Page 4
Septem ber 27, 2000
Portland ffibeewer
Focus
The Focus
The Devils Drama Raises
Eternal Questions
R unning out
of G uest R ooms ?
P u t y o u r re la tiv e s
o n e of o u rs.
The Devils adapted by Elizabeth E gloffplay at Portland Center Stage
L to R Linda Hayden/Dasha Shatov, M icheál Newcomer/Nicholas Stavrogin.
The Devils marks the Portland
directing debut o f Portland Center
Stage’s new Artisic Director, Chris
Coleman. He has chosen an ambi
tious historical drama, with a cast o f
15 characters, elaborate costumes,
and a vast, multi-layered set.
This sweeping production uses
the Newmark’s capabilities to the
fullest and engages the audience in
fast-paced scenes o f provocative
moral dilemma and emotional ur
gency. The essential question of
The Devils is: what price change?
The play concerns a group o f
aimless anarchists in provincial 19,h
century Russia. Their ruthless leader
is Peter Verkhovensky. barely able
to goad his followers to print a
“Strike!" poster while coldly plot
ting the murder o f Shatov, a timid
turncoat.
The ragtag band, also known as
The Gang o f Five or The Society,
looks for spiritual leadership in
Nicholas Stavrogin, an amoral aris
tocrat with a sense o f loyalty to no
one but him self and nothing but his
own momentary impulses.
The rest o f the cast include Mrs.
Stavrogin, N icholas' mother and
patron o f Stepan Verkhovensky,
Peter’s father and a dilettante aca
demic; Shatov’s sister Dasha, Mars.
Stavrogin's servant and Nicholas’
lover, and Marie Shatov’s errant
wife who returns to him only to give
birth to her illegitimate child.
Then there’s Governor Lembke,
object o f the Society’s plotting, and
his entourage: Mrs. Lembke, his
dizzy wife, and Blum, his bumbling
enforcer. Remaining characters in
clude the rest o f The Gang
o f Five: S h ig a ly o v ,
V irginsky and Liputin;
K irilo v ,
P e te r
V e rk h o v e n sk y ’s d e sig
n a te d
h it-m a n ;
and
Matryosha, one o f Nicho
las’ young victims.
The Dostoevsky novel.
The Devils written about
I9'h century revolutionar
ies, previews at Portland
Center Stage on Thursday,
September 28. It opens Fri
day, September 29 and runs
through the m atinee on
Sunday, October 22. Port
land Center Stage perfor
mances take place in the
graceful Newmark Theatre
at the Portland Center for
the Performing Arts, 1111
SW Broadway at Main.
Tickets range from $10 -
$ 4 1 at the box office. Call
503/248-6309 for general
information or 503/274-
6588 for the box office.
5736 NE 33rd • Portland, Oregon • (503) 249-3983
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