Synetic Theatre continues to expand its artistic repertoire and unfold beyond the security of its tried-and-true “silent” Shakespeare works. It is a risky, but quite laudatory venture, to continually evolve by stepping out of a comfort zone from time-to-time. After all, a performing arts organization cannot just stand pat, even with successes, for the world can be such a fickle place always looking for the next new pretty thing.

So in an about face from its normal stance, Synetic has taken on the very verbal foolishness of upper-class, bored, supercilious Brits in the late 19th century. One way to describe Synetic’s current production of Three Men in a Boat (To say nothing of the dog) is this; it is composed of fuel from a 125-year-old book that turns into an evening of often timeless “pythonesque” sketches along with one deeply affecting scene that could happen right this moment. It is full-up with dialogue.

The comic novella source for the theatrical Three Men in a Boat (To say nothing of the dog) is a 1889 book written by Jerome K. Jerome ( 1859-1927). The book remains still in-print with qualities that make it a precursor to “Beyond the Fringe” and “Monty Python” madness.

Under the admirable hand of playwright and director Derek Goldman, the Synetic production is an affectionate, droll affair about a fortnight boating holiday on the Thames River by three, often smug but quite likeable, young male friends and a scrappy fox terrier. There are plenty of unforeseen comic troubles and disruptions along the way.

Three Men features actors new to Synetic including Tim Getman, Rob Jansen and Tom Story. They join Synetic stalwart Alex Mills. They play young men trying to escape from the hustle and bustle of their self-described overworked lives. Here is one character’s description of the stress they live: “goes to sleep at a bank from ten to four each day, except Saturdays, when they wake him up and put him outside at two.”

The production features fine work by Getman as the physically hearty George, Jansen as the reflective Harris who finds church grave yards places of interest, and Story as the instigator and narrator Jerome. Mills is outfitted as Montmorency, a fox terrier with a mind of his own. The story begins by introducing all the characters as they are spending an evening together; drinking, smoking and discussing their various illnesses as they read over the Merck manual of the day. Between their hypochondria and a sense of overwork, a holiday is in order. And so a boating trip up the River Thames and back over for a fortnight is in order. It is to be with physical labor of rowing and camping out-of-doors as a form of recreation. Right!

After packing their things with a mantra “We must not think of the things we could do with, but only of the things that we can’t do without,” they set off. Over the course of the intermission free 100 minutes, they find themselves with regular, less than satisfactory happenstances, usually caused by their own failings and too-proud behavior.

Wanting to open a tin of food they discover they forget to bring an opener. Wanting to freshen up some meat for a meal, they discover they forgot the mustard to make it palatable. The weather does not exactly cooperate as the forecasts are “always wrong.” And then there is an episode about making an Irish stew full of leftovers found in a wicker food hamper with an added dead river rat fetched by their faithful fox terrier. Each of these scenes involves verbal gymnastics with plenty of amusing running about choreographed by Synetic’s resident Helen Hayes awardee choreographer Irina Tsikurishvili.

It is a show with polite humor, “Everything has its drawbacks, as the man said when his mother-in-law died, and they came down upon him for the funeral expenses.” But it is far from just quick humor. One particular scene of sad affect leavens the comedy. Without warning, the men find something floating in the river. “Sometimes, our pain is very deep and real, and we stand…very silent, because there is no language for our pain.”

Ivania Stack’s costume design for the production are an amusing blend of colorful boating attire and natty smoking-room attire done up straw hats and other appropriate regalia including two-tone shoes. Her dog costume for Mills includes pieces such as paws, some here and there body parts and a hat with small pointed ears. Scenic design by Lisi Stoessel begins as a drawing-room and morphs into a small boat as a child would do, moving set pieces about to suggest the presence of a boat. The actors do the moving. The Thames River and shore landmarks are done thought nicely accomplished projections the handwork of Shane O’Laughlin. The projections give off the slow-moving up the Thames. The lighting design is a special joy when night scenes take the audience as far from Crystal City as is doable with delicious magical stars that are projected well beyond the stage area.

Three Men in a Boat (To say nothing of the dog) is a leisurely trip “far from the maddening crowds.” It is an easy-going night of entertainment. It is often enough a cheery, feathery production with plenty of chuckles and charm. It is also a tip of the hat to the importance of enduring, intimate friendships to share what life brings, whether good or bad. It is a seductive little piece.

Synetic Theater has successfully moved well beyond its usual formula of “silent” Shakespeare with a light-hearted Three Men in a Boat (To say nothing of the dog). This production is an amiable comedy that extends the reach of Synetic’s artistic territory. It may also have you go to YouTube to search for some of your favorite Monty Python routines as well. Nothing wrong with that.

Photo Gallery

Tom Story as Jerome, Tim Getman as George, Rob Jansen as Harris and Alex Mills as Montmorency.	Tom Story as Jerome.
Rob Jansen as Harris and Alex Mills as Montmorency.	Rob Jansen as Harris, Tom Story as Jerome.
Tom Story as Jerome, Alex Mills as Montmorency.	Alex Mills as Montmorency.
Tim Getman as George, Rob Jansen as Harris, Tom Story as Jerome, Alex Mills as Montmorency.	Projections by Shane O’Loughlin.
Alex Mills as Montmorency, Tom Story as Jerome, Rob Jansen as Harris.	Rob Jansen as Harris, Tom Story as Jerome, Alex Mills as Montmorency, Tim Getman as George.

Photos by Koko Lanham

Cast

• George: Tim Getman
• Harris: Rob Jansen
• Montmorency: Alex Mills
• Jerome : Tom Story

Artistic and Design Team

• Written and Directed by Derek Goldman
• Choreographer: Irina Tsikurishvili
• Scenic Design: Lisi Stoessel
• Costume Design: Ivania Stack
• Lighting Design: Brittany Diliberto
• Sound Design/Multimedia Engineer : Thomas Sowers
• Props Master Kasey Hendricks
• Music Director: Joshua Morgan
• Resident Stage Manager: Marley Giggey
• Projections Design: Shane O’Laughlin
• Production Manager: Ann Allan
• Technical Director: Phil Charlwood
• Vocal Coach: Robert Bowen Smith
• Assistant Directors: Alex Miletich & Elena Velasco
• Light Board Operator: Mary Grant
• Assistant Lighting Designer: Zach Dalton
• Wardrobe: Igor Dmitry
• Assistant Stage Managers: Nate Shelton & Sofia Shultz

Disclaimer: Synetic Theater provided two complimentary media tickets to ShowBizRadio for this review.

• The Island of Dr. Moreau, September – October 2014
• Beauty and the Beast, December 2014 – January 2015
• Much Ado About Nothing, February – March 2015
• Hunting Cockroaches, May – June 2015

More information may be found at the Synetic Theater web site. Schedule is subject to change due to performance rights conflicts or other issues. Specific dates of performances and auditions are yet to be announced.

The art of silence and physical movement are Synetic Theater’s unique forte. The company is justly acclaimed for the past twelve years of producing classic plays without dialogue. The remounting of its first success, the multi-Helen Hayes Award recipient production, Hamlet…the rest is silence is a jewel. The current production joins the premier at the Church Street Theatre in 2002 and the 2007 revival at the Kennedy Center as an evening to relish for its inventive, non-spoken take on The Bard’s words and rhetoric.

