BOSTON COURT.. OCTOPUS'S GARDEN

Puppeteers Zachary Bones, Perry Daniel, and Danielle McPhaul as Syliva

Boston Court Theatre in Pasadena.. I just learned.. may be the only local space built explicitly for intimate theatre.. at least in Pasadena.  For  Weston Gaylord's  Octopus's Garden, the intimacy of the space works.

FYI!!  Octopuses are ceophlopods.  A recent film points up that these denizens of the deep are highly intelligent and are mostly placid creatures with relatively short life spans. The Giant Pacific Octopus's cousin, the Giant Squid that terrorized Captain Nemo's Naautilus was my first up close and  personal encounter with a ceophlopod and that was scary.

 Over fifty years ago.. seems like Yesterday.. on the Abbey Road album by a British band I still remember.. Ringo Starr's  bouncy  little tune Octopus's Garden came to life.  That must be the origin of the title of this play.

When three bright factions of local theatre companies, Circle X with Otuside in and Boston Court band together to present an intriguing  production:  a world preimere, no less!..  that  turns on the lives of  two dedicated scientists Tara (Kacie Rogers) and Lars (Tim Cummings) and one talkative musician, Lucas (Vincent R. Williams ) the concept is delicious!   Three dedcated puppeteers (Zachary Bones, Perry Daniel, & Danielle McPhaul) manipulate Slyvia, the Giant Pacific Octopus. 

François-Pierre Couture's gorgeous set that includes a dedicated aquarium / tank encloses the star of the show. 

I more or less buy the basic premise: Sylvia composes a melody that is so rich and powerful that it affects the soul of anyone who hears it. Conversely, for Lucas, our composer, it sets the bar so high that any known music ever composed... essentially fails by comparison. A stretch.

Sadly, though I bought the idea that such a thing coild happen, I found the puppet presentation of Sylvia inadequte. Factor in the need to replicate the way that Sylvia created her first composition along with  intrigue that Lars may have nudged or fudged some scientific statistics in his need to keep the study of Octopuses a float, so to speak.. and the conflict of poor Luucas having lost his muse for cause.. and other pressing time issues? Try as we might, We are headed for a difficult resolution.

Karen Lawrence's lights  are subtle. 

The actors eventually settled into believable roles: the composer, the impatient scientist and the seasoned traditionalist.    These are dedicated actors.

Though Sylvia is certainly 'terrestrial', she is also about as Unworldlyy as one might imagine. There is a nice connection   between Tara and Lars with Sylvia.

For no other reason than the challenge of participating in the angst of conflicting ideolgies, one must see the play.  It's overly talky and the denouement, to me is superfluous.  The lesson?  We come and go and the relationships we care about may come and go, but the memory lingers on.

 

 CAST:

Tim Cummings as Lars

Kacie Rogers as Tara

Vincent R. Williams as Lucas

Puppeteers Zachary Bones, Perry Daniel, & Danielle McPhaul

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CREATIVE TEAM

Director: Jessica Kubzansky

Playwright: Weston Gaylord

Puppet Designer/Puppetry Director: Emory Royston

Set Designer:  François-Pierre Couture

Lighting Designer: Karyn Lawrence

Sound Designer: Noel Nichols

Costume Designer: Wendell Carmichael

Props Designer: Nicole Bernardini

Dramaturg: Jen Kays

Stage Manager: Kat Haan

Assistant Director: Melissa Coleman-Reed

Assistant Stage Manager: Yaesol Jeong

Intimacy Consultant: Elizabeth Rainey

Sound Board Operator: Jonas Huffer

Casting Director: Victoria Hoffman

Photos by Brian Hashimoto

Octopus’s Garden

FEB 26-MAR 29, 2026

A World Premiere Co-Production with Circle X Theatre Co. and Outside In Theatre
by Weston Gaylord
directed by Jessica Kubzansky