evening under a near-full moon, and there was lots of excited anticipation in the lobby of The Woodlands High School. One-act competition plays were about to be presented by Oakridge High School and TWHS.

From the talented performers of Oakridge came William Shakespeare’s zesty “Taming of the Shrew,” under the direction of Connie Godwin and Val Prahl. With gay red and white colors for costumes (Cindy Halatyn), sets (Micah Stinson), and make-up (Whitney Gentile/ Kristin Collins), the play had the merry mood of a comic Valentine from the outset. The lighting designs of Scott Rucker added to the lively quality of the production, while the sound designs of Brandon DeYoung combined with the great articulation of the cast to make everything easy to hear. Assorted sound effects added to the fun.

Heading the large cast were the very pretty Miss Gentile (as the snarling shrew, Katrina), and Jared Eaton (as the swashbuckling Petruchio). It must be said that handsome Mr. Eaton had an exceptional command of the stage as he flashed his wide smile and filled the stage with the confident arrogance befitting the role. It was a professional caliber performance.

There were amusing touches of choral response, and slapstick comedy that even made the sword fighting hilarious. The use of feathers and woodblock sounds to create “horses” was another clever touch. The hunched and stumbling body language of Micah Stinson created a very comical character in Gremio. All in all, the cast provided a delightful and fun-filled production.

In a much more serious vein came the very exotic “Shogun Macbeth,” adapted by John R. Briggs from Shakespeare’s play. Directed by Sandra Erlandson, Carlen Gilseth, and Larry Wood, this was an extraordinarily bold selection as the work is so highly stylized and culturally unusual for our Western mentality. With the help of David Furumoto and Carol Honda, students had already been introduced to Kabuki Theater in a previous production of “Wondrous Tales of Old Japan.” Further student studies of Japanese history, the way of the samurai, bunraku, noh, and Shakespeare helped advance Erlandson’s ten-year dream to produce “Shogun.” (Her own father had translated the work for her in 1993.)

The exotic sounds of the period were well designed by Nancy Liang and Jessica Hook, while Katie Page provided fine Make-up Designs. Unfortunately, not very word of the fast moving piece could be heard. Ross Bautsch brought high energy to his characterization of Macbeth, but may have been experiencing some hoarseness after repeated performances of the demanding part. With her Japanese background, student Mayano Ochi brought a rich passion to the part of Fujin Macbeth. Her costumes were exquisite, particularly one stunning silk kimono that looked like a museum piece requiring bodyguards. The beauty of the costumes and extraordinary traditional masks, made me wonder if the generally dark lighting was too subdued for fully viewing the rich visual aspects of the production.

Played out on a ramped stage set (John Shelledy), the piece featured excellent Hair Designs by Megan Kane and Christine Maddalena, and beautifully authentic Japanese period costumes (Natalie Zelt). In spooky black with wild manes of hair, the three cackling Yojos (Michael Stablein Jr., Jodee Bruce and Cristina Killingsworth) looked like a cross between the Wicked Witch and the Cowardly Lion. Here again, not every word could be heard from this trio.

Miss Ochi also designed the fine choreography of the work, while Fight Captains, Matt Moses and Kyle Rafferty combined with the Sword Masters, Patrick Yost and Michael Stablein in creating the dramatic martial arts fight scenes.

There was a fine performance by Katie Page as the voice of wisdom, Biwa Hoshi. While the spiritual mysticism of the play may have gone over some audience heads, perhaps Biwa said it best: “What’s done cannot be undone!” But enough cannot be said for the courage of both teachers and students in tackling such a challenging production. I would add to that, that the largely student audience was most respectful of the very strange world they were allowed to enter in “Shogun Macbeth.”

Bentley’s columns, featured in newspapers from the East Coast to the Gulf Coast, may be viewed on the website at www.ThePeoplesCritic.com while E-mail may be addressed to ThePeoplesCritic@earthlink.net