If you have seen the show before, re-acquaint yourself with it; there are major cast changes. If you have never ventured to Synetic’s Crystal City venue, this is one to see.

But first, let’s start before the show began the other evening. In his program notes, director Paata Tsikurishvili wrote that “the image onstage creates a passageway to a new truth, the doorway leading to palpable emotion.” He wants to “engage the audience’s imagination and compel your involvement in the creative process…”

While the Synetic program does not contain a synopsis of Shakespeare’s “Hamlet” it does name the 14 scenes that make up the show. For those familiar with Shakespeare’s text the scene names are ones that will bring knowing nods. They are such as “Something is Wrong in the State of Denmark,” “To Be Or Not To Be,” “Get Thee to a Nunnery,” “The Mousetrap,” “Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead,” “Alas, Poor Yorick” and the like.

For those not familiar with the text, reading a synopsis of the source play by William Shakespeare may be helpful, though far from necessary. What is happening on the stage will be evident, no matter what a character’s name or the silence of the actors’ voices. The show is described by Synetic’s marketing folk as “a silent rendering of the iconic tale of a grief-stricken prince torn between duty, love, conscience and fear.” And that is what we see.

The night your reviewer attended the performance, the last speaking before the next 90 minutes, was from Paata Tsikuishvili. He stood before the audience introducing the evening’s press night performance. There was something different about Tsikuishvili this night. He was quieter, almost wistfully introspective. Soon enough it became apparent why. He was handing over some of the keys to a valued piece of his kingdom. Speaking from his heart, Tskurishvili said “Hamlet was my first baby…there is a lot of me in this production.” This time, while he is still the director as in 2002 and 2007, another actor was to play Hamlet. He was like a veteran ball player or maybe in a more DC metaphor, a long-time politician; knowing it was time to leave the limelight, but it still hurt. (Though perhaps other current international events may cast its own pall.)

Then, it was time for the lights to dim and the show to go on.

Hamlet…the rest is silence even without any dialogue heard, but surely felt, remains a story of the impossibility of certainty in life. Who and what is to be trusted is like mercury in one’s hand; far from solid. For Hamlet, decisions are not easily made; there is just so much to think about, with much time wasted on indecision or mistaken actions that lead to any number of deaths. As for love that is right before him, Hamlet knows not how to accept it. All love is tainted. Finally, there is plenty of madness and foolishness, real and feigned.

Multi-Helen Hayes Award recipient Alex Mills is a smooth-faced, youthfully handsome Prince Hamlet. He is no fair-haired actor playing at have a tortured soul after his father’s murder sends him into melancholy. He readily shows his gloom and the pain within himself with facial expressions, tentative actions and twisted upper body movements. Without words he paints his internal turmoil. His physical movements and dance steps are his words. Avenging the death of his father is his goal. His mother’s disloyalty has made him done with love. Mills is plainly lost in a sad world, some of his own making.

Hamlet even pushes away Ophelia (played by the radiant beauty Irina Kaavasdze who later quite capably goes quietly mad with darkened eyes and slumped shoulders) is the woman who loves him. Claudius (Irakli Kavsadze a hulking, stocky, barrel-chested, Putin-like alpha male) has not only taken the throne from Hamlet’s ghost of a father (the long-limbed, soft-featured Philip Fletcher ) but quickly wooed away Hamlet’s mother Gertrude (the ever sinewy, cat-like presence that is Irina Tsikurishivili).

With original music and music credited to Giya Kanchell, Alfred Schmittke, Johannes Brahms and Gustav Mahler, the audience is pulled into the emotions of the performance. Without knowing a character’s name or hearing a famous quote the audience is readily aware of what is transpiring. Movement choreography devised by Irina Tsikurishvili includes dances such as a sultry tango between Claudius and Gertrude as Hamlet watches in utter dismay, to prancing steps by an entourage of hangers-on as Claudius crowns himself King, to funereal slow flapping of a dozen arms like large birds to give more darkness to death scenes.

Several particular scenes stand out for their clout. These include one between Mills’ Hamlet and Kaavasdze’s Ophelia as they dance with their hands and fingers a breath away from each other; never quite touching, let alone kissing. One can feel the ache from Kaavasdze as she wants to fully engage Mills in love but to no avail. There is but one tiny touch, a sweet movement by Kaavasdze slowly sweeps a finger across Mills’ check over to wipe away a tear. Later there is a scene at Ophelia’s suicide in which Kaavasdze moves through water composed of the ensemble’s moving bodies some of which appear to be lily pads that Monet would marvel at. Another time human bodies become a vessel moving over water that is a striking visual effect.

The key play within-in a play of Shakespeare’s Hamlet is a delightful descent into guilt. Featuring Irina Koval as Player Queen and Philip Fletcher as Player King, it is a smash. What starts as a concocted comedic endeavor slowly transforms and struts itself into its real purpose; to “out” those that Hamlet believes killed his father. It is a duet dance initially full of high spirits and silliness. It turns into heated sensuality to shame and unmask the guilty. Koval is one sassy, saucy, teasing enchantress. But what makes the scene so effective is to glance behind the cavorting dancers to see the slow fuming of Claudius and Gertrude as they begin to understand what the dancing is about…them.

A technical design element that becomes doorways, windows, caskets, boats and mirrors into the soul are a number of movable ladder-like objects. They are about six feet or so in height. Each is held and moved about by the actors producing visual impact and vivid imagery. Costumes are clear as to guilt and innocence. Most everyone wears head-to-toe black. Only the kingly ghost and Ophelia wear white. And Ophelia’s costumes change as she descents into her own Hell, from a shimmering pure head-to-toe pure white to a smudgy, off-white that becomes splotched with grime as her madness overtakes her.

Hamlet…the rest is silence remains a story of the impossibility of certainty in life. Who and what is to be trusted is like mercury in one’s hand. All is far from solid. For Hamlet, decisions are not easily made; there is just so much to think about first, so much time wasted and indecision. As for love set right before him, well his pain makes it impossible to see love. Synetic’s Hamlet…the rest is silence is an achievement to be experienced for the first time, or once again.
 

Photo Gallery

Irina Tsikurishvili as Gertrude and Alex Mills as Hamlet

Photos by Johnny Shryock

Cast

• Hamlet: Alex Mills
• Irina Tsikurishvili: Gertrude
• Claudius: Irakli Kavsadze
• Polonius: Hector Reynoso
• Ophelia: Irina Kaavasdze
• Laertes: Scott Brown
• Ghost/Player King: Philip Fletcher
• Player Queen: Irina Koval
• Ensemble/Priest: Lorne Britt
• Gildenstern: Zana Gankhuyag
• Rosencrantz: Randy Snight
• Gravedigger/Osric: Vato Tsikurishvili
• Ensemble: Janine Baumgardner
• Ensemble: Emily Whiteworth

Production and design team

• Directed and adapted by Paata Tsikurishvili
• Choreography: Irina Tsikurishivili
• Original Set, Props, Costume Design: Georgi Alexi-Meskhishvili
• Sound Designer: Iralkli Kavsadze
• Sound Editor: Konstantine Lortkipanidze
• Lighting Design : Brittany Diliberto
• Props Master: Kasey Hendricks
• Costume Coordinator: Claire Cantwell
• Stage Manager: Marley Giggey
• Production Manager: Ann Allan
• Master Electrician: Jesse Sutten
• Sound Engineer: Thomas Sowers
• Technical Director: Phil Charlwood
• Light Board Operator: Justin Janke
• Wardrobe: Emily Price
• Assistant Lighting Designer: Brittany Shemuga
• Assistant Stage Manager: Nate Shelton and Sofia Shultz

Disclaimer: Synetic Theater provided two complimentary media tickets to ShowBizRadio for this review.

