BWW Reviews: Guthrie Summer Starts Strong with AN ILIAD and THE PRIMROSE PATH

One is lighthearted, funny, thoughtful with elaborate costumes and sets and a large cast. The other is artistic, deep, thoughtful with one actor in a costume that cannot be pinned to a period and a set that is part Troy, part construction site. Two very different shows are holding court at the Guthrie Theater's Wuertle Thrust and Dowling Studio. Both are intriguing and worth dual visits to the 50-year-old company's big blue building on the river in Minneapolis.

THE PRIMROSE PATH, directed by Roger Rees and written by Crispin Whittell based on the novel "Home of the Gentry" by Ivan Turgenev, is an ensemble piece that held many laughs and was at the same time a bit sad and whistful as the characters come to a crossroads of tradition and modern life (at the time; provincial Russia in 1845).

The story follows a Russian family lead by matriarch Maria trying to wed her only daughter Elizaveta to a dandy who will ensure her place in society and life. An older distant relative with a secret past comes into the picture, much to Maria's chagrin, and the more evenly matched pair fall in love. But being together would mean leaving all she has ever known for a man who is intellectually her match but who does not share her faith. And for his part, his past gets in the way of his future with Elizaveta.

As they deal with love, duty, societal roles and changing times, a surprisingly charming crew of characters entertain and amuse the audience with many laughs. While the production stays true to the period, you get a sense of the modern sensibilities that are pulling at them.

The parts were all aptly cast with standouts Sally Wingert as Maria, Hugh Kennedy as Panshin and Jim Stanek as Mikhalevich. A late arrival by Ann Michels as a Lady from St. Petersburg gave the latter part of the show renewed verve.

AN ILIAD by Lisa Peterson and Denis O'Hare, adapted by Homer with translation by Robert Fagles, is a one-man show starring Guthrie veteran Stephen Yoakam as The Poet, who has been telling the story of the Greek war with Troy for generations. Like THE PRIMROSE PATH, there's a pull between past and present, but with this show, The Poet is moving between a masterful telling the ancient tale and musing on war, violence and the humanity of us all as we could easily move from anger to rage in one traffic incident.

Yoakam is brilliant in this piece. Engaging storytelling by a timeless wanderer who seemed to be an eyewitness to the battles between Hector and Achilles mixes with him naming each war from Troy to present-day Afganistan and Syria and other modern references that serve to help the audience identify with the great warriors and the Gods of Homer. Thousands of years have passed and there's still something very contemporary and unchanging about what drives people. The Poet makes this poignantly clear.

And that's the beauty of both of these pieces based on great literature. The more things change the more they stay the same. And when we stop and examine the past, we'll find greater insight into our own lives and the times we live in.

THE PRIMROSE PATH plays through June 15 and AN ILIAD has been extended to June 1.

Photo of Stephen Yoakam, AN ILIAD, by Aaron Fenster.

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