Review: A TALE OF TWO CITIES at The Alliance

The Alliance Theatre's A TALE OF TWO CITIES is a world premiere for the Atlanta theatrical staple. This Charles Dickens classic, adapted by Playwright Brendan Pelsue, is directed by Leora Morris and runs on The Coca-Cola Stage until March 17, 2024. Pelsue says of this production, “I have been really excited by the way the team has been inventing a kind of cosmos, a small planet or universe, in which it feels like the story is told. Leora is so rigorous in getting us all to attend to what the script is asking, and I think we can really see that in this design that feels both estranging and recognizable––that creates a planet we all visit, which in the way is always the experience of telling and retelling a story." 

Set in London and Paris in 1787, before and during the French Revolution, this adaptation features eight actors playing over fifty characters telling a story that "examines the ideals, motivations, and character of the rich and the poor." As if painted and carefully balanced alongside the visual design elements within the procenium frame, the precision in the placement of the cast is as much a part of the story as the story itself. More intentional than traditional blocking, Morris seemlessly transitions highly stylized movement, locations, characters, and plotlines with deft clarity and comprehention for such a weighted, expansive tale containing a lengthy list of politics and relational ideals. This story ain't just about two cities. Morris speaks to the ensemble-driven style in "that it allows us to ask these big questions about fate, social mobility, and the spectrum of wealth to poverty, and the role of the individual in impacting the course of history (and more) without translocating it in time and space."

The cast features wildy versital, funny, poignant, thoughtful, moving, and expert performances by Grant Chapman, Tiffany Hobbs, Tess Malis Kincaid, Joe Knezevich, Louis Reyes McWilliams, Lee Osorio, Brad Raymond, and Stephen Ruffin. It is clear they intend to take their audiences on a ride with more skill than buckling a seatbelt for a bumpy ride—they gently tuck us in and turn out the bedside lamp enabling our mind's eyes to easily explore.

There seems to be a recent trend in 2024 Atlanta theatre of adapted literature and a staged narration guiding the story. (Windmill Arts' BUTTERFLY by Sam R. Ross and A GLASS ESSAY by: Sawyer Estes, GRIMM NIGHT - GRIM TALES: AN EERIE HAPPY HOUR OF UNHAPPY ENDINGS made by PushPush Arts and Goethe Zentrum, and Horizon Theater's NATASHA, PIERRE AND THE GREAT COMET OF 1812.) While each of these productions vary in purpose and production value, The Alliance's TALE OF TWO CITIES is no different in what it asks the Atlanta audiences to do—engage in these stories beyond an empathic participation in the dialogue—they are also asked to witness the unfolding events through their observational lens as told to them by a teller. Is this meant to distance us from the emotional values of the characters' experiences in order to explore more deeply any exposed agendas, or the reverse?

The creative team of TALE OF TWO CITIES utilizes their most exquisit design skills down to a palpable golden mean and attentive purpose to every detail from the color of a scarf to the color of the ever present moon. The team includes Costume Designer Fabian Fidel Aguilar, Set and Lighting Designer Jiyoun Chang, Composer Chris Ross-Ewart, and Fight Choreographer Jake Guinn. 

Although the politics surrounding the French Revolution may have flexed a little faster than in modern day Georgia, Morris explains the story is "not set in contemporary Atlanta, but it feels to me like it has the potential to speak directly to Atlantans about the experience of being born, growing up, or living here in our current time." 

Photo: Greg Mooney