Continuing its dialogue-free adaptations of Shakespeare, Synetic Theater has taken on Twelfth Night. After all, Twelfth Night is the Shakespeare comedy with rich imagery, comic situations and a multitude of musical references. It is the play with oft quoted phrases such as “If music be the food of love, play on, give me excess of it.”

The overall flavor and zest of this Twelfth Night, or What You Will, its full title, arrives with the Bard’s line, “Foolery…does walk about the orb like the sun, it shines everywhere.” It’s roots come from the Twelfth Night celebration of yore when there was music and merrymaking on the night of January 5th; concluding the Christmas season for some.

The production is directed by Synetic co-founder Paata Tsikurishvili with choreography by co-founder Irina Tsikurishvili. It was adapted by Nathan Weinberger, a Synetic veteran. Konstantine Lortkipanidze provided original music and Irakli Kavsadze the music direction.

The folk at Synetic have moved the foolery from its usually moored place and time. It is no longer hundreds of years ago in the Kingdom of Illyria on the Adriatic Sea. The events have been transported to the “roaring,” though quite speech-less, 1920’s. It is a silent movie under development.

Before going into the acting aspects of the production, let us praise the non-stop score and high-spirited movement and dancing. They are highly effective in setting the time, situations, moods and cueing emotions. The music and matching choreography span a multitude of styles from the Charleston, swing, be-bop, acrobatic and even a waltz. All are vibrantly danced to a bold “T” with arms swinging, legs kicking, with knees and hips aflutter, whether in duets or large ensemble pieces.

In this Synetic production there are immediately recognizable music compositions. Examples include the opening, syncopated Scott Joplin “The Entertainer.” Other musical arrivals, in no particular order, a sublime sound similar to Sidney Bechet’s “Si tu vois ma mère,” Duke Ellington’s quick stepping, be-bopping “It Don’t Mean A Thing,” a Fletcher Henderson use of the banjo to provide informal verve and rhythm, along with Jelly Roll Morton’s delightfully fox-trotting jazzy sounds. There are even sweeps of Strauss’s “Blue Danube Waltz.”

A big dance show-stopping finale celebrates long-awaited weddings. It is a full-tilt, no stopping them, brightly smiling, five minutes of pure, swinging Benny Goodman’s “Sing, Sing, Sing.” The number totally lit up the dancers led by Irina Tsikurishvili. The audience was bewitched, standing to give loud applause.

The Twelfth Night comedy begins even before the invisible curtain rises. Two silent clowns, Feste (Ben Cunis) and Fabian (Vato Tsikurishvili), go about their business hamming it up with the audience to get them into a playful mood. Their work was akin to an applause sign that blinks telling an audience what to do. Throughout the production they appear as a silent movie cameraman and his assistant who schlep along a camera and use a dolly to move about.

Soon we pay attention to a set design by Phil Charlwood with a wide array of pieces including movable doors and others objects, many on casters. Then we witness a shipwreck with a small model ship, a tank of water and a dozen well-dressed people hurling themselves about in a storm. While a tad overlong, the opening brings us the twins, Viola (the always lithe, expressive Irina Tsikurishvili) and Sebastian (Alex Mills, a wonderfully physical and spiritual doppelgänger to Tsikuishivili). They become separated after the shipwreck; both strangers in a new land.

Believing her brother Sebastian has been lost, Viola finds her way through a journey of unexpected discoveries. She is always resilient; the ultimate survivor. As director Paata Tsikurishvili wrote in his program notes, she is to be “a Little Tramp-like [Charlie Chaplin] figure, searching for love, deeply good and completely indestructible, always ready to face any new adversity –in short, a truly great soul.”

She falls in love with Duke Orsino (the cool, convincing Philip Fletcher) after dressing herself as a man. But she can’t tell him because she is in male disguise. Orsinio, however, is in love with Lady Olivia (Kathy Gordon who slowly loosens up to cavort as a sweet coquette over the course of the show) who rebuffs him and who is infatuated with Viola in her male disguise.

Along the way we meet a bevy of vivid characters including a delightfully cheeky maid (a sultry Irina Kavasdze who knows how to flirt and tease with abandon); the dour, sour, head man-servant Malvolio (a quite sympathetic, forlorn Itrakli Kavsadze) who is in love with Lady Olivia; along with and plenty of other amusing tricksters and madcap malcontents.

Beyond the dancing which is a high point, the production has some lovely poignant scene work using a large, glassless mirror as the twins present their duality, or when Malvolio looks to see his utter humiliation. Evocative costumes by Kendra Rai add plenty of cute sass to the female characters when appropriate. The yellow suspenders wore by Malvolio in his fever dream are the necessary hoot.

There are weaknesses that unmoor the production from its Shakespearean tale, especially for those unfamiliar with the Twelfth Night text. They could find themselves confused. There are video projections that might be expected to help out, acting like title cards in old silent movies. For this reviewer, the title cards had words that seemed faded when projects on the scrim being used, or were sometimes difficult to read when actors were down stage. With so many different scenes, names of characters and wonderful well-known text, better lit title cards would be useful. No need to over explain, but do provide more text to give a deeper immersion into the who and what; just as in silent movies.

Twelfth Night is an ultimately delightful escape. Certainly it meets the mark set by Paata Tsikurishvili in his opening remarks at the press performance your reviewer attended when he called it the “most charming Synetic production to date.” It will be especially enjoyed by those with a keen dance eye, a delight in sampling of spirited music and a desire to just float away without a care.

Synetic’s Twelfth Night is punctuated with an all out assault by dancers with ebullient polish. They want you to just enjoy and marvel at what they can do with their enthusiasm of youth, no matter what their chronological age. Pack up all your cares and woe, just go.

Photo Gallery

Kathy Gordon as Olivia and Irakli Kavsadze as Malvolio	Alex Mills as Sebastian and Irina Tsikurishvili as Viola
Irina Tsikurishvili as Viola	Irakli Kavsadze as Malvolio
Philip Fletcher as Orsino and Kathy Gordon as Olivia	Alex Mills as Sebastian, Kathy Gordon as Olivia and Dallas Tolentino as Sir Andrew Aguecheek
Irina Kavsadze as Maria, Irina Tsikurishvili as Viola and Rand Snight as Ensemble	Irinia Tsikurishvili as Viola with Ensemble

Photos by Koko Lanham

Cast

• Ensemble: Janine Baumgardner
• Feste: Ben Cunis
• Orsino: Philip Fletcher
• Ensemble: Zana Gankhuyag
• Olivia: Kathy Gordon
• Ensemble: Rebecca Hausman
• Malvolio: Irakli Kavsadze
• Maria: Irina Kavsadze
• Sebastian: Alex Mills
• Sir Toby Belch: Hector Reynoso
• Ensemble: Randy Snight
• Sir Andrew Aguecheek: Dallas Tolentino
• Viola: Irina Tsikurishvili
• Fabian: Vato Tsikurishvili

Crew/Creative Team

• Director/Artistic Director: Paata Tsikurshvili
• Choreographer: Irina Tsikurshvili
• Dramaturg: Nathan Weinberger
• Designer: Colin K. Bills Lighting
• Associate Lighting Designer: Brittany Diliberto
• Costume Designer: Kendra Rai
• Costume Design Assistant: Anna Klinger
• Set Designer: Phil Charlwood
• Composer: Konstantine Lortkipanidze
• Sound Designer: Thomas Sower
• Properties Master: Kasey Hendricks
• Videographer: Igor Scherbakov
• Music Director: Irakli Kavsadze
• Fight Choreographer: Ben Cunis
• Stage Manager: Marley Giggey
• Master Electrician: Jesse Sutten
• Assistant Stage Manager: Mollie Welborn
• Assistant Stage Manager: Sofia Shultz
• Wardrobe Manager: Emily Price

Disclaimer: Synetic Theater provided two complimentary media tickets to ShowBizRadio for this review.

