February 8, 2020

 

Phindie.com 

THE BALD SOPRANO (IRC): It’s not that way. It’s over here

by  Joshua Herren

 

THE BALD SOPRANO from Idiopathic Ridiculopathy Consortium. 

 

We are living in absurd times. If the six weeks we’ve experienced of  2020 are any indication, things don’t seem to be getting any more normal. The work of Ionesco, and other absurdists, can be a soothing balm for these times. 60 years ago, Ionesco was pointing out the failures to understand each other, the ache of trying to identify oneself, and the solipsistic narcissism that can come with middle class comforts. (“There is no second class in England, but I always travel second class.”)

 

The Idiopathic Ridiculopathy Consortium brings back the core cast of their 2017 hit Philadelphia Fringe production of The Bald Soprano directed by and starring artistic director, Tina Brock. However, rediscovering the text with the cast “quickly revealed the necessity of drastically rethinking the 2017 production.  Our relationship to language – how we use, interpret and value it, has changed dramatically since the play was written in the mid-20th century.“ For this production, Brock took the play out of the traditional 1950s and brought it into the more libidinous 1960s.

 

The IRC has once again partnered with the Bethany Mission Gallery to present the play among the Gallery’s exquisite collection of outsider art. Audience is seated around the play space, and the effect is a wonderfully immersive experience. For those that saw IRC’s Come Back, Little Sheba this fall, this arrangement feels much more intimate and effective. Brock also brilliantly uses art pieces from the collection at various points as illustrations of the nonsensical stories shared throughout the 70 minute play. Sometimes they are family snapshots, other times a family tree, and others a family portrait. The mixing of the vibrant and deeply strange visual art with this absurdist classic is fascinating and helped reinforce the cultural and historical context of Ionesco’s work.

 

The entire ensemble delivers solid performances. As Mr. and Mrs. Smith, Bob Schmidt and Tina Brock set the stage. Carlos Forbes Is delightfully funny and sexually menacing as the fire chief.  Tomas Dura’s Mary the Maid is surreal and sardonic. John Zak and Sonja Robson as Mr. and Mrs. Martin are worth the price of admission. In their first scene, they deduce, through a series of heightened coincidences, that they are, in fact, married. Zak and Robson’s commitment to the increasingly ridiculous and heightening stakes are a masterclass in comedic scene work.

 

As we continue to wrestle with the very nature of truth and the absurd, IRC’s is a welcome reminder that these questions are not just problems of the 21st century.

 

[The Idiopathic Ridiculopathy Consortium at The Bethany Mission Gallery, 1527 Brandywine Street] February 6-16, 2020; baldsoprano.bpt.me; idiopathicridiculopathyconsortium.org

 

 

February 09, 2020

 

The Broad Street Review

Idiopathic Ridiculopathy Consortium presents Eugène Ionesco’s ‘The Bald Soprano’

Why revisit Ionesco?

by Cameron Kelsall

 

Idiopathic Ridiculopathy Consortium’s (IRC) latest take on The Bald Soprano begins with “Road to Nowhere” by Talking Heads. Ionesco’s “anti-play” concludes with the same group’s “Once in a Lifetime.” The progression to David Byrne’s signature befuddled refrain in that final song—"How did I get here?”—sums up absurdist theater more succinctly and thoroughly than any dissertation.

 

The journey, not the destination

 

With absurdism, the journey matters more than the destination. Amidst the fascinating and incongruous outsider art that dots the walls of Bethany Mission Gallery, which has quickly become this troupe’s preferred venue, director Tina Brock and her committed company lead their audience on a sublime trip through the ridiculous.

 

To say that Brock makes the material cohere would be inaccurate—Ionesco had no interest in plot or drama as Western theater conceives of it, and his plays are purposefully abstract and, in some moments, indecipherable. The goal of the viewer should be to investigate what they take from the experience, not whether they’ve “understood” something the author set out for them to decode. A good interpretation should leave you asking questions: why do we call some things “ordinary” and some “absurd”? What does “meaning” actually mean?

 

Words as weapons

 

The IRC production begins on a melancholy note, lacing the post-dinner prattle spoken by Mr. and Mrs. Smith (played by Bob Schmidt and Brock) with resignation. Perhaps they have realized the ultimate hollowness of their endless exchanges—the futility of their communications to actually convey anything. They can say whatever they like, but they’re always left speaking past each other.

