CurtainUp
The Internet Theater Magazine of Reviews, Features,
Annotated Listings
| |
CurtainUp The Internet Theater Magazine of Reviews, Features,
Annotated Listings |
|
A CurtainUp Review
Socrates
By Elyse Sommer
Justice,friendship, virtue,poetry,theater, death, democracy! Mr. Nelson takes us through Socrates' wide ranging philosophical dialogues about the meaning of life within the context of his lifetime (470 bc-399bc). That means we not only get to know more about this complicated man but meet his fellow Athenians. Naturally that includes not just his students and followers but the men who tried him for his irreverence towards their accepted Gods and corrupting his young followers. We also become privvy to how when Socrates stubbornly stuck to his beliefs, his accusers put him to death with hemlock poison. Apparently Mr. Nelson wrote the play envisioning Michael Stuhlbarg, his friend and colleague since their Julliard days, as Socrates. Fortunately Stuhlbarg was available and does indeed give us a colorful, flesh and blood human being rather than the statue on the Playbill cover. Undoubtedly if Nelson had written his script to be performed as a monologue this fine actor could morph into all the characters making up his world, as Denis O'Hare and Stephen Spinella did in the solo in 2012. If it weren't for the bushy beard grown for this role, that could probably even include the philosopher's wife Xanthippe. Even though this isn't a monolgue, Stuhlbarg has plenty of lines to deliver with Shakespearean flair. So do the other sixteen actors. If you check out the cast list in the production notes at the side of this review, you'll see that most of them play multiple roles, which greatly expands the dramatis personae. Given Socrates' inevitable death, this all adds up to a quite grand Greek tragedy. To tie all the strands of Socrates' life story together, the playwright concocted a framing device involving a teen aged boy (Niall Cunningham) brought to Plato (Teagle F. Bougere) as a student. The boy is angry about the Athenians' treatment of Socrates and thus questions the validity and virtue of the Plato-Socratea relationship and the city's social order. Thus Plato and the Boy's own socratic dialogue is interspersed between Socrates' scenes with the various other characters. This set-up makes perfect sense for several reasons. Plato himself was the philospher's student and follower, yet supported his trial. Unlike Socrates certainly did plenty of talking while alive but left no written texts behind. On the other hand, Plato was a playwright and it is mostly through his published works that Socrates' ideas have been passed down and influenced society to this day. Excellent as the entire ensemble is,keeping up with who plays who and when can be a challenge unless you sit close to the stage. There are also several scenes where an actor speaks from a side aisle which not everyone can see. Furthermore, provocative and well worth thinking about as all these ideas are, it's a lot to take in. When Plato at one point explains Socrates to the boy: "Often he got so far ahead of us, he had to answer his own questions" so all these phiosophical interactions often get too far ahead of the audience, causing attention to stray for a bit of mental rest.
And speaking of that death scene, it's as close as you'll ever come to witnessing an execution. It's not exactly enjoyable to witness but I suppose the reason it's been so precisely detailed is to clear up anyone's belief that execution with natural poisons can ever be more benign than other methods. It's also the one scene to make the role of Socrates' wife a bit more necessary than it seems otherwise. Clearly, democracy has had its would be usurpers through the centuries. And this play about the birth and first assault on it makes this an apt coproduction with the Onassis Festival (This year's festival is themed "Democrcy is Coming" with offerings that include Antigone staged as a comedy). |
Search CurtainUp in the box below PRODUCTION NOTES Socrates by Tim Blake Nelson Directed by Doug Hughes Cast: Michael Stulberg as Socrates, Tom Nelis as Proxenus, Gorgias, and Aristophanes; Lee Wilkof as Megasthenes and the Archon; David Aaron Baker as Anytus; Teagle F. Bougere as Plato; Niall Cunningham as A Boy; Peter Jay Fernandez as Thrasymachus and Polus; Karl Green as Lamprocles and Aenesidemos; Miriam A. Hyman as Xanthippe; Robert Joy as Crito Caerephon, and Meletus; Alan Mendez as Andromachus and Aetios; Joe Tapper as Agathon and Meno; and ensemble members Ro Boddie and Daniel Reece. Scenic Design Scott Pask Costume Design Catherine Zuber Lighting Design Tyler Micoleau Sound Design & Original Music Mark Bennett Wig Design Tom Watson.Fight Director J. David Brimmer Production Stage Manager Theresa Flanagan Stage Manager Jared Oberholtzer Running Time: 2 hours and 45 minutes, including 1 intermission Public Theater's Martinson Hall From 4/02/19; opens 4/16/19; closing 5/15/19. Reviewed by Elyse Sommer at 4/12 press preview REVIEW FEEDBACK Highlight one of the responses below and click "copy" or"CTRL+C"
Paste the highlighted text into the subject line (CTRL+ V): Feel free to add detailed comments in the body of the email. . .also the names and emails of any friends to whom you'd like us to forward a copy of this review. For a feed to reviews and features as they are posted at http://curtainupnewlinks.blogspot.com to your reader Curtainup at Facebook . . . Curtainup at Twitter |