“The only way to get rid of temptation is to yield to it.” are words written by Oscar Wilde in his The Picture of Dorian Gray. So how does a theater company convey the heat and passion of those words into an audience without chasing some away, or boring others.

Fortunately, there is Synetic Theater’s adventurous ethos around. As Paata Tsikurishvilli, Artistic Director, Synetic Theater wrote in his program notes, “While many adaptations of Dorian Gray are largely similar to one another, we have attempted to introduce some novelties.”

The brains and artistic muscle behind Synetic Theater continue to take the company on new journeys; not standing pat with the same old formula. For many, the well-known, admired formula has been 90 minutes of jaw dropping sensual, physical movement with verbal silence punctuated with original high-end music compositions by Konstantine Lortkipanidze.

Well, as the Synetic press material for Oscar Wilde’s The Picture of Dorian Gray states, “this production has dialogue.” It does indeed. Dorian Gray is a most text driven production running two loaded, voluptuous acts, chock-full of words, movement, music and multi-media. While not so much revelatory, it is a success in its straight-forward attitude.

What Synetic has accomplished with Dorian Gray is a major swerve in its artistic focus. Rather than an eye-popping production focused on the movement of sensual muscular and lithe bodies to communicate “silently” the classics, this time the Synetic folk use more traditional dialogue to convey the nuances of emotions, thoughts and actions.

First a quick summary of The Picture of Dorian Gray adapted from the Wilde book published in Great Britain in 1890. At the time, it was considered scandalous; greeted with outrage for its take on morality or lack thereof. The Synetic take on the book is to focus on three male characters using them as the center point for the entire production in their interactions and mind-sets. But as often with a group of three, one slowly fades away either by design or acting prowess.

It is the story of a narcissistic, ultimately self-destructive young man, Dorian Gray (skilled and talented Dallas Tolentino), who repelled by the thought of his own aging. That lines and blemishes might appear on his handsome youthful face was repugnant. That the ravages of aging would take hold, leaving him unable to perform, in an age before the manufacturing of a little blue pill was frightful.

Gray becomes the subject of a painting by artist friend Basil, (projecting vigor then becoming understated, into a slowly vanishing manner as portrayed by Robert Bowen Smith), who is totally besotted by the outward beauty of his subject. Gray also meets the decadent dandy, Lord Henry Wotton (impervious, sneering, ram-rod Joseph Carlson) and is smitten by his “modern” ways of seeing how life should be lived: “Be always searching for new sensations. Be afraid of nothing.”

With what initially seems an off-handed remark, Gray barters his soul to ensure that the portrait of himself ages rather than himself. From then on, he lives a sinful life, staying youthful in appearance as the painting ages, becoming ravaged with each sin he commits. And there are sins aplenty including the rough treatment of an impressionable, young actress, Sibyl Vane (Rachael Jacobs in her Synetic debut) and the homoerotic hints in the Wilde book made more visible.

The production’s Dorian Gray painting is thoroughly alive; not merely a flat slab of paint. The key role of the painting is played in a strongly heart-beating, very physical three-dimensional doppelgänger rendering by Helen Hayes award recipient Philip Fletcher. He is the mirror to Gray, always there reminding him of his true self until punishment for sinful deeds is delivered.

Not all grey-toned nastiness and darkness however. There is comic relief including from the three witches of Macbeth that find their way into a delightful movement synchronized appearance.

Technically the production is a visual banquet with its multi-media work. Set design by Daniel Pinha with projected images elevate the senses, adding dramatic flair. The set, which opens at first to picture frames, turns into movable transparent screens, used as added cast members with plenitude; abstract imagination, blobs of color, and unhinged grey-toned hands float about. A scene at the end of Act I, reminded your reviewer of Grace Slick singing “White Rabbit” with its hookah use and the ever-changing blobs of day glow color that get thrown about.

The costumes by Kendra Rai run the gamut from a delightful puffy sleeved shirt worn by Dorian Gray and the portrait (oh puffy sleeve Seinfeld episode!), to Lord Henry’s dandy’s frock coated outfits, to Basil’s rough-around-the-edges artistic look. There are, of course, women’s’ outfits for the ensemble that include cream fleshy color lingerie-like items revealing the utter beauty of the human figure, with later scenes including crimson colored items to match the stage goings-on.

As usual, Konstantine Lortkipanidze’s original compositions are not the least bit anemic. The music adds emotion and background, whether in movement driven scenes or scene changes. There is a run of music from mood setting piano work to more full-throated orchestration.

A change from the Synetic norm, the Irina Tsikurishvili choreographed movements are not “the” focus. At times the on-stage choreography even seems “inserted” and too long without being totally integral; draining the forward trajectory of the production. But physical movement does give awareness of the urgency of what is going on in Gray’s mind; the disrupted dimensions of his own disintegration.

“Some things are more precious because they don’t last long.” wrote Wilde. Synetic’s interpretation of Dorian Gray is well worth a trip into its text-driven journey. The production shows the maturing of a company willing to go well beyond the box of tricks that brought it fame and notice. Try it out with eyes wide open. Sticking the landing is not always the most important or memorable thing in either athletics or art.

Director’s Notes

In the decade since our last adaptation of an Oscar Wilde piece — Salomé — Synetic Theater has progressed by leaps and bounds. We have not only found a new home in Crystal City, but have also been privileged to perform on stages in New York and Philadelphia, for colleges in Pennsylvania and Massachusetts, and, most recently, at the renowned Rustaveli Theatre in the Republic of Georgia. The generosity and enthusiasm of our donors and audiences seem limitless, but what gratifies me perhaps more than anything else has been watching the growth of our company’s skills since Synetic’s inception in 2001. I therefore felt it was time, that our skills had reached a level at which we could finally tackle the visual and verbal “melting pot” that is Wilde’s The Picture of Dorian Gray.

With its focus on implied, suggested abstractions and its heavily stylized, supernatural qualities, Wilde’s novel is, I believe, a perfect fit for Synetic, allowing us the opportunity to use Wilde’s language — his poetry — to compliment and reflect the similarly poetic physicality for which our company has become known. The story is also a timeless and universal one, carrying the same relevance at the dawn of the 21st century as it did at the end of the 19th.

