Old Globe’s “Duel Reality”… Shakespeare or Cirque du Soleil?

After returning home from seeing the Globe’s “Duel Reality” I went rummaging through all my press kits and souvenir books (yes,  I saved them all) of all the Cirque shows I’ve seen over the years. Funny thing, both shows originated in Canada. “Duel Reality” a production by Les 7 Doigts La Main ( The 7 Fingers) with direction by Shana Carroll (originally produced and created with Virgin Voyages and commissioned partner Artsemerson), is a 75 minute piece of theatre combining Ringling Bros & Barnum and Bailley circus acts with a Shakespearean twist. It will be showing through  August 4th on the Donald and Darlene Shiley Stage. 

Michelle Hernandez and Gerardo Gutiérrez

There is no lack of talent as each of the twelve member cast outperform themselves as practiced and versatile acrobats effortlessly twisting turning, spinning hula hoops, juggling balls, bowling pins and any other device you might see in a circus act or circus type show. 

There is evidence of a Capulets and Montagues riff and several passages posted on a screen in the background taken from Shakespeare’s “Romeo and Juliet”, but for the most part, it’s the athletics that stand out i.e.; trapeze acts, pole climbing,  precision jumping through hoops, you name it.

Cast

To make it more interesting teams were created; red and blue audience wrist bands  handed out as we walked in to the theatre. A referee calls the shots and we cheer for our side. Some participate, others do not. But the rivalry seems real following the play on a more serious side. Star crossed lovers Gerardo Gutiérrez and Michelle Hernandez (playing Romeo and Juliet) find their connection without saying a word. The chemistry between the two needs no words. They are just beautiful together as they sway on a magical swing high above the wrangling to the musical soundtrack of jazz, rap and dance music (Colin Gagné) 

Andreas De Ryck and Danny Vrijsen

On the rivalry side Danny Vrijsen (as Tybalt) and Einar Kling-Odencrants (Mercutio) make an explosive duo mounting their actions and family anger on a Korean Plank (an apparatus that requires two acrobats jumping on something that looks like a see-saw). But the ending will surprise. In an effort to create harmony and change, in  the end, both sides remove their blue and red tops creating a unified front. Nothing like changing the ending of a Shakespearean play. This is theatre after all. 

Lighting Designer Alexander Nichols creates the atmosphere changing the lighting, Costume Designer Camille Thibault-Bédard created the circus like costumes and Francisco Cruz coached the performers in acrobatics.

Soen Geirnaert and the cast of Duel Reality. Photo by Liza Heinrichs.

It’s a family show especially the circus part. The kids will never get the Shakespeare inferences. Yours truly had to struggle enough with that and I can’t tell you how many times I’ve seen “Romeo and Juliet”. As for being a “circus lover”, take me to a Cirque show and I’ll be a happy camper. No juggling please. 

Have fun.

See you at the theatre.

Nicolas Jelmoni and Soen Geirnaert. Photo by Jean-Francois Savaria.

When: 7 p.m. Tuesdays-Thursdays. 8 p.m. Fridays. 2 and 8 p.m. Saturdays. 2 and 7 p.m. Sundays. Through 2 p.m. Aug. 4

Where: Old Globe Theatre, 1363 Old Globe Way, Balboa Park, San Diego

Photo: Jim Cox and others.

Tickets: $39 and up

Phone: (619) 234-5623

Online: theoldglobe.org

“tick, tick… BOOM!” CYGNET’S LATEST FARE.

 Cygnet’s latest fare, “tick, tick …Boom!” with book, music and lyrics by  Jonathan Larson and directed by Katie Banville,  takes us back to the 1990’s in a small apartment in New York City (Yi Chen Lee) where Jon (AJ Rafael) is about to turn 30 and is racing with the clock to write a successful play before that happens. He is also racing with the clock and shares his anxiety about it with us all.

Jim Croce died in a plane crash before he would know the success of his hit song “Time in a Bottle”. Buddy Holly, pioneer of Rock n’ Roll died at age 22. Jonathan Larson would die suddenly of an aortic dissection, or tear in the inner layer of the aorta, at age 35, the night before “Rent” officially opened. Life is so short. Time on this earth doesn’t always cooperate with our own time table; things like success and heartbreak come, ready or not.

Emma Nossal and AJ Rafael

But for Jon, it mattered not. He was bound and determined to be a success before turning 30. His friends and off and on roommates Susan and Michael (Emma Nossal and Leo Ebanks) try to encourage him to move on.

Thirteen or so musical numbers under the conductor, keyboards, of Dr. Randi Rudolph, drive the show sung alternatively, but not in any order, by each of the actors. Michael and Susan (Leo Ebanks and Emma Nossal) move in and out of scenes as well as the apartment they shared. Susan teaches dance to wealthy kids and wants to move to the Cape as in Cape Cod and Michael  took a job in the financial world to make money. He tools around in a BMW.

Emma Nossel, AJ Rafael and Leo Ebanks

Before his 30th birthday, Jon spends time on what he will consider his successful musical, Superbia. He has been working on it for five years. He worries that no one will come to his presentation but  all the seats are filled including one with his idol Stephen Sondheim. But no one commits to the project and Jon is feeling rejected again. When he tells his best friend Michael that he's quitting show business, Michael shares with him  that he is dying from HIV. 

