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There'll Be Some Changes Made

George Heymont
03/30/11
myculturallandscape.blogspot.com

Over in Berkeley, Shotgun Players has launched its 20th anniversary season -- in which each play is a new commission -- with the world premiere of Beardo (whose early poster art proclaimed "He's a weirdo with a Beardo!"). For such a small company to pull off such a major achievement is a stern reminder that, while great theatre takes place all over the Bay area, Shotgun Players is one of our region's most consistently challenging and fascinating producers of new work.

Directed by Patrick Dooley (with music by Dave Malloy) Beardo was inspired by one of the most bizarre characters in Russian history. As Jason Craig (who wrote the book and lyrics) explains:
"Rasputin, the real life huckster upon whom Beardo is loosely based, serves as a fine example of how 'man' can be transformed into 'superman.' He certainly was a rascally man who did his fair share of manipulation and conjuring, but his mysticism was magnified, his prowess inflated by the stir of gossip and the imagination of the mass. Rasputin lived during a time of confusion and fear. You might say he was in the right place at the right time. None of what you see tonight is true; except for the ridiculous parts. Who could possibly have made that up?"

Beardo begins with its protagonist lying in a field with his arm stuck into a hole in the ground. After being taken to shelter by a Shack Man (Josh Pollock) and his sex-starved wife (Sarah Mitchell), Beardo begins to sense the magnetic power he can exert over others. Soon, he's off to the big city where he quickly ingratiates himself with Russia's aristocracy.

After helping to improve the health of the royal family's hemophilic Delicate Child Boy (Juliet Heller), Beardo is soon training the Tsar (Kevin Clarke) to beg like a dog for raspberry-flavored chocolates. Blessed with an insatiable libido, he's also screwing the Tsarista (Anna Ishida) and lots of the other women at court.

Even as Beardo dances around with a mammoth, glittery phallus dangling from his underwear, Yusapoof (Dave Garrett) and other aristocrats are plotting his death while dressed in red tights and white tutus. Just when you think the production can't get any more bizarre, one of the murderers holds up Beardo's engorged and bloody penis (having severed it from his victim to keep as a souvenir!)

Beardo's score is written for a string quintet (Jessica Ling, Jo Gray, Charles Montague, Gael Alcock, Olive Mitra) whose style imitates everything from the music of Borodin, Xenakis, and Prokofiev to Patsy Cline, George Crumb, and Tuvan cowboy music. For the act I finale, a chorus of nearly 40 Russian peasants emerges from backstage to deliver a magnificent a capella rendition of "Troika" in an arrangement of the Russian gypsy song transcribed from a performance by Marusia Georgevskaya.

With an evocative unit set designed by Lisa Clark and some superb costume design work by Christine Crook, Patrick Dooley has staged Beardo as an iconoclastic romp through a period of Russian decadence in which nothing was held sacred by the play's protagonist and everyone was there for him to use and abuse as he saw fit for the sake of his own entertainment.

Whether the show's musical accompaniment comes from a ukulele, a string quintet, or a recording of Russian bells, Beardo is guaranteed to rock your world. So much creativity is on display in this thrilling new piece of music theatre that, if you're smart, you'll put Beardo on your must-see list (you can order tickets here). Performances continue at the Ashby Stage through April 24th. Don't miss it!