It is not by simple chance, then, that the artist Basil Hallward paints Dorian as “Narcissus marveling at his own reflection in a silver pool”: in our modern era, when social media has created an unprecedented blur of sexual boundaries and a preoccupation with self, The Picture of Dorian Gray has become a prescient statement and symbol of our times. A blank-slate innocent poisoned with an obsession over self-image, Dorian Gray himself becomes very much a modern Narcissus, his charm and lethal vanity luring in and ultimately destroying both himself and all those around him, through a Faustian bargain that keeps him forever young, beautiful, immortal.

While many adaptations of Dorian Gray are largely similar to one another, we have attempted to introduce some novelties. First, rather than a static two-dimensional painting, we have created a living, breathing and very abstract Portrait; a fully interactive and highly versatile figure. It is through this character that all of Dorian’s degradation is mirrored, as the Portrait becomes the personification of Lord Henry’s heartless philosophy — a philosophy which, like the Portrait itself, takes complete control and possession of Dorian’s life. It is through this live and spectral Portrait that we can now fully connect with Dorian throughout his journey, seeing him through his reflection’s eyes, not merely as a petulant child, but as a truly tragic, tortured, and haunted soul.

We have also chosen to focus on the central prism of the story — the trio of Dorian, Basil, and the Mephistophelian Lord Henry. To quote Wilde himself: “Basil Hallward is what I think I am; Lord Henry is what the world thinks of me; Dorian is what I would like to be — in other ages perhaps.” Basil’s lightness, Lord Henry’s more sinister darkness, combining into the “Gray” caught between them, are not only variations of the author himself, but also create the perfectly balanced and triangulated relationship that forms the beating heart of Wilde’s tale.

Finally, while we would never lay claim to the “perfection” he describes, it seems fitting to close with some more of Wilde’s words, spoken when Dorian was used as evidence against him during his trial for supposed “indecencies”: “My story is an essay on decorative art,” he said. “It reacts against the crude brutality of plain realism. It is poisonous if you like, but you cannot deny that it is also perfect, and perfection is what we artists aim at.”

Paata Tsikurishvili, Founding Artistic Director, Synetic Theater

Photo Gallery

Joseph Carlson as Lord Henry and Robert Bowen Smith as Basil	Robert Bowen Smith as Basil, Dallas Tolentino as Dorian Gray and Joseph Carlson as Lord Henry
Joseph Carlson as Lord Henry and Dallas Tolentino as Dorian Gray	Kathy Gordon as Lady Carlisle and Dallas Tolentino as Dorian Gray

Photos by Koko Lanham

Cast

• Ensemble: Rachel Burkhardt
• Basil: Robert Bowen Smith
• Lord Henry: Joseph Carlson
• Portrait: Philip Fletcher
• Lady Carlisle: Kathy Gordan
• James: Mitchell Grant
• Sybil: Rachel Jacobs
• Ensemble: Irina Kavasdze
• Dorian Gray: Dallas Tolentino
• Alan: Vato Tsikurishvili

Designers/Crew

• Director: Paata Tsikurishvili
• Choreographer: Irina Tsikurishvili
• Dramaturg: Nathan Weinberger
• Assistant Director/Music Director: Irakli Kavsadze
• Assistant Director/Fight Choreographer: Ben Cunis
• Set Design -Daniel Pinha
• Costumes: Kendra Rai
• Lighting Design: Colin K. Bills
• Multimedia Design: Riki K
• Original Music: Konstantine Lortkipanidze
• Vocal Coaching: Robert Smith
• Sound Design and Effects: Thomas Sowers
• Stage Manager: Marley Giggey

Disclaimer: Synetic Theater provided two complimentary media tickets to ShowBizRadio for this review.

The Three Musketeers, an original adaptation by Ben Cunis and Peter Cunis, was a dizzying spectacle of fighting, dancing and repartee. The theater group, well-known for telling a story with their choreography and no words, throws itself headlong into the swashbuckling, raucous tale of intrigue and deception.

The story, adapted from Alexandre Dumas’ famous text, starts in Paris. Young, wide-eyed Dallas Tolentino, plays the fearless D’Artagnan, whose only wish is to fulfil his father’s dream for him of becoming a Musketeer. The Musketeers who reside in the city, however, have more business at the local pub getting into brawls than they do with honorable work helping the king as his guards. Meanwhile, the Cardinal Richelieu, played by Dan Istrate, has set plans in motion to dishonor the queen in the king’s eyes, and set the country to war against neighboring nations, with himself as the only voice in the king’s ear.

As he bumbles through the big city, D’Artagnan falls in love with one of the Queen’s maids, Constance (played by Brittany O’Grady). Constance begs him to carry out an errand on her behalf to clear the Queens name. After convincing the peevish and quarreling Musketeers to join his quest, he rides against the Cardinal’s men and for the good of the country to gain the favor of his love and the chance to become a Musketeer.

This production quite literally leapt at the chance to show off the physical prowess of the cast. Not a man or woman on the cast missed an opportunity to display their considerable dancing abilities. Each fight (of which there were many) was choreographed with daring leaps, backflips, running and jumping and beautiful bright swords flashing and clanging off each other. Yet somehow the action managed to never seem dangerous. The maneuvering of their swords and limbs sent people flying off balconies and skidding off the stage, but the overall effect was of a ballet, versus a brawl.

The best part of the show was undoubtedly the slapstick. This show was not afraid to do anything for a laugh. While the source material may have been high adventure, the production had more vitality in the moments where it made fun of itself. While any of the dramatic postures of the villains fell somewhat flat, the joyfully teasing camaraderie of the Musketeers was where the production felt most satisfying in its storytelling.

Out of the three Musketeers, Hector Reynoso’s Porthos and Matt Ward’s Aramis were undoubtedly the best. Reynoso, an actor of amazing pathos and physical skill, made the part his own in every way. He is an actor who is deaf and used his body and facial expressions as well as guttural sentences to tell a fuller and richer story in half the time others took to tell with words. He made the most of every second on the stage, and drew the eye in the fight scenes and when he was in the background, as he fully inhabited the role of a gleeful brute and the rock of the company of Musketeers. Ward’s Aramis was the antithesis of Porthos in every way, and it made for wonderful chemistry. Ward played the part of the lover whose conquests get him in hot water beautifully, with a charisma and debonair wit of one who has wooed before.

The major failing of the piece was in the pacing and dramatic tension. At just over two hours, it certainly had a lot of story to tell, but too much time was used up in dramatic posing while classical music filled a mostly empty stage. The Cardinal Richelieu in particular used a lot of the stage in stalking and praying rhythmically, seeming to wait for the next character to come in and interrupt him so the action could resume. In addition, there were two duet dances, first for Athos and Milady, and then for Richelieu and Milady. Both of these were lovely in their simplicity, and of course immaculately choreographed, but held no tension since they had no buildup or explanation of why they were occurring. For instance, the dance between Athos and Milady was earlier on in the show, and yet after intermission, they seemed surprised to meet and talk with each other, as if they didn’t know that the other one was alive.

Furthermore, for a script adapted specifically for this theater group, it was unnecessarily wordy. Synetic tells beautiful stories with action, and the dialogue slowed the action down to a crawl in many places. This show had a few high points, and definitely kept the energy up with a mostly fairly young cast. Overall, it needed some tuning to bring it up to par with Synetic’s usual tight and explosive style.

