Director Jan Munroe, in discussing playwright John O'Keefe's ALL NIGHT LONG states,
“What John does in the theater is a lot like what Robert Rauschenberg does in painting.” And, with the reference to Rene Magritte in this poster, the term 'surreal' certainly comes into play. In O'Keefe's interview with Tracey Paleo, her take is that O'Keefe is "... an old school free-thinker, passionate about ideas and testing them to
‘whatever’ effect on live audiences for the pure thrill of engaging and
shifting human consciousness." This bizarre tale of the family of Jack (Phillip William Brock) and Jill (Alina Phelan) twists and turns in and out of reality and surreality.. if that's a word. Three kids, Eddy (John Patrick Daly), Tammy (Caroline Klidonas) and Cat Davis as little sis, Terry, morph in this truly bizarre saga.
 |
| Phillip William Brock, Caroline Klidonas, John Patrick Daly, Alina Phelan, Cat Davis Photo by Darrett Sanders |
Figuring out what's real and what's going on in
some colossal time warp may leave the audience in a tizzy, which may be O'Keefe's plan all along. This is absurdist nonsense that making sense of may be a fool's errand.
Munroe's hand is all over the place with his set design and amazing prop construction. His relationship with O'Keefe has been a long one with his recent direction of another of O'Keefe's plays also at The Open Fist: "Don't You Ever Call Me Anything But Mother!"
I was fortunate to have as my "plus one" for the opening of this show, Los Angeles poet, Peggy Dobreer. With her permission I share her take on ALL NIGHT LONG.
///
"(ALL NIGHT LONG is...) a piece of poetic
brilliance you won’t want to miss. This play will cause your head to
tilt and spin. As ribald and zany as poignant and sad, this look deep
into the soul of the ‘nuclear’ family, will have you laughing out loud
and running home to hug your children. Jan Munroe’s execution of
O’Keefe’s language is some of the best I’ve seen. With a real
old-fashioned and utterly brilliant verve for set and prop design (which
Munroe executed himself,) commedia style action on the set, and a clear
respect and energy for O’KEEFE’s vision, Munroe delivers a rare and
authentic telling of this timeless and timely play. Bravo!!!"
ALL NIGHT LONG by John O'Keefe
Directed by Jan Munroe
The Open Fist Theatre Company
Atwater Village Theatre
3269 Casitas Avenue
Los Angeles, CA 90039
Through Oct. 21, 2018
Fridays and Saturdays at 8 p.m.
Sundays at 7 p.m.
(dark Saturday, Oct. 6).
Reservations and information
Reservations and information
(323) 882-6912
No comments:
Post a Comment