East
Bay Express, April, 1996
Christopher Hawthorne
It's
cramped and hectic as usual down in La Val's Subterranean Theatre, where
Patrick Dooley and company are staging a series of first works by renowned
playwrights. The opener is Bertolt Brecht's Baal, a lyrical fairy-tale
of sorts about a poet - a cross between Don Juan and Pig Pen - who drinks
wine, ruminates on the color of the sky, and drags a succession of half-willing
women up to his garret apartment; the production is marked by a twisted,
dank exuberance. Michael Storm, arrogantly dazed and confused in the hefty
title role, leads a strong and versatile cast, but almost all of the most
important speeches are delivered by supine actors whom three-fourths of
the audience can't see. Make sure you sit in the first couple of rows
- or bring the booster seat.
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