Cast

• D’Artagnan: Dallas Tolentino
• Athos: Ben Cunis
• Aramis: Matt Ward
• Porthos: Hector Reynoso
• Constance: Brittany O’Grady
• King Louis XIII: Robert Bowen Smith
• Queen Anne: Brynn Tucker
• Cardinal Richelieu: Dan Istrate
• Rochefort: Peter Pereyra
• Milady: Irina Tsikurishvili
• Buckingham: Mitchell Grant
• Felton: Vato Tsikurishvili
• Ensemble: Zana Gankhuyag
• Ensemble: Rebecca Hausman
• Ensemble: Kathy Gordon
• Ensemble: Kathryn Elizabeth Kelly
• Female Ensemble: Emily Berry
• Male Ensemble: Stephen Russell Murray

Design

• Directed by Paata Tsikurishvili
• Choreographed by Irina Tsikurishvili
• Costume and Set Design by Anastasia R. Simes
• Original Music By Konstantine Lortkipanidze
• Adaptation by Ben Cunis and Peter Cunis
• Lighting Design by Brittany Diliberto

Disclaimer: Synetic Theater provided two complimentary media tickets to ShowBizRadio for this review.

For spectacular, visually arresting technical theater and virtuosic, athletic movement, look no further than Synetic Theater’s production of The Tempest. Based generally on characters and plot elements of Shakespeare’s play of the same name, Synetic’s Tempest offers nonstop action by beautifully trained, and often very beautiful, performers. Like Arena Stage’s Metamorphoses, it is performed largely in water, with all the splash and symbolism that goes with it. Perhaps this is the year of what might be called “immersive theater.”

There is no other local group that so intricately and precisely coordinates action, sound, and visual effects as Synetic. Each of the multitude of complex light cues is timed to coincide with an actor’s movement or gesture and particular sounds in the score, creating stunningly lovely moments that flow into and out of one another seamlessly. Behind the pool, which is the main playing area, Anastasia Simes’ set consists of an ascending rock formation under which there is a cave. Gauzy cloth hangings and curtains are used as screens for projections of sea and rain and more abstract shapes, as well as to frame the stage pictures. A set piece of a piano becomes a fountain, an instrument on which Ariel (Dan Istrate) mimes playing, and a surface that Ferdinand (Scott Brown) is made to scrub repeatedly by Prospero and Ariel.

Some of the costumes are spectacular as well. Ariel wears a silver-colored metallic outfit, coordinated with silver face and body makeup, that would do credit to a high-concept rock group. Sycorax (Victoria Bertocci) and Caliban (Vato Tskiurishvili) wear red body suits, with painted designs. (In a rare misstep, Caliban’s costume includes devil’s horns, inappropriate to a character who, while at times an enemy to Prospero and Miranda, is no devil.) Prospero (Phillip Fletcher) is frequently seen in a costume that parts to display his well-sculpted upper body, an effect emphasized by the lighting when he stands on the upstage rock formation watching the action below. Antonia (Francesca Jandasek) wore an off-the-shoulder blue dress, its attractiveness contrasting with her villainous character. The costumes were successfully designed not only for their look but also to work smoothly even when, as frequently, they were wet.

However insistently Synetic proclaims that its work is “really Shakespeare” (see Director’s Note below; why a company that produces brilliant work in its own unique style thinks it needs to legitimate its output in these terms remains a mystery), the company takes wide, theatrically justifiable, liberties with the underlying Shakespeare material. As in other productions (e.g., Othello), The Tempest begins with a staged backstory, featuring slam-bang fight choreography between Prospero and Sycorax and a sequence in which the relationship between Miranda (a gorgeous Irina Kavsadze) and Caliban transitions rapidly from innocent play to sexual awakening to attempted rape. Roles assigned to men in the Shakespeare are played by women (Antonio becomes Antonia; Trinculo is played by Emily Whitworth). Synetic understandably gives much greater time and emphasis to scenes that lend themselves to the company’s physical and visual approach. The storm that strands Antonia, Ferdinand, and others on the island takes only a page of dialog in my edition of the Shakespeare; in the Synetic version it is the subject of a prolonged and thrilling sequence in which Prospero summons the wind and waves that thrash the unfortunate travelers in the pool.

Fletcher’s Prospero is youthful and physically strong, scarcely aging in the course of the play, in striking contrast to the Prosperos of actors like Christopher Plummer and William Hutt, who, while in their 80s, created power through their command of language and deep experience of life and theater. There are moments when Fletcher shows comparable power in this very different medium, as when he stirs up the storm, but he often appears somewhat detached, observing from afar. The nuances of Prospero’s moral ambiguity seem flattened in the performance. There are lengthy portions of the production in which this Tempest seems more Caliban’s show, or Ariel’s, than Prospero’s. Istrate’s Ariel is frequently the most vivid figure on the stage, as when, for example, trickster-like, he creates music and mischief on the piano.

The production provides occasional bits of humor, often centered on Irakli Kavsadze’s drunken sailor of a Stephano. There are some good bucket moments too, as when Ariel appears prepared to douse splash zone audience members and Ferdinand self-administers a cold shower on seeing an enticing view of Miranda.

There are also moments in the production that have emotional force. Ferdinand and Miranda have a tender love scene. Caliban grieves over his mother’s body. Prospero forgives his enemies and then blesses his daughter’s union with Ferdinand by pouring water over their linked hands. But for much of the production, the constant fast-paced activity and athleticism, and all the attendant technical wizardry, call attention to themselves so strongly that there is scarcely a moment for the audience to contemplate the complex humanity of the characters and decide how to react morally, intellectually, and emotionally. Real Shakespeare does that.

Director’s Note

From the screwball comedy of The Taming of the Shrew, one of our most successful Shakespearean productions, we now enter the realm of The Tempest-Shakespeare’s penultimate work and one of his most multifaceted. Rich in love, music, comedy (some of Shakespeare’s funniest), horror, sin, redemption, revenge, mercy, and magic-both black and white-The Tempest is uniquely suited to Synetic’s signature style and vocabulary, which, like the play itself, integrates music, dance, movement and drama to create a distinct and unique whole. In keeping with the transformative qualities of our company, we have chosen to immerse this story in the fluidity and constant motion of its surroundings-that is, in the ocean that surrounds Prospero’s island. For me, water has all the versatility appropriate to Prospero’s story: the potential for hilarious comedy and silliness, combined with sadness, mystery, danger, and most of all, a quality of literal and figurative reflectiveness.

I found it impossible to work on this most recent Shakespearean adaptation without thinking back to our first-Hamlet…the rest is Silence. Specifically, Hamlet’s notes to his actors come to mind, in which he speaks of holding “as ’twere, the mirror up to nature.” Here, in The Tempest, water serves very much the same function. It represents both to us and to Prospero himself his journey over the course of the play-an arc which is very distinct in Prospero’s natural, fluidic movement from a state of vengeful fury to forgiveness, acceptance, and peace-to a state of grace, personified by his daughter Miranda.

Since our first silent production in 2002, I have often been asked, without the language, is what we do “really Shakespeare?” I believe it is. Since Shakespeare has been translated into multiple languages, his words having found multiple expressions and becoming a truly universal institution in the process, we believe the language of movement is a no less valid method of exploring his work than any other. As Shakespeare himself painted with words, we attempt to paint his words with our images, offering an archetypal Shakespeare that we know, as one reviewer put it, “in our bones.”

