Image provided by: Clackamas Community College; Oregon City, OR
About The Clackamas print. (Oregon City, Oregon) 1989-2019 | View Entire Issue (March 2, 2011)
4 The Clackamas Print By Nathan Sturgess Associate Photo Editor ntagiq Arts Cultu Wednesday, March 2, 2011 SB As the love found between Man and Woman incvitab deteriorates, so does the sanity of Prologue and Epilogtj Prologue, so focused on what might happen and then wh might have happened, resigns himself to doubt and inertdulit while Epilogue, ever focused on what has happened, giv3 to grief, but not without assuring herself that we, the audio» have participated in the tragedy and that we have seen ourd lives tragically. Partly because of Prologue and Epilogue’s commem Man and Woman seem disconnected from the drcuimian« that befall them, as if they have no say in the matter of fate. At one point, Epilogue addresses the author of the pfe directly, expressing her distaste in the devolutionary pnoed From this you get the impression that Man and Womans simply and ttuty intellectual constructs of the author and 1 extension Eno himself. They are not so much realistic as tfx are poetic understandings of material. This symbolic or poetic understanding of a material wq is another important theme in Eno’s play. The stall it;. of tj mental institution where Man and Woman reside serves] a clarifying juxtaposition with this fact For Eno, the act living can be thought of and in this case represented, in a pd cedural way: a simple formulaic process of cause and efta But what adds color to this gray perspective is the ability of] I don’t want to write this review. I don’t want to write it because I’m tired and troubled and at the bitter end of a long slash short winter term. It seems out of character, doesn’t it? People don’t write reviews of theatrical productions this way. People don’t say tilings like this at the beginning of any piece fcr a reputable reverent publication. It’s too blunt, too distasteful; too honest But only such a preamble would begin to acclimate you, the reader, unsuspecting though you be, to toe layers of com plexity fused into toe passionate prose of William Eno’s “The Flu Season.” As with any theatrical production, toe playwright seeks to move toe audience, whether it be to laughter or tears, doubt or understanding. But few productionsdo so, so honestly and directly as “The Flu Season.” Eno seeks not so much to enve lope toe audience in a vicarious experience as much as he tries to spatter his story onto toe canvas of the audience’s real life. The characters Prologue and Epilogue, played by Branden MacFarland and Heather Ovalle, respectively, continuously characters to snatch glimpses of a poetic world through w process and critique the substance of toe play with the audi short forays into lovemaking and the romantic syt¡bold ence, constantly reminding us that it’s not so important what’s happening to the characters as much as it matters w hat is hap that accompanies it This poetic world tragically fails tH ultimately. But the audience is consoled, though weak! „ by i pening to us, what it means to be a viewer of theater and to . meaning invested in the process of living. view your life as theatrical. Eno pulls back the curtain of theatrical mechanic only] I could spend a lot of your time telling you how well the reveal further layers of complexity in the relationship viwd set and lighting complimented the mood of the play; how well audience and actors. He begs of us that we ask question each actor did or didn’t do; how well they portrayed their char many questions about our identity and how we live, how J acter, which were ah exemplary. But what Eno is emphatically trying to say is that these are actors. The point isn’t whether life is and is not a play like his, how we are and are not] control of our destiny. Eno does not offer many answers H they became someone else in a convincing way but that they somehow approach a representation of us all in toe most raw emphatically wants us to ask them. and direct sense. Man and Woman, played by Justin McDaniels and Emily The Flu Season Robison, respectively, are who we are at our weakest Each Ticket Pricing: line is composed like the disjointed, discouraged thoughts we often think when we are most alone or just before we fall Adult: $10 asleep. The characters, M an and Woman, are held together by Youth under 18: $8 a dangerously thin plot but are so tightly tethered to our own darker human experience that they cannot help but capture Students: $8 our attention. Seniors: $8 Just as the idea c£ theatrical character is so terribly decon structed, so is the use of language. Eno consciously and Location: purposefully turns language on its head, making it difficult, Niemeyer Hall foreign and often emotionally offensive. Not to create separa tion between toe characters and us but rather to remind us of Show Times: what our tooughts really sound like. Instead of toe smooth and Feb. 24- March 6 warm wcxflswe are used to hearing spoken amongst each Thurs.-Sat. 7:30 p.m. other, Eno chooses quick poetic quips that are often sporadic and subtle. The structure of the language is designed to make Sun. 2:30 p.m. you uncomfortable, putting you in that mental place you so Rating: IWfeflWlWF"] often avoid, but so clear that you can almost sense Eno’s own mind working, scribbling down the lines as they are spoken on the stage. Contributi Enjoy Italian culture; not just about pasta anymor hoi that has had lemon, lime or even orange peels soaked so that it is resting against the wall to prevent it from! ing over. This is proof that there is a method to the n| in it for at least a week, which causes it to absorb the oils, color and flavor from the zest. It is then mixed with equal ness of naming cocktails. The last item we have on le menu tonight is Tuaca. I parts simple syrup, which is only water and sugar boiled so my French accent is horrible in person and even «1 together until it becomes a viscous fluid. s an Italian (pronounced ih-tal-yuhn; only uned in print, but Tuaca is definitely a new classic. Flavl The drink is very sweet and is best in small amounts, ucated people say ahy-tal-yuhn), I feel that it is with citrus and vanilla, it is the perfect drink for ul not wrong for me to first think of pasta when unless you want to go into a diabetic coma from all the shots or in a number of cocktails. See www.tuaca.coni I flunk of the land that my mother’s family hails sugar. from. One thi ng I did at least for my wedding toast was to ** In fact, I would wager that is probably what most people mix it further with champagne; this gave a lighter drinking recipes. • According 4o Tuaca’s website, modem Tuaca ca think of or possibly the Vatican, “The Sopranos” or my experience. from a 5 00-year-old recipe that was created for Loti Have you -,£ver heard of a drink called a “Slow: least favorite thing that any Italian has ever been involved Comfortable Screw Against the Wall”? Probably not. but de Medici, a historic ruler of Florence, the homelaii with - “Jersey Shore.” What many people do not think of, however, is the it is another classic cocktail that has not been able to catch Niccolo Machiavelli, the infamous scribe who litJ vast number of amazing flavors that Italy puts forth in the on with the durrent generation of pub-crawlers. This drink wrote the book on how to be a great leader and tn doil contains sloe gin (which isn’t really a gin at all, it’s more of was banished from his home. * world of booze. ' . In sfrort, Maly has no shortage of great flavors, sj Known worldwide as the land of star-crossed 10v^’ a liqueur), Southern Comfort, orange juice and Galliano. some for yourself and decide which one is your I avoa dR If you think about it, the name is a description of what bcr of the great and Mafiosos, Italy has created a n goes into preparing the drink. The only part that doesn’t, know which one is mine: all of them. Salud! Jc. One of my cocktail ingredients that are used wo Disclaimer: We at The Clackamas Print the flavor of my make since is the “against the wall” bit, right? There is^a favorites is Limoncello. In fact, that for this &wefi, Galliano comes in atoll thin bottle encourage drinking to excess or underage chinking (j wedding toast. ..usi^^afttalc^ place at the feack of the collection of booze kind. Remember to drink responsibly. Limdncello is a fabulous By Joshua Baird Arts & Culture Editor A