 

Such an opening salvo might give the impression that Brock seeks to strip the play of its humor. No need to worry. Before long, Ionesco’s non-sequitorial language bombs begin detonating with the right amount of sly spark, particularly when delivered by Tomas Dura as the Smiths’ wry maid, Mary. (The casting of Dura, an older male actor, as a gamine young servant is the production’s own sly joke.) The confounding interaction between Mr. and Mrs. Martin (John Zak and Sonja Robson, both priceless)—a married couple who can’t seem to figure out whether they actually know each other—builds in comic tension before boiling over into disturbing disorientation.

 

Brock balances the comedy and depravity of Ionesco’s worldview with a steady hand. She also underlines the playwright’s wide-ranging influence in ways I’d never previously considered. The mirroring of the two couples, each fraying at the edges of middle-class respectability in their own unique ways, surely affected Edward Albee, who used similar devices to skewer societal values in Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? and A Delicate Balance. His words-as-weapons approach to playwriting has modern-day disciples like Will Eno and Anne Washburn.

 

Same play, fresh eyes

 

This is IRC’s second stab at the play, having previously staged in 2017, in the same gallery space. While the company’s previous assumption hewed closely to Ionesco’s vision of middle-class British conservatism, Brock’s current vision resets the action in a swinging-sixties London milieu. I would have liked more direct engagement with the period and its sense of upheaval, which ideally suits the playwright’s investigation of social systems as rigid but ultimately false constructs. But the new environment offers its own sui generis rewards—like Erica Hoelscher’s psychedelic costumes, which look good enough to eat.

 

Although this zany, intrepid company made its name on the works of absurdists like Ionesco, it surprised me that they would revisit The Bald Soprano so soon after their last traversal. But at a time when words, and the concept of truth, rapidly lose their meaning, Ionesco still has much to teach us. Artists and audiences must continually meet a play like The Bald Soprano with fresh eyes.

And about that title? After barging in on the bizarre ménage à quatre, a Fire Chief (Carlos Forbes, delectable) poses a curious question: “Speaking of that—the bald soprano?”

 

“She always wears her hair in the same style,” Mrs. Smith replies. That may be true for her, but the IRC is more than willing to change with the times

 

WHAT, WHEN, WHERE, and ACCESSIBILITY

 

The Bald Soprano. By Eugène Ionesco. Directed by Tina Brock. Idiopathic Ridiculopathy Consortium. Through February 16, 2020, at the Bethany Mission Gallery, 1527 Brandywine St., Philadelphia. (215) 285-0472 or idiopathicridiculopathyconsortium.org.

 

A chair lift is available to the second floor of the Bethany Mission Gallery, where the performance takes place. Patrons with specific questions about accessibility may contact info@idiopathicridiculopathyconsortium.org.

 

February 10,  2020

 

Philly Life & Culture

Theatre Review: THE BALD SOPRANO with The Idiopathic Ridiculopathy Consortium

by Dennis Bloh 

 

It has only been three years since The Idiopathic Ridiculopathy Consortium last mounted Eugene Ionesco’s The Bald Soprano.  This classic absurdist comedy lends itself to this because it’s such a game of wordsmanship.  Director, producer, actor Tina Brock in her notes talks about reimagining the way we use language and how it has changed noticeably in the last three years.  Her production captures the essence of Ionesco while giving it a contemporary relevance.

 

The play is set in 60’s England.  The costumes would be at home in Austin Powers.  Erica Hoelscher’s costume design serves the actors to give them a specific and unified time and place.  Tina Brock’s set and sound design add the character and sparsity often found in Ionesco’s work.  It keeps the focus where it belongs – on the actors.

 

Director Brock has assembled a worthy and committed cast to fashion her interpretation of the playwright’s words.  The show opens with the Smiths played by Brock and Bob Schmidt who are joined later by the Martins played by Sonja Robson and John Zak.  The skill of these actors allows them to create four funny, yet very different characters.  They are joined by the maid, Mary played with subtle hilarity by Tomas Dura.  Finally, they are visited by the Fire Chief played with great fun by Carlos Forbes.

 

Another plus to this production is its ability to make Ionesco’s seemingly random words make sense to someone experiencing it for the first time.  My wife who joined me totally enjoyed the play and laughed loudly at all the right spots.  The Idiopathic Ridiculopathy Consortium is a unique gift to the city’s theater community.  It takes on many of the classics that other theaters label as not commercially viable.  In addition, they do them well.

 

The Bald Soprano only plays until February 16th, so try and take advantage of this fine production being performed at the lovely and charming Bethany Mission Gallery where you can peruse the unique art and eclectic collections while waiting for the show.  For tickets click here!

 

---