Having recently reached the end of our first decade, I am reminded of the many actors who have come and gone since Synetic’s first performances, and, most of all, of the actors, company members and audiences who are still with us after all this time. Rather than simply thank them, I would like to take this opportunity to dedicate this production to them-to all members of Synetic Family, onstage and off; past, present, and future. You remain, as ever, my inspiration.

Paata Tsikurishvili

Cast

• Prospero: Philip Fletcher
• Miranda: Irinka Kavsadze
• Ariel: Dan Istrate
• Ferdinand: Scott Brown
• Caliban: Vato Tsikurishvili
• King Alonso: Ryan Tumulty
• Antonia: Francesca Jandasek
• Stephano: Irakli Kavsadze
• Trinculo: Emily Whitworth
• Sycorax/Ensemble: Tori Bertucci
• Sebastian/Ensemble: Pasquale Guiducci
• Ensemble: Jace Casey, Katherine Frattini

Production Staff

• Director: Paata Tsikurishvili
• Choreographer: Irina Tsikurishvili
• Fight Choreographer: Ben Cunis
• Composer: Konstantine Lortkipanidze
• Costume/Set Designer: Anastasia Simes
• Design Assistant: Corey Searles Dunn
• Adapted by: Nathan Weinberger
• Lighting Designer: Andrew F. Griffin
• Associate Lighting Designer: Brittany Diliberto
• Projection/Multimedia Designer: Riki Kim
• Production Supervisor: Erin Baxter
• Technical Director: Phil Charlwood
• Stage Manager: Marley Monk
• Master Electrician: Aaron Waxman
• AV Engineer: Thomas Sowers

Disclaimer: Synetic Theater provided two complimentary media tickets to ShowBizRadio for this review.

How do we know the moon? Do we venerate it as a sphere made of rock and sand, with limited atmosphere and less gravitational pull than the earth; a satellite approximately 140,000 miles from us; yet so large and so close that it permeates our dreams and drives our ocean tides? Or is it a physically embodied allegory that bathes us in light and induces fantasies and reveries and drives artistic endeavor?

The heroism of President John F. Kennedy is bound in his pledge for the United States to reach the moon in ten years. In an administration that started in ignominy and ended in assassination, Kennedy is revered because he embraced the arduous. Whether staring down a nuclear challenge or conceiving of the sci-fi fantastical, he elevated curiosity and intellectual and scientific challenge to illustrate what was then truly exceptional about the United States.

By today’s standards the United states is exceptional because some foolish and anarchistic malcontents say it is exceptional while tolerating contemporary standards beneath the standards currently enjoyed by those failing nations the very United States uplifted in the first place. Therefore, it is not ironic that it was the United States who planted the first and only flag on the moon; the irony lies in that we have not been back there. But a private company is now selling moon trips to begin by 2020. The cost for this private indulgence is only $750,000,000.00…a cost the United States itself maintains it cannot afford anymore. This is not a joke; it a piteous abandonment of everything that made the United States exceptional in the first place. But none of this means human beings still don’t cherish our moon and our collective dreams about it.

And so the moon is once again a dream and its elevation in art reaches its apogee in Synetic Theatre’s A Trip to the Moon, an artfully integrated trio of moon based stories predominated by George Melies’ 1902 film of the same name. Writer, Director and Illustrator Natsu Onoda Power has conceived a lovely and brilliant work of dance, film, illustration, storytelling and music all simultaneously presented and executed with deliberate skill and compassion as two of the stories end sadly. I will state right now that I cannot even begin to put together words to describe the artfulness and loveliness of this production. The words elude me as I ponder the amazing lights and scene transitions as the three stories unfold. Is it possible to describe a ballet simulating dog mating as poetic? How about butt sniffing? Choreographer Irina Tsikurishvili has elevated the most coarse of inate animal traits into a rhythmic work of art in the story of Laika (Karen O’Connell), the Russian stray dog sent into space in the experiment to see if life can survive a rocket launch and reentry. Sadly, Laika did not survive her journey; and only in the aftermath of the fall of the USSR did Laika’s handlers and rocket scientists express their long suffering guilt and regret at their collective participation in the deaths of Laika and the other dogs used as objects of experimentation.

When JFK issued his heroic challenge to American scientific research and development to overtake the Soviet advantage in space travel, he did not know that the Russian lack of safety protocols and its inapt entrepreneurial method of testing would result in the horrific launchpad conflagration that killed the leaders of Soviet space research, thus leaving that field wide open to the United States to attain the prize in JFK’s time frame. The Americans took so long to enter space competition because the admonition was issued that no live, sentient being would die in the trials. Laika’s capture, experimentation, flight and death are so astutely and heartwarmingly recreated and O’Connell is lovely as she channels a little doggie who died in a way that no other doggie had died before. O’Connell’s face is as as guileless as a little doggie’s and her canine joy in her life so beautifully expressed. The movement of the set pieces along with the scene transitions, in combination with Konstantine Lortkipanidze’s score are mesmerizing and Andrew F. Griffin’s lighting is a monument itself to episodic and evanescent art.

The least strong story in this trio of moon tales is “A Tale of the Bamboo Cutter.” a medieval Japanese tale of a lonely woodsman who finds a moon princess in the forest and raises her as his daughter until the Moon people return to bring her back, leaving the woodsman to die lonely and bereft. Saying this is the least strong story of the trio is by no means denying its creativity and loveliness. Why wouldn’t medieval raconteurs and poets have conceived of a life and society similar to their own on an unknowable and untouchable body suspended in the heavens, steeping Man and Woman in its light while teasing them with its remoteness? Set Designer Giorgios Tsappas and Costume Designer Kendra Rai explore the metaphorical and physically illustrate this wistful and sorrowful interpretation of no good deed going unpunished.

The title tale of this show is the fundament with which the tales interact with each other. George Melies made hundreds of films in his career and many were based on astronomy and moon travel. However, he is remembered for “Le Voyage dans la Lune,” a comic illustration of colonial aggression and hubris. Power authentically recreates the film in live action dance and pantomime while Jared Mezzocchi’s brilliant projections integrate the film with the live action. It is all just too fantastical to divine. The live action drawing of the scenic backgrounds in combination with the projections and the peeling away of the gigantic paper as scene transitions advanced brought applause interruptions throughout this drop-dead gorgeous show.

The thirty years prior to Melies crafting A Trip to the Moon evoked a revolutionary change in life for the developed world. Electric light, telephony, celluloid film manufacture, spontaneous combustion engines…all elevated humanity from organic creatures subject to the Earth to masters of the Earth as one scientific breakthrough begat another pyramided on the scientific principles being proven daily. In 1902, while Melies was making A Trip to the Moon, Guglielmo Marconi was opening his first Marconi radio station and Albert Einstein and Mileva Maric were pondering what would become known as the Special Theory of Relativity. Melies’ A Trip to the Moon is a comic illustration of Man as master of the Earth.

It is no secret that I am tired of expensive 20th century musical revivals and I am interested in the new and experimental. For every amateurish non success I suffer through, I am rewarded with the joys and revelations of breakthrough works of art that leave me dreaming of the future and pondering the miracles of the past. Synetic Theatre never fails to impress me with its art and creative invention…venerating the past and exploring the future of creative endeavors.

