Review: PICTURES FROM A REVOLUTION at Upstream Theater

Philip Boehm has led his Upstream Theater into the dramatic highlands since 2005.  He has brought St. Louis audiences a rich variety of plays that we are (unknowingly) starving for—world theater.  World music has, in the last couple decades, become enormously popular.  But world theater?  Well, in theater America is still pretty much stuck in an Anglophonic rut.  Upstream is out to fix that!

They’ve just opened Pictures from a Revolution, by Sicilian playwright Tino Caspanello.  It’s another refreshing, beautifully done and pretty weird piece.

We find ourselves in a dystopian world, in the pathetic last gasp of a resistance movement.  The three surviving members of the Resistance are holed up in an abandoned soccer stadium.  Outside there are only enemies;  inside they have nothing:  no food, no weapons, no radio, and no names.  These men are known only as “892”, “584”, and “137” because—well, that’s what their book of bylaws commands.  Egalitarian revolutions try to obliterate class:  in France every “monsieur” became a mere “citoyen” and in Russia every “gospodin” became a “tovarich”.  In Caspanello’s revolution even names are taboo since, let’s face it, many given names invite us to assume a social class.   

These three numbered men are losers in a lost cause.  They have no goal, no plan, no hope.  All they have is a zealous, mindless commitment to their tattered book of bylaws.  The playwright gives them distinct personalities:  892 (Isaiah Di Lorenzo) is “the chief”.  He’s the most rational.  584 (J. Samuel Davis) is older, just a little dim, and utterly innocent.  137 (Andre Eslamian) is younger and a bit spacey. 

In their desperation for food 584 is chosen to go out and capture a cow.  (He once ran over a cat so of these three city boys he is the closest to a hunter/killer.)

584 lassos not a cow but a beautiful young woman (Lizi Watt).  She’s dragged in in a veritable Vesuvius of cursing and fighting!

Well, they cannot eat her.  But can they even trust her?  (My God!  Is that a Dior label on her dress?)

There’s a lovely surrealistic quality to the play.  Eleven short scenes are each preceded by the projection of a famous work of art.  These are by Rembrandt, Dali, Duchamp, Miro, Magritte, etc., etc.  When you see this play I suggest you indulge in a little game:  keep each painting in mind and watch how it is absorbed into the following scene.

Upstream has, as usual, blessed the production with very gifted actors.  This company consistently presents the very cream of St. Louis’ acting talent.  Di Lorenzo, Davis, Eslamian, and Watt all deliver their personal-best games. 

The entire artistic staff beautifully supports the show.  These include Patrick Huber (scenic, production, and sound design), Steve Carmichael (lighting design), Michele Friedman Siler (costume design)—all under the careful guidance of director Philip Boehm.

Pictures from a Revolution is a wonderfully theatrical, strange and delicious “must see” for serious theater lovers.  It runs at the Marcelle through February 9.  (Opening night, by the way, was quite sold out.)

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