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Gully gee
"The Secret of Steep Ravines" is a dark, dreamlike return to the spirit of the Great Depression, enhanced with music and imaginative choreography.
By ROBIN EISGRAU
Offoffoff.com
Set during the Depression, "The Secret of Steep Ravines" is a dreamlike
exploration of what lies behind the surface of ordinary life.
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| THE SECRET OF STEEP RAVINES |
Written by: Rachel Dickstein with Barbara Wiechmann.
Directed by: Rachel Dickstein.
Cast: Genna Brocone, David Natale , Julia Prud'homme, Victoria Boomsma, Erika
Latta, Dion Doulis, Patrick Lacey, Kameron Steele and Ryan Metzger.
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| SCHEDULE |
P.S. 122
150 First Ave. at 9th St.
Dec. 6-29, 2002
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The main
character of the play is a young girl named Frances (played by Genna
Brocone) whose world gets radically changed when her parents' marriage
dissolves and she is taken by her mother in the middle of the night on a
train trip to her grandfather's home. There she and her mother take up
residence with their bedridden patriarch and her two aunts, Amelia and
Edith.
Bored and suffering under hard times, the family subsists on onions
and radishes grown in their paltry garden while envying the plentiful apples
in thier neighbors' yard. Men come and go, hoping for better days to come
along soon. Frances spends her days exploring the house and finding
mysteries everywhere: behind doors and in myriad boxes that are opened with
a key her grandfather has given her.
Not simply a drama, this production
incorporates music and imaginative choreography which makes it a
multilayered,
involving theatrical experience. Although the sets are minimal, the 1930s
are evoked vividly through the use of music and the period perfect suits and
day dresses worn by the actors. The actors speak in an expressive visual
dialogue through their movements, telling their story via an abstract
language. Especially graceful and striking is when all the actors stand on
chairs and turn their bodies clockwise in perfect synchronization.
"The
Secret of Steep Ravines" is an evocative visit to a place in the past that
exists in the imagination.
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DECEMBER 21, 2002
OFFOFFOFF.COM • THE GUIDE TO ALTERNATIVE NEW YORK
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