Photo Gallery

Francesca Jandasek and Colin Analco in ‘A Tale of the Bamboo Cutter’	Colin Analco and Katrina Clark in ‘A Tale of the Bamboo Cutter’
Victoria Bertocci, Katrina Clark, and Colin Analco in ‘A Tale of the Bamboo Cutter’	Pasquale Guiducci, Ben Arden, and Victoria Bertocci in ‘A Trip to the Moon’
Karen O’Connell as Laika in ‘Laika the Space Dog’	Pasquale Guiducci, Ben Arden, and Victoria Bertocci in ‘A Trip to the Moon’
Victoria Bertocci, Karen O’Connell, and Pasquale Guiducci in ‘Laika the Space Dog	Pasquale Guiducci, Victoria Bertocci, and Ben Arden in ‘A Trip to the Moon’
Karen O’Connell as Laika and Katrina Clark as the Moon in ‘Laika the Space Dog’

Photos by Johnny Shryock

Cast

• Colin Analco, Ben Arden,Victoria Bertocci, Katrina Clark, Zana Gankhuyag, Pasquale Guiducci, Francesca Jandasek, Karen O’Connell, Renata Veberyte Loman, James Konicek, Ula Louise olsen,Guy Spielmann

Production Staff

• Writer, Director, Illustrator: Natsu Onada Power
• Choreographer: Irina Tsikurishvili
• Composer: Konstantine Lortkipanidze
• Projections Designer: Jared Mezzocchi
• Set Designer: Giorgios Tsappas
• Props Designer: Suzanne Maloney
• Costume Designer: Kendra Rai
• Stage Manager: Marley Monk
• Lighting Designer: Andrew K. Griffith
• Production Manager: Amy Kellett

Disclaimer: Synetic Theater provided two complimentary media tickets to ShowBizRadio for this review.

Theater has been pushed to the level of performance art in the new production of Jekyll and Hyde on Synetic’s stage. The gruesome journey of one man as he battles his darker nature has become a wordless tragedy of love contrasted with depravity. This is a silent horror that gets beneath the skin, and unabashedly displays the worst that human nature can be when unleashed. No doubt about it, moments of the play are downright horrific and evil, and set on the stage with such utter professionalism and talent that one almost feels it could be real.

The original story is very much elaborated on with the locations and costumes of the theater. The director chose a steam-inspired technological punk feel to emphasize that it is technology itself that can bring out our darker side when misused. So although the feel of the set was of an alternate Victorian universe, the message is very relevant to the here and now.

One side of the stage was dominated by a machine which displayed various media recordings, to enhance the understanding of the experimentations of the Doctor, and to serve as a storytelling vehicle. At one point, Jekyll’s battle against his darker side culminates with Hyde trapping him in the largest of the screens. As he fights to get out and free his love, Hyde joins him in the screen to taunt him, and so we get a wonderful moment of the two locked in physical battle as they gyrate and dance around each other, a moment impossible without technology to duplicate the actor.

The cast was superb. Alex Mills as Jekyll was sweet, engaging and bumbling as he worked tirelessly on his inventions. Alex Mills as Hyde was sadistic, cruel, and utterly insane. Hyde’s take on the world is that of chaos and need, like a lunatic mix of Joker and Clockwork Orange‘s Alex DeLarge. His control on the world goes far beyond evil, into absolute psychopath. As a warning, rape and torture are portrayed in representative dance, and wickedness brought to life with expression and exquisite choreography. Alex Mills is a powerhouse, limber and precise, demonstrating insane contortions as he transformed into Hyde, and menacingly commanding presence as Hyde began to take over everything.

The supporting cast was every bit as incredible, with unflagging energy and emotive powers that transcended words. An addition to the story created half human half machine hybrids that were the chief experiments of Dr Jekyll before he created the serum. These were brought to life by ensemble members who gyrated and moved in completely mind-boggling ways, creating the illusion of more than human creations that then became the minions of the mad Hyde.

The costumes also brought life to the alternate universe world of the play. All aspects of the costuming conformed to the technological world in which the story advanced, and each costume conveyed information about the person wearing it. This, my friends, is how you do Steampunk.

Finally, the journey taken by the characters was in some ways completely unfulfilling. The show does not leave one with answers, or comfort, only questions on issues that easily bridge the gap between the legend and reality. Visually stunning, morally stark, and beautifully told, this reincarnation of Jekyll’s battle with his dark side is like none seen before.

Photo Gallery

Alex Mills as Jekyll and Hyde	Alex Mills as Jekyll and Hyde; Brittany O’Grady as Fiancee
Alex Mills as Jekyll and Hyde	Alex Mills as Jekyll and Hyde; Ensemble
Alex Mills as Jekyll and Hyde	Alex Mills as Jekyll and Hyde
Alex Mills as Jekyll and Hyde; Brittany O’Grady as Fiancee; Ensemble

Photos by Johnny Shyrock

Cast

• Jekyll and Hyde: Alex Mills
• Fiancee: Brittany O’Grady
• Lanyon: Peter Pereyra
• Stripper: Rebecca Hausman
• Ensemble: Austin Johnson
• Father: Darren Marquardt
• Ensemble: Julian Martinez
• Ensemble: Karen Morales-Chacana
• Ensemble: Chris Galindo
• Ensemble: Jace Casey
• Ensemble: Julian Elijah Martinez
• Ensemble: Emily Whitworth
• Understudies: Kathryn Connors and Robert Bowen Smith

Crew

• Director: Paata Tsikurishvili
• Adapted by: Nathan Weinburger and Paata Tsikurishvili
• Choreographer: Irina Tsikurishvili
• Set designer: Daniel Pinha
• Costumes: Chelsea Schuller
• Lighting: Andrew F. Griffin
• Original Music: Konstantine Lortkipanidze
• Sound Design: Konstantine Lortkipandze and Irakli Kavsadze
• Multimedia Designer: Riki Kim
• Stage Manager: Donna Stout
• Production Supervisor: Erin Baxter
• Technical Director: Phil Charlewood
• Assistant Stage Manager: Amanda Rhodes
• Assist. Costume designer: Corey Dunn
• Assoc. Lighting Designer: Brittany Diliberto
• Carpenters: Bill Rohrer and Steve Ross
• Prop Designer/Crew: Eugene Stohlman
• Scenic Painter: Daina Cramer
• Wardrobe: Claire Cantwell
• Master electrician: Aaron Waxman
• Lightboard operator: Micah Manning
• Sound Engineer: Thomas Sowers
• Multimedia Technician: Kenny Reff
• Multimedia Board op: Igor Dmitry
• Production intern: Nick O’Leary
• Seamstress: Anna Blanchard
• Costume Intern: Evelyn Marina

Disclaimer: Synetic Theater provided two complimentary media tickets to ShowBizRadio for this review.

• Jekyll and Hyde, September – October 2012 Schedule
• A Trip to the Moon, December 2012 – January 2013 Schedule
• The Tempest, March 2013 Schedule
• The Three Musketeers, May – June 2013 Schedule
• A Midsummer Night’s Dream, July – August 2013 Schedule

Schedule is subject to change due to performance rights conflicts or other issues. Specific dates of performances and auditions are yet to be announced.