The concept of a revival onstage became increasingly elusive. In the first half of this year, there've been a number of productions, several of which didn't get reviews on this site, which could be considered revivals representing trends from theatre past. The first question about any such show must be why bring it back, then why now? Is the context appropriate and the time right? Has the instinct to go with something tried and true, or even nostalgia affected the choice of material? Or more likely, has a directorial urge to make a statement gotten out of hand ?
In January, local diva Annette Miller, under the able direction of Brandies' Daniel Gidron tackled the role of Diana Vreeland in "Full Gallop," a script created originally the showcase Mary Louise Parker's impersonation of the late fashion doyen. Though the play is weak--almost nonexistent--Miller's performance for the Nora Theatre Company at Boston Playwrights' was compelling enough to have been itself revived for a summer run in Lenox at Shakespeare & Co., where the Berkshire audience probably gets the dated society references more readily than here in Boston. Lyric Stage successfully did Noel Coward;s near-classic "Private Lives" without trying to modernize this vintage romantic farce. However, Zeitgeist Theatre's attempt to recreate Caryl Churchill's British political fantasy "Far Away", written in the '90s, started off well enough since the first scene is a tight one-act. But it soon lost all relevance as it descended into experimental theatre folderol with echoes of "1984" ending up with a bad imitation of Ionesco. Recreating a political moment from elsewhere on a shoestring should be left to the collegiate left. Zeitgeist ended their season with Ben Elton's " slightly more recent "Popcorn" which is dated in its own way. This comic writer's skewed view of Hollywood has enough dramtic content for a TV sketch, but its debate about violence in popular art is facile at best.
The Stoneham Theatre resurrected Fredrick Knott's perennial "Wait Until Dark" at the end of February with a strong local cast and an attention to detail which often escapes community theatre productions of such thrillers. All their efforts weren't quite enough to make the results seem meaningful. A week or so later, the Theatre Cooperative in Somerville joined Joyce Carol Oates' "Tone Clusters" with the elusive Jane Martin's "Middle-Aged White Guys" The banal evil of Oates' faux T.V. interview contrasted nicely with the tall-tale fantasy of Martin's lower middle-American farce. The concerns expressed still resonate and the Coop's slightly ramshackle production only set them off.
At the end of March, the venerable Vokes Players in Wayland came up to their usual high standards with a fresh interpretation of Steve Martin's "Picasso at the Lapin Agile", which premiered at the ART a while back. Their production was more coherent, as technically proficient, and almost as well cast. Martin's conceit that Picasso, Einstein, and Elvis? define the 20th century was almost credible at the beginning of the 21st. Moreover, the tiny jewelbox theatre was the perfect venue for this post-modern farce set at the turn of the 20th century. Over in Waltham, however, the Hovey Players in their cramped basement didn't get much out of Mamet's pre "Wag the Dog" Hollywood farce "Speed-the-Plow". However, the ART did present a successful version of Pinter's grim political jape, "The Birthday Party" with company members Thomas Derrah, Will LeBow, and Karen MacDonald at the top of their form, in spite of some scenic distractions. The insidious hand of government has been part of drama since its inception. Their rivals downtown on Huntington Ave., with an equally expensive set, had no luck breathing life into Joe Orton's send-up "What the Butler Saw", which actually became tedious.
The most interesting revival was Mark Levenson's direct-contact puppet production of S.Anksy's "Between Two Worlds - the Dybbuk" done by Tears of Joy from Portland, OR touring into the JCC in Newton. Levenson's simplification of this classic script, originally done by the Habima in Moscow in the 1920's and the duality of the puppetry made the fable moving and plausible. It will be instructive to compare this adaptation to Kushner's slated for production at the ART this season. The ART's large scale revivals this year, Shakespeare's "Midsummer.." and Moliere's "L'Avare" had their problems traceable to directorial excess. The Huntington Theatre Company's "The Rose Tattoo" fell down largely due to Tennessee William's self-indulgent script, indulgently directed by Nicholas Martin, no doubt with an eye toward Broadway. A contemporary production which toned down the tedious poetic elements and edited the rest of the action into a two act structure would serve Tom's memory much better. And while Andrea Martin did a yoewoman-like job in the lead, there was a touch of summer stock inappropriateness to the whole affair, with good local talent jobbed in for minor roles. Maybe Williamstown would have been a more appropriate venue for this effort. The Lyric Stage's workmanlike production of Michael Frayn's multi-level "Noises Off" was much more satisfying, and just as insignificant--but it has fewer pretenses. Ideally, this show should be done by a resident company to add a layer of local self-reference.
The question still remains. Did any of these revivals accomplish a purpose other than entertaining the particular audience of the theatres producing them? And providing a chance for current actors to attempt established roles, an essential often-overlooked part of the living theatre. There are more than a few productions of recent New York and London successes scheduled for the coming season. Whether they will rise to the occasion remains to be seen.