Both Ebanks and Nossal make use of the whole stage as well as the aisles. Rafael, who is on stage for the entire 90+ minute show and is making his Cygnet Theatre debut, anchors the show. Both Nossal and Ebanks add a certain degree of versatility and charm.  Unfortunately, Rafael lacked the charisma, appeal magnetism call it what you will, to carry off this overwhelming task. His emotional range lacked depth and he was short on that convincing pull to thoroughly engage us. Something more was needed to feel his angst. 

 Joshua Heming’s lighting design is perfect atmospheric lighting for Jon’s apartment. Peter Herman’s wigs are always perfect, Yi-Chien Lees set design meets the standard of his Soho apartment and Salvador Zamora’s sound was too loud. 

AJ Rafael

However, when all is said and done, we know who Jonathan Larson was a great artist. At least he had time to compose “Rent”,  but died before it opened. 

See you at the theatre.

When: July 6 and runs through Aug. 4. 7 p.m. 

Wednesdays, Thursdays and Fridays; 2 and 7 p.m. Saturdays; 2 p.m. Sundays

Where: Cygnet Theatre, 4040 Twiggs St., Old Town San Diego

Tickets: $30 and up

Photo: Karli Cadel

Phone: (619) 337-1525

Online: cygnettheatre.com

“BEAUTY QUEEN OF LEENANE” A MUST SEE AT BACKYARD RENAISSANCE THEATRE COMPANY

Before the curtain even went up on opening night of Backyard Renaissance  Theatre downtown on 10 Ave, the theatre was dark, the ushers needed flashlights to help patrons find their seats and one could scarcely see the programs without said light. Or… a preview of what was to come? This was after all the opening night of Martin McDonagh’s “Beauty Queen of Leenane” a colorful, yet psychological dark comedy. 

McDonagh, not known for his subtlety, jumps right into a family drama that has been playing out even before we entered the picture. 

JESSICA JOHN AND DEBORAH GILMOUR SMYTH

Set in the County Galway village of Leenane, off the west coast of Ireland, mother and daughter Mag (Deborah Gilmour Smyth) and Maureen (Jessica John) live together as antagonists on a dangerous highway. They  duke it out in a war of words potent enough to knock a world champion boxer flat on her back. Mag manipulates; Maureen counters and falls into the trap only to impose her own form of cruelty. 

  

Deborah Gilmour Smyth and Nick Daugherty

Maureen is forty, unmarried and has no life (read no love life). Mag is a controlling hag and wants a pound of Maureen’s flesh. As the banter pierces the air, the audience is taken on a roller coaster ride through the pain, pathos, humor and horror of these women’s lives. No easy fete this, since if one had to choose who the good guy was, one would be hard pressed. But there is more.

Deborah Gilmour Smyth and Jessica John

Two neighboring brothers Pato and Ray (MJ Siebner and Nick Ritz Daugherty) bring a different vibe into the Folan house of horrors. Call Daugherty’s performance high voltage. Pato, a potential mate for Maureen is sensitive and caring. It is a disturbance for Mag as she sees the possibilities. While Ray who adds some comic relief, is the deliverer of news that sets most of the motion into play for Mag as she reacts in her own indomitable way and John softens her stance a bit, becomes sexier while Siebner gives a standout performance as he reads, aloud, a letter he wrote to Maureen about his intentions. In Pato’s  eyes Maureen is his beauty queen of Leenane. 

Jessica John, Deborah Gilmour Smyth and MJ Sieber

 The first time Gilmour Smyth and John teamed up was in 2023 also at BYR in “August: Osage Orange County” where they played mother and daughter. The dynamic duo is at it again but in a much darker and dangerous environment. Both women are at the top of their game as ‘if looks could kill, Mag has them all.’ Maureen’s head spins as she deliberately plots her next move. 

MJ Sieber

Director Francis Gercke is so precise in his every move as this production has excellence written all over it. Curtis Mueller’s lighting also reflects the mood, and Toni Cucuzzla’s set has a wood fire burning stove, fussy but workable kitchen and forever rain on the windows of the Irish cottage. (He is also the properties designer) Dialect coach Grace Delaney has the accents and Irish swag down to a tee (at least it sounded right to me) and Jessica John Gercke designed the period clothes and Logan  Kirkendall designed the sound (I’m supposing the static sounds on the radio in the background.)

Jessica John and...

With that careful and to every detail, director Francis Gercke and assistance by Hanna Meade “Beauty Queen” production, soars. It's the  perfect combination of McDonagh’s script and the bigger than life cast breathing life and advancing the well -conceived plot. This production has five stars written all over it.  It is a must see.

“Beauty Queen” made its San Diego premiere in 2021.   It is the first of three plays in the “Connemara Trilogy” by Martin McDonagh. Before making its way to Broadway, where it won 4 Tony Awards (1998), it was produced for The Druid Theatre Company in Galway, Ireland in 1996. 

Enjoy! 

See you at the theatre.

When: June 29 and runs through July 13. 7:30 p.m. Thursdays through Saturdays; 3 p.m. Sundays. (Also 7:30 p.m. July 2-3 and 7 p.m. July 8.) Through July 13.

Where: Tenth Avenue Arts Center, 930 Tenth Ave., San Diego

Tickets: $18-$40

Photo: Daren Scott

Phone: (760) 975-7189

Type: Dark Comedy

Online: backyardrenaissance.com