Review of "Sonnets"

Enjoy 'Sonnets'with an open mind
By Judith Newmark
POST-DISPATCH THEATER CRITIC
Sunday, Dec. 10 2006

The speeches in "Sonnets for an Old Century" aren't really sonnets; the playwright, Jose Rivera, isn't that formal or traditional. But he didn't choose his title at random, either. Seeing the piece, which the Slightly Askew Theatre Ensemble is staging in an old paint factory, is a lot like reading a book of poetry.

There might be poems that seize you, poems you skim, poems you don't think make any sense at all. No matter what, you don't try to read it like a novel, expecting one page to lead logically to the next. That's the way to watch this play: Just relax and stay open to the possibilities. Some of them are lovely.

Directed by Robert A. Mitchell and Margeau Baue Steinau, "Sonnets" is a series of monologues by people who are going to tell the stories that define them. Are they dead? Dying? Honestly, who knows?

What the characters say, however, may be less important than the way they say it — together, as a real ensemble.

The characters are all over the place. Among the most vivid are a Hispanic actor (Rusty Gunther) who can't get a good role, the mythological character Icarus (Jonathan Ellison) or somebody a lot like him and an office worker (Pamela Reckamp) who falls in love during a fabulous, smog-tinted sunset.

Each individual speaks alone. But the other members of the large company join in their stories. No matter what they're doing — playing other characters, or animals, or filling in the background — the performers use distinctive, repetitive motions to set the mood.

Rivera's work is fundamentally word-driven (that's why they call it playWRITING), but Mitchell and Steinau are determined to make his language visible. Sometimes — when a girl "flies" from a moving car, or when a bird flutters in terror from a prison ledge — they even make poetry visible.

"Sonnets" includes too many themes to drive any one home, and the material is inconsistent. Still, Slightly Askew is moving in an intriguing direction, one that points toward such celebrated troupes as SITI in New York or Lookingglass in Chicago.

Those ensembles have created exciting work that makes audiences consider theater from fresh perspectives, like dreams. It doesn't have to make sense, and you don't have to remember — or like — everything you see to be touched by it. Obviously, the young Slightly Askew troupe, which is a part of the Off Center Theatre Company, isn't at that level yet, and "Sonnets" is certainly not for everyone (including children). Still, it will be fascinating to see what happens next.

The theater building, now an art studio, is hard to find. It's just west of a landmark church, St. Francis de Sales, and there's a picture of a panda (the old paint logo) on the outside wall. If you go, pretend you're ice-skating and dress accordingly. Gloves, hats and mufflers are all in order. It's truly la vie bohème.