Ann Noble and Leo Marks (Photo by Matt Kamimura)
Reviewed by Asa Fris
Son of Semele and Victory Theatre Center
Through Nov. 10.
RECOMMENDED
This review is part of the Stage Raw/Unusual Suspects Youth Journalism Fellowship
In Son of Semele and Victory Theatre Center’s world premiere of Crevasse by Tom Jacobson, Leni Riefenstahl (Ann Noble) and Walt Disney (Leo Marks) wander through Walt Disney Studios in a tense and passionate exchange of movie making, propaganda, and the pressures of business.
Fall, 1938. Leni Riefenstahl, a prolific German actor and director, and Nazi Propagandist, travels to America to secure distribution rights for her film Olympia. Shortly after her arrival, Kristallnacht falls in Germany, and every movie studio in America cancels negotiations with her. Except one.
The performances of Noble and Marks are delightful. Jacobson has written three separate characters for each actor, both in German and American dialects. Noble and Marks handle this task with precision and fun, inviting you to lean in: The first moment each actor speaks in an American dialect is quite enchanting. The tripling of roles leads to fun and interesting associations between the characters themselves, including characters you might not normally have drawn parallels between: such as Walt Disney and Dr. Joseph Goebbels (also Marks). The only character unaffected by these parallels is Ernst Jaeger, Leni’s press agent and the audience’s emotional anchor throughout the play.
Crevasse presents the production team with a difficult task: stage action over ten separate locations all in rapid succession, with most changes occurring almost instantaneously. Director Matthew McCray and scenic designer Evan Bartoletti tackle this challenge through the use of angled walls/doors and curtains which help todifferentiate spaces and aid quick changes. This, paired with the dialect and costume changes, makes following characters and locations quite easy.
The central action of the play happens during an on-stage tour through Walt Disney Studios (WDS). When the story arrives at WDS, the set, and other design elements, step into their full identity. Lighting designer Azra King-Abadi shifts from bleak gray lighting in German offices, flats, and ships, to the technicolor magic of WDS, elevating Leni and Walt’s sprawling conversation all the more. John Zalewski’ s sound design of off-stage characters (workers, an orchestra, and a donkey), enhance the reality of a movie studio tour.
It feels at times, though, that because McCray and his team handle WDS with such care, some of the scenes outside the studio are pushed to the sides of the stage; even some scenes in WDS get lost toward the back of the stage. I found myself wishing I could see the action better at times. I was also distracted at times by musical underscoring during dialogue. However, these are minor drawbacks in an overwhelmingly engaging and developed production.
It was refreshing to see the charm and relevancy of a play like Crevasse. Fluid staging, captivating performances, and the infinite complications of political extremism result in a play well worth its 90-minute runtime. The production has been extended through Nov. 10
The Victory Theatre Center, 3326 W. Victory Blvd., Burbank. Fri.-Sat., 8 pm, Sun., 4 pm; thru Nov. 10. https://thevictorytheatrecenter.org Running time: 90 minutes with no intermission.
