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About Just out. (Portland, OR) 1983-2013 | View Entire Issue (Feb. 21, 2003)
tebruary 2 1 .2ÛQ3 of Mark. Joe Healy also impresses as the Mephistophelean Brian, equally convincing cry ing one minute and grandstanding the next. R just spit, Mark doesn’t seem to notice Gary’s extreme pain and is mesmerized by the details: “Does he spit up you?’ Mark’s extended anec dote about meeting Fergie in a men’s restroom is one of the show’s high points. Brian, the drug dealer, hovers over these wretches like an authoritarian father, alternately emhracing and assaulting them. His shtick is peculiar, to say the least, a mix of impassioned philosophizing (he defends money as the ultimate mark of civilization) and teary responses to the fleeting beauty of life, most sharply seen in a sur prisingly poignant moment where he shows Lulu and Robbie a video of his son playing the cello. Lulu has an equally poignant moment that shows Shopping has a heart as well as a brain. Forced to strip for Brian during the alleged audi tion to prcwe she’s an actress, she recites a passage from Chekhov’s Uncle Vanya that mesmerizes. On the other hand, Ravenhill pulls no punches here, and the play is not for the faint hearted. Mark and Gary’s relationship is one of the most troubling elements (and one that has been heavily censored in some productions around the world). Blcxxly sex and brutal rape are apparently inescapable in these rela tionships, and the pro duction doesn’t shy away from the details. triangle’s staging of this difficult material as a series of stark vignettes maximizes the emotional intensity, with two areas intermit tently highlighted on a simple set. Performances are uniformly excellent. As Lulu, Val Landrum has a staccato intensity, showing equal power in the quiet moments and the emotional eruptions. Chris Murray nails the confused Robbie from the opening scene, and he’s especially strong during a long and tricky speech recounting the Ecstasy fiasco. Gay actor Michael Teufel, familiar from many productions around town, shows serious chops in the demanding role of Mark. He beau tifully captures a character who clings to rehab clichés in the face of uncontrollable emotions. Gabe Carleton-Barnes has what may be the most difficult role— that of the twink who longs for self-destruction. He deserves praise for pulling this off, particularly when he breaks down in front triangle productions! presents SHOPPING AND FUCKING thnmgh March 8 at Theater! Theatre ! , 3430 S.E . Belmont St. Because of graphic subject matter, 21 and over only. Tickets are $20 from 503-239-59/9 or Fasaxx. Don't miss Fuck Buddy Thursdays, when you can get your second ticket for $1. le g e n d a r y G o u rm e t P izza RUEN THAI GOURMET PIZZA RESTA U RA N T m icro b e e r s oo T o o Fresh Traditional Thai Food in an Intimate Romantic Setting Dine-ln. C arry Out. Delivery V e g a « F r ie n d ly 1411 NE Broadway 503-287-1014 fx: 503-287-1094 M-Th 11-9:30 Fr-St 11-10 Sn 11-9:30 delivery available ♦ ..' ; 3342 SE Belmont - (503)233-5444 www.beautifulpizza.com Portland 5 0 3 .2 3 2 .4 4 5 8 castagna L ■ * /C ' castaqna dinner Wednesday through Saturday • 231.7373 café castagna now open 7 nights a week (503) 231.9959 1752 se hawthorne boulevard wm- Mark seeks solace in teen-age rent boy Gary avenhill, who’s gay and HIV-positive, has created a play in which the sexuality of the characters is shifting, not fixed, and its cri tique is not so much of the gay community— though there are elements of that— as of a world that commodifies and brutalizes all it touches, irrespective of orientation. Staging Shopping was difficult because of the play’s complexity and rawness, hut it was not a difficult choice, says director Don Horn. “1 have never backed down from gritty or darker the ater,” he says. “Here was a play that had a point, made me think and had a voice that I didn’t hear many times with scripts that I read.” About the charge in some quarters that it’s simply a collection of negative gay stereotypes, he asserts, “Our community must wise up and realize there are more people out there than those who go to Starbucks, Pottery Bam and live ‘the gtxxl life.’ All of us shop and fuck.” As for getting actors to hare their souls phys ically and psychically, Horn says he “had no problem finding committed actors and tech people who were willing to tackle this play. In fact, they were excited about the material. The ater isn’t only to ‘enjoy,’ but to experience.” Teufel certainly found the project an experi ence. “This is a tough play with difficult emo tional content,” he says, “and those challenges are always the most exciting for me." This won’t he a revelation to those who witnessed Teufel in Stark Raving Theatre’s production of After the Zipper, in which he played a young man overcome with his own homophobia. “ I very much enjoy portraying people that are as nutty and out of control as the real me— that part of me that society says is ‘not O * K .’ " During the prtKess of getting to know Mark, the actor found himself able to relate to the character’s motivations, “but his actions are so | extreme it is pretty much g playing the reverse of what 3 and who 1 truly am.” | Preparation for this | edgy, sexually over-the-top ji role was also dicey, and Teufel marshaled just about every trick in the actor’s hag, from sheer immersion to “sense mem ory,” which is, he explains, figuring out how “the sights, sounds, smells and tactile stimulus that are going on in a scene” make him feel. “Ravenhill has a wicked sense of humor,” he adds. “I was not really ready for the laughs I get. I get quite a lot of laughs at moments that are excruci ating for me, personally. I wonder if it’s the script or is it me squirming— or a marriage of the two? Or maybe it’s that ‘uncomfortable’ laugh people do.7” This kind of immediacy and intense engagement takes its toll on the actors— you can see their exhaustion during the curtain call— hut pays off for audiences hungry for strong theater. |H!
