Austinist Reviews: Brats of Clarence
Friday April 4-Saturday April 5
Salvage Vanguard Theatre (map)
[info] | [tickets]
Paul Menzer's brilliant script is loosely based on the historical saga of various claimants to the throne of England during The War of The Roses. That was one of those periods of English history when everyone wanted to be king and the legitimacy of the throne was in question. Real-life complications ensued, along with many deaths. Famously, two young contenders for the throne were imprisoned in the Tower of London, before eventually vanishing. They were known as the Princes in the Tower. In Brats-- loosely inspired by this historical period---these two princes are re-envisioned as siblings who were spirited away from London and secretly raised as Welsh shepherds.
The play opens with the siblings, aka "the Brats," Meg (Hildreth England) and Ned (Tom Coiner) traveling to London to seek the truth about themselves. Along the way, they encounter Perkin Warbeck (Emily Abrams), a French raised claimant (via Scotland) to the Tudor throne. England, Coiner and Abrams were particularly bright spots in this production, as was the appearance of Weldon Phillips in hysterical historical drag as Queen to Lovell's King.
But while we couldn't have been more delighted with the script or more in love with Lovell--there were problems with the show. The Bedlam Faction doesn't use a director, instead relying on the collective approach to the play. Sometimes that doesn't work so well. In a quick-witted comedy like Brats, we're looking for snap and verve and excitement. What we saw in this staging was closer to oatmeal--bland, sticky and unexciting. While there is nothing wrong with oatmeal, there just isn't anything really right with it, either. The script is written in prose, not in verse, but many actors still struggled through the lines, without the spin of character development behind them. The Scottish accents could have been better as well.
The performance marked this reviewer's first trip to the new Salvage Vanguard Theater. While it's great to have another theater venue in town, we just weren't all that crazy about the lighting in the auditorium. The relatively unfocused lighting meant that there was lighting blowback on the audience. As an audience member, we hate being kept in the dark metaphorically, but we like being kept in the dark physically. Being nearly lit ourselves didn't work for us.
Overall we applaud Bedlam Faction for picking such a brilliant script, and for casting such a swell king. We just wish that the entire show could have been all electricity and excitement. Mr. Lovell, we're looking forward to your next show!
