Captain John Smith


Capt. Smith Goes to the Ukraine
from the Yara Arts Group
At La MaMa
Directed by Virlana Tkacz
Bob Holman
Susan Hwang
Julian Kytasty

The story from the early 1600’s of John Smith and the native American woman Pocahontas is iconic Americana. The native chief sentences him to execution; Pocahontas intercedes and saves him.

Smith was quite the adventurer. He also seems to have been quite taken with himself. He recorded his life in the first autobiography in English, The True Travels, Adventures and Observations of Captain John Smith, in Europe, Asia, Africa and America from Anno Domini 1593 to 1629.

Before Smith embarked for Virginia – who would have guessed? – he fought the Ottoman Turks and was enslaved. He was taken across the Black Sea to his owner’s mistress, to escape to Ukraine. Capt. John Smith Goes to the Ukraine, from the Yara Arts Group, is based on the account of this adventure his The True Travels book, and some of its passages are quoted verbatim.

For the most part, the show passes delightfully, a pleasant bit of fluff. The story of Smith’s experiences is unclear, but we don’t care – we’re enjoying ourselves smiling at this performance piece. There’s no attempt at verisimilitude or even character. The three actor/musicians perform with the relaxed looseness of cabaret, entertaining us with dialogue and song.

Bob Holman represents Smith, transitioning nimbly from history to humor. He performs a beautiful love poem as Smith woos that Turkish mistress.

The act mixes fact with flippancy. When Smith offers the Turks two captured heads, he’s asked for another, and Ms. Hwang sings a silly and pleasant song about how and three heads mean love.

Julian Kytasty  plays an instrument beautiful to hear and to look at – bandura, a sort of lute with no fewer than of 34 open strings. It sounds like a harp, and it graces the evening even as the audience enters.

Throughout, the show projects graphics on the back wall, and they’re usually marvelous, particularly the detailed maps. They’re engravings taken from the autobiography manuscript.

Near the end of the show there’s a passage relating to the current events in Ukraine, with projections of a totally different sort than we’ve seen. It’s at odds with the tone of the earlier part, but it’s suited to the loose form the company’s working in.

Less successful is a final sequence representing Smith’s arrival in Virginia. They sing a sort of wailing soulful number, out of place and unwanted.

Capt. Smith Goes to the Ukraine is another creative piece from the Yara Arts Group, another of its unlikely works at La MaMa.

March 2014

Popular posts from this blog

Anouilh's Antigone

There is a moment in Fusion Theatre’s production of Jean Anouilh’s Antigone (at Theatre Row’s Studio Theatre) when Creon says to Antigone “Don’t annihilate me with those eyes.” And indeed, Antigone’s unrelenting stare does seem to be annihilating him, as it’s been annihilating everyone. As Antigone, Eilin O’Dea motivates Creon’s line so well that it seems Anouilh has written it in response to the actress. Anouilh’s play, as this production makes clear, is an important drama. Anouilh reworked Sophocles’ play keeping the ancient Greek names and keeping the action in Thebes. The characters, however, mention tobacco, blood tests, film and cars. The dissonance reminds us that Anouilh’s message of courage and moral responsibility is ageless. Anouilh has created a raisonneur in a character called simply The Chorus. Tragedy, he tells us, “has nothing to do with melodrama”. “In tragedy, argument is gratuitous,” he says, but this is a very strange line; Antigone and Creon will soo
Read more

C.S. Lewis on Stage: The Most Reluctant Convert

C.S. Lewis lived between 1898 and 1963. He’s best known for his works of fiction such as The Screwtape Letters and The Chronicles of Narnia , although his non-fiction work is arguably more important. He ranks among the foremost 20 th -century Christian apologists and theologians. Max McLean has written a terrific solo show in which he presents Lewis in his study at Magdalen College, Oxford, in 1950, C.S. Lewis on Stage: The Most Reluctant Convert . Mr. MacLean is the show’s actor, and he’s co-directed it with Ken Denison. The script details Lewis’ conversion from atheism to Christianity, delineating the transformation in discrete steps. Lewis begins with his childhood in Belfast: “Mother’s death produced in me a deeply engrained pessimism,” he tells us. And “At 13 I ceased to be a Christian. At that age one scarcely notices.” He was confirmed in The Church of Ireland “in total disbelief.” The script presents us with the structure of Lewis’ life – his time at Oxford, his enli
Read more

A Blanket of Dust

Image
Photo by Sharon Kinsella In Richard Squires’ play A Blanket of Dust, presented at The Flea Theater by Delphi Film in association with Alfonso Ramos and Eve Pomerance, a woman, Diane, looses her husband in the 9-11 disaster. She’s convinced that the government is responsible for the catastrophe, and campaigns to uncover the conspiracy. She’s a Senator’s daughter, so the issue becomes a family affair. Years later, she becomes involved with Andrew, a book store owner active in the dissident movement. Andrew is also at odds with his parents on political issues (his father is in government but it’s not clear what his position is.) In frustration, Andrew commits suicide - he sets fire to himself - in protest. This is all pretty grim, but, well, it’s a grim world, and it’s good to see issue- committed theater.   Mr. Squires’ keeps his script as lean as the WTC towers. The characters have no identity aside from their attitudes toward the issue, aside from the sketchy romance. Ther
Read more