Haiku Reviews
George Heymont
Posted: 01/02/2013 3:10 pm EST | Updated: 01/02/2013 3:10 pm EST
The Huffington Post

Mark Jackson based his new production of Georg Buchner’s 1836 play, Woyzeck, on Robert Wilson's concept (with music and lyrics by Tom Waits and Kathleen Brennan). The protagonist is the type of unfortunate Everyman whose body and soul are crushed by the military, and abused by so-called medical authorities. Cursed with poverty, betrayed by his common-law wife's infidelity, consumed with jealousy, and lacking any chance of social mobility, Woyzeck ends up murdering the mother of his child. Jackson’s direction veers between vaudeville and a Brechtian grittiness. Nina Ball's crude set (which features one of the niftiest pools of blood you'll ever see on a stage) helps to keep the action down and dirty. As the Drum Major who seduces Marie, Joe Estlack performs "Another Man's Vine" with the gleeful lust of a military stud who takes great joy in his sexual prowess. Kevin Clarke nearly steals the show as a buffoonish doctor. At the center of this bold Shotgun Players production are two beautifully restrained performances by Alexander Crowther (Woyzeck) and Madeline H.D. Brown (Marie), whose exhausted duet ("Coney Island Baby") captures their shattered dream of a post-war life with a rare sadness and resignation. In supporting roles, Anthony Nemirovsky (The Captain), Kenny Toll (Andres), Andy Alabran (Karl, an Idiot), and Beth Wilmurt (Margaret) add grit and humor to the proceedings. Performances of Woyzeck continue at Berkeley’s Ashby Stage through January 20.

 
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