[ssba]
I Gelosi
Reviewed by Jessica Salans
Helenski West Theatre Ensemble
Through May 31
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The setting for David Bridel’s 2008 I Gelosi is adorned with long, transparent white drapes, warmly lit with flickering electric candles. There’s the feeling of being in a stage/studio warehouse and a makeshift, ethereal cathedral at the same time. The wide playing space contains stairs leading to thrones for a King and Queen on the left side, a bare wooden-floor in the middle space, and trunks to the right, where a trio of violin, flute and percussionist live on the outskirts.
The ensemble enters in 16th century Italian attire, performing a rhythmic, breath-filled ritual which lends a first impression of self-indulgence.
But then, a wash of bright light engulfs audience and players as the actors proclaim, looking directly at the audience, “We’re all dead.”
After an endearing argument of who’s-idea-it-was to start the troupe, we learn that I Gelosi is a plucked-from-history Italian commedia dell’arte troupe from the late 16th century, one of the first companies to allow women to perform. Francesco (Sean McConaghy) leads the troupe, with second in command Guilio (Micah Watterson), and the child-like Simone (Murphy Martin), who is stuck playing the women until poet and dreamer Isabella (Milly Sanders) joins the group. Along their journey, they acquire more players. The story’s central conflict revolves around the players debating what is more important to perform: a play to provoke the politics of the church and shed light on the brutal climate of a war-strewn country, or a play which will earn them a living as actors, with food, comfort and prestige.
I Gelosi explores what all artists question. Isabella implores her husband Franesco, “Ask me what the stage is for” — answered differently throughout the performance by the different players. Francesco says, “I want to make people laugh” but then emends his answer, upon realizing he and his troupe are “monkeys dancing on the graves of men.” He then challenges his team with “We must remember who we are.” To which Isabella retorts, “I wish to touch hearts, not to exploit them,” beseeching the troupe to tell stories of truth and beauty. Vittoria, the femme fatale, recoils, advocating for glory when she says, “Give me the freedom to purge you from reality and I will give a scintillating performance. What could be more tedious than sincerity?”
Is the stage a place for political discourse? Is it the artists’ job to heighten the beauty and poetry of the world or is it their job, instead, to act as a mirror to the atrocities human beings have created in the world?
Bridel’s smart, thought-provoking and entertaining text receives an energetic and passionate production, beautifully orchestrated by director Marjo-Riikka Makela for Helsinki West Theatre Ensemble, making its auspicious L.A. debut. McConaghy is engaging and fiery as the devoured-by-art Francesco, Martin is hilarious in his straight man delivery of Simone, Sanders is enchanting as Isabella, in her pursuit of being published, to share poetic beauty on stage. Jesse Foudray glowers and glows as the rebel lady-in-waiting Sylvia, and Kristyn Chalker owns the stage as the manipulative, power-hungry Vittoria.
Helenski West Theatre Ensemble at Six01 Studio; 630 S. Flower St, Burbank, CA 91502; Sat.-Sun., 2 & 8 p.m.; through May 31. https://www.helsinki-west.com/
