main subscribe comments cast and crew press release photos

Shotgun Players' "Beardo" is Simply Stupendous

Percival Arcibal
04/29/11
examiner.com

Berkeley's community theatre productions certainly can compete with any of the shows in San Francisco and San Jose venues, especially those produced by Equity houses Berkeley Repertory and the Aurora Theatre. However, Berkeley's Shotgun Players continues to churn out excellent shows, including its most recent, Beardo.

Shotgun Players rivals anything the larger houses perform, and with Beardo, another original piece written by Jason Craig, is an eclectic musical utilizing the styles of rock and roll, classical, country and western. In fact, everything in this show is diverse - the music, the cast, and even the dances, that included ballet, the Tango, and even Russian line dancing.

Beardo is based on the life of Rasputin and the Russina Revolution. It appeals to the basic human sensations including sexualilty. There is absolutely no nudity but it certainly goes to the very baseness of sex itself. One of the great lines in the play is by the main character (played by Ashkon Davaran), "I like simple things that work." just as he and the Tsarista (Anna Ishida) dance and have sex.

Davaran, as is the rest of the cast, is a multi-faceted artist playing acoustic guitar and belting out tunes like the rock and roll stars of the 1950s as he grabs the microphone. His duet counterparts beginning with a shack man (Josh Pollock); a shack woman (Sarah Mitchell); the Tsarista; and Kevin Clarke were perfectly paired for him by director Patrick Dooley.

Ishida is a phenomenal talent displaying all the tools of an actress, including her Tango dancing and most of all her singing in this production. Ishida was previously seen in Shotgun Players' The Salt Plays: Of The Earth. This performance should certainly earn Ishida another San Francisco Bay Area Theatre Critics Circle nomination.

The music composition by Dave Malloy is simply outstanding. And violinists Jessica Ling and Jo Gray with Charles Montague at viola; cellist Gael Alcock; and Olive Mitra at bass were superb in their portion of the production.

The technical aspects of the show are a delight. Lisa Clark's forestry set design is basic but again appeals to baseness of the sense of sight. Phenomenal sound design by Brendan West and Michael Palumbo's lighting design and transitions are flawless.