Chekhov with a Backbeat

I am looking around at theatres here in Atlanta, trying to see if there is any place that I could feel at home. The best would be someplace where I could work; the least would be someplace where I could see work that appeals to me.

I went to a performance of “The Seagull” at the Push-Push Theatre in Decatur a couple of weeks ago and I may have found something. Don’t think I’ll work there as it appears to be a closed shop, but I sure liked the work I saw.

A little background: a fad among experimental theater companies is to deconstruct a classic, thinking that they make the piece more accessible for modern audiences. I’ve never seen one of these pieces work. It is almost always pretentious garbage masquerading as enlighten modernism. In others words, crap. No, those are the words. It sometimes shames me to admit that in the world of theatre, where every dime is precious, young groups throw away resources so they can show everybody how bright they are. They expose much, which should be kept secret.

Hold on, this is not a rant against young experimental theatres. No, far from it. Some of the best evenings of my life have been spent with young artist pushing, experimenting and redefining the boundaries of their art. There is just something about deconstructing a work that seems to causes trouble.

However, I have had more luck with work that is “reimagined.” This tends to mean that the play has not been torn apart but rather has been brought forward in time. By that, I don’t mean adding telephones or TV, but it is more of bringing forward to a modern attitude.

Many times the language is completely gone to be replaced with a more modern vernacular. Sometime the better-known speeches are kept, but this is not always the case. Also, gone will be the length, which can be too challenging for an audience brought up on TV.

For this to work, the new script must hit all the beats that were in the original script. It says the same thing and in the same order it is just that it is now put into modern language with modern sensitivities. This is a bitch to do, but when done right it is special to watch. If shines new light on older work and allows us to find new meanings that may have been missed before or it may resonate differently viewed in today’s standards. If it is done right when you go back and see a good production of the original play you may see it in a way that you never imagined. And what is right about that is that seeing it new lets you enjoy it when you see it in its first form.

“Reimagined” work is hard to accomplish. I have only seen it done a couple of times. Once in Edinburgh by a theatre company from London called The Scarlet Theatre. They did a terrific job of Chekhov’s “Three Sisters.” Their version was called “Sisters” and was preformed by six women. There may have been 250 words in the script, and in fact when they got to the end they did it all over again, but with different subtext. They were spot on. It was one of the best evenings of theatre I’ve ever had.

The Ghost Road Company, from LA did their version of “Electra,” called “Electra-La-La.” In this version Electra was living as a street person out side the palace painting protest signs accusing her mother of doing dastardly deeds. Their script hit every single beat but did it with great humor. Another terrific piece.

All of this is to say that now I can add Push-Push to that small list. They hit their target right on the mark. Their production of “The Seagull” was hot. At another time I might go into this production a little deeper, but let me say, those of you living in Atlanta would be doing yourself a favor to try to catch this before it closes.

Ah, the “Back Beat:” The Sunday I saw the play there was a street party going full blast in the parking lot outside the theatre. There was a rock band playing their little hearts out at full volume. In the theatre you could hear, during the entire evening, a rock sound track in the background. The bass was particularly present. In an evening of “The Seagull” the way it was written, performed the way it usually is performed, might have driven you out into the parking lot with a shotgun. But, in this production it seemed like this was a planned soundtrack. A really nice moment in theatre that won’t come by again anytime soon.