“Tender Napalm” at 59E59 Theater C By Philip Ridley Directed by Paul Takacs Reviewed by David Roberts Theatre Reviews Limited
Strains of the Yahwist myth of creation (garden-dwelling Man and Woman) counterpoint contemporary gaming mythos (Sony Computer Entertainment’s “God of War Saga, for example), Marvel Comic’s Super Heroes, and Grimm Brothers fairy tales to construct an understanding of the meaning of life and how to sooth its vicissitudes in Philip Ridley’s “Tender Napalm” currently playing at 59E59 Theater C in New York City.
The oxymoron inherent in the title of Ridley’s play serves as a compelling fugue throughout this fascinating and carefully developed drama. The characters – Man and Woman – tear up the miniscule playing area (approximately 80 – 100 square feet) with alternating tenderness and firebombs and the sweetness of their exchanges is as difficult to extinguish as is the horror of the wounds suffered under attack. Blake Ellis and Amelia Workman spin stories of love and of conquest that ripple throughout the audience. The audience feels the passion of deep love and the passion of stinging indifference. Buried in the fallout from these exchanges is the reason for this melee of mythic proportions: deep, enduring, and relentless loss.
Something has gone terribly wrong for this pair of humans. They have suffered a life-shattering loss and that loss has something to do with a child, a daughter. They use the memory of this daughter as a napalm flamethrower. It is important to recognize and celebrate the clear connection between the battle and the battlements of Ridley’s Man and Woman and Albee’s George and Martha. George and Martha – the quintessential “original couple” (think Washington) squabble over the meaning of existence in the mid-sixties. Ridley’s Man and Woman deconstruct the essential meaning of existence from the Garden until the Present.
Sometimes something so horrific happens that the damage, the fallout is irreparable. The post-traumatic chasm between man and woman, between two men, between two women, between any conceivable dyadic entities (human-creator, human-institution) is just too much to bear. The pain is too excruciating and the opportunities for healing and surcease are far too rare. No story-telling, no fantasy, no fairytale, no mythic construct, no now-I-lay-me-down-to-sleep-prayer can dismantle the damage.
Under Paul Takacs’s careful and thoughtful direction, Blake Ellis and Amelia Workman electrify the playing space with a range of emotion and wonderment that almost defies possibility. Unlike the characters in “Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf” who find a path to resolving their warfare, the Man and Woman end as they began: their warfare will continue until the end of time. At the beginning of “Tender Napalm,” Man says to Woman, “I could squeeze a bullet between those lips.” At the play’s end, after countless attempts at disarmament, Woman say to Man, “I could squeeze a bullet between those lips.” And the fugue of fractured future plays on.
The Man and the Woman repeatedly ask each other, “Have you seen the view?” On a deeper level, “Tender Napalm,” like E. M. Forster’s 1908 novel “A Room with a View,” criticizes mid-twentieth and early-twenty-first century global cultures that have consistently embraced violence as an acceptable alternative for solving international and interpersonal conflicts. That choice between rebirth and global death remains as the audience exits the theatre and returns to examine the variety of views from their real and imaginary rooms. This is a must-see performance that deserves a future on the New York stage.
TENDER NAPALM
Presented by The Shop (Midori Harris and Paul Takacs) at 59E59 Theaters (Elysabeth Kleinhans and Peter Tear). Written by Philip Ridley and directed by Paul Takacs. The design team includes Steven C. Kemp (scenic design); Dante Olivia Smith (lighting design); and Toby Jaguar Algya (sound design). The movement director is Yasmine Lee. The stage manager is Michele Ebel.
The cast for the US premiere features Blake Ellis (Man) and Amelia Workman (Woman).
“Tender Napalm” runs for a limited engagement through Sunday, September 9. The performance schedule is Tuesday – Thursday at 7:30 PM; Friday and Saturday at 8:30 PM; and Sunday at 3:30 PM. Performances are at 59E59 Theaters (59 East 59th Street, between Park and Madison Avenues). Tickets are $18 ($12.60 for 59E59 Members). To purchase tickets, call Ticket Central at (212) 279-4200 or go to www.59e59.org.
Permalink | Posted by David Roberts on Tuesday, September 4, 2012
CEOExpress
