Dido Of Idaho at The Echo

The toughest review for me to write is the one that wants  to be informative and to find compliments and sounds like, I want to recommend a show.. and I DO recommend Dido in Idaho..but for the life of me am not sure why.

Julie Dretzin and Elissa Middleton
Photo by Makela Yepez Photography

 Chris Fields's Echo is a favorite venue at the Atwater Village Theatre complex.  Chris is as avant garde as anyone and as we file into the space, you could hang meat in there! Chilly for cause, I guess.   Chris says Hello.. It's a hometown crowd.

Amanda Knehans's amazing  scenic design looks like there's been an explosion  at  Lamps R Us, but in a good way.  It's amazing.. the theatre has situated the action.. and there is action! in the center of the space.. Scumbled white paint  with lines possibly to define one specific area from another?? line the floor. An elevated  sort of bed?  is available from ramps and directly. Surreal. Theatre in the Round.

Enter Boise State Professor Michael (Joby Earle) in his socks. From my seat, I, thankfully, missed the full monty as Michael entered. His shadow cast impressively on the floor.  

I'm pretty sure that Dido of Idaho is a metaphor of the story of Dido, Queen of Carthage and the Trojan, Aneas (which I should have known but didn't), who loves her and leaves her. It turns on the 17th Century Purcell Baroque opera about their love affair.

Poor Nora (Alana Dietze) is nuts for Michael and they are both big into the Purcell opera. There's  some singing. Abigail Deser's crisp direction keeps the action cooking  as playing to the four sides of the audience is often a challenge to   share the argument of the play evenly. The set is a mish mash.. Ionsco comes to mind.and Albee in the dramatic interplay and dialogue.. Again.. it's tough.. the actors are all evenly cast and present themselves well.  

Michael and Nora have been hot and heavy, but Michael is a  married man in a 'situation' that creates problems for Nora. Nora's had it tough and alcohol seems to have been  a factor for a long time. Poor Nora.

There's a Virginia Woolfish bent to the dialogue that flows and bites and tumbles from the actors.

Spoiler alert:  Enter Crystal (Nicole DuPort),  Michael's wife.. former first runner up for Miss  Idaho or was it Miss Boise? The plot twist that creates a major issue unfolds. It's a little screwy.

At this point, we know that Nora's mom, Julie (Julie Dretzin) has essentially ghosted (to coin a phrase?) Nora's email attempts to connect her for a long time. Even though Nora longs for a reconcilliation  with her mother, Julie's heavy Christian faith and judgements of Nora keep her from responding.. That Julie has adopted Nora bubbles up later as we meet Julie's girlfriend, Ethel (.Elissa Middleton)  They live in a cabin. It might have been cool to call Nora's mom "Lucy..."

 Because of the business of the actors addressing different sides of the stage at  various times, I didn't get all  of the dialogue verbatim, but the gist and the energy and delivery of each actor's physical presence worked nicely.  Over all the physicality of the piece is impressive.

The parallel of the lives of Queen Dido and Nora seems a given. But the metaphysical aspect of the story .. even with cookies being baked on stage, calls for examination that I am still puzzling over.

Bottom line is that as a tone poem and character exercise, even with naked Michael and a very brutal moment .. it all seems to work. Opening night audience was enthusiastic and got some of the jokes that I either couldn't hear or just didn't understand.

It's this kind of production, especially with the spectacular set and lights by Xinyuan Li,  that define some areas as specific times...  that I want to rave about.  So.. in my still somewhat Puzzed state of mind, I'll recommend this Dido of Idaho if for no other reason than I want to support 'left handed theatre!'  Meaning that there is nothing ordinary about this production!  Opera.. mostly. to me is caterwalling. Thankfully, the full monty and the singing are brief. 

 Cast

Nora :        Alana Dietze
Michael:    Joby Earle
Julie:         Julie Dretzin
Ethel:        Elissa Middleton
Crystal:     Nicole DuPort

 Crew: 

Scenic designer Amanda Knehans, lighting designer Xinyuan Li, sound designer Alysha Grace Bermudez, costume designer Dianne K Graebner, make-up designer Jennifer Pritchard and fight choreographer Ahmed Best. The production stage manager is Tatiana Zaza. Chris Fields, Kelly Beech and Marie Bland produce for the Echo Theater Company.

Dido Of Idaho

by Abby Rosebrock

Directed by Abigail Deser

Echo Theater Company
Atwater Village Theatre
3269 Casitas Ave
Los Angeles, CA 90039

PARKING:
FREE in the Atwater Crossing (AXT) lot one block south of the theater

TICKET PRICES:
Fridays/Saturdays/Sundays: $34
Mondays: Pay–What–You–Want
Previews: Pay–What–You–Want

HOW:
www.EchoTheaterCompany.com
(747) 350-8066

 

Previews: July 17, July 18, July 19
Performances: July 20 – August 26
• Wednesday at 8 p.m.: July 17 ONLY (preview)
• Thursday at 8 p.m.: July 18 ONLY (preview)
• Fridays at 8 p.m.: July 19 (preview), July 26, Aug. 2, Aug. 9, Aug. 16, Aug. 23
• Saturdays at 8 p.m.: July 20 (opening night), July 27, Aug. 3, Aug. 10, Aug. 17, Aug. 24
• Sundays at 4 p.m.: July 21, July 28, Aug. 4, Aug. 11, Aug. 18, Aug. 25
• Mondays at 8 p.m.: July 22, July 29, Aug. 5, Aug. 12, Aug. 19, Aug. 26