THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, November 2, 1995 TAG: 9510310101
SECTION: NORFOLK COMPASS PAGE: 22 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Theater Review
SOURCE: Montague Gammon III
LENGTH: Medium: 70 lines
The Governor's School production of ``Museum'' serves admirably to display the talents being nurtured in this areawide program. Twenty-one young actors produce some marvelously detailed and convincing character sketches in twice that many roles.
Tina Howe's fundamentally satirical script is set in a museum gallery during the last day of an exhibition of works by three modern artists. Her subject is the often extreme reactions that art of any sort can inspire.
The paintings that hang on the wall behind the actors, and on the imaginary wall behind the audience, are pure white. They bear important sounding titles, and are described as being ``acrylic emulsion and wax.'' A giddy visit from three obviously stoned young women suggests that this is the artistic equivalent of the emperor's news clothes, though all the other visitors take these works quite seriously.
A clothesline, with small fabric dolls hanging on it, is rigged from one corner of the set. A basket of old-fashioned wooden clothespins is placed beneath it. Almost everyone who passes through the room wants to handle or steal the clothespins, or touch the dolls. Even the artist can't resist rearranging his own work in the waning moments of his show.
Small sculptures assembled from twigs, Spanish moss and the bleached bones of small animals are displayed on pedestals. One woman, who claims to be a friend of the sculptress, describes the young artist's ghoulish behavior when gathering the skeletal remains.
Visitors take these pieces quite seriously, either admiring or violently condemning them. A curator expounds at great length and in grandiose academic terms about their significance. One lone, harried guard tries to maintain quiet, to redirect lost patrons, to protect the pieces, or to enforce museum rules about photographing or sketching the art as an assortment of wildly eccentric characters passes through the gallery.
The quiet, controlled performance of Justin Young in that role gives the show a stable anchor. His undemonstrative character is often overshadowed by actors in more flamboyant parts.
Every one of these very young actors deserves praise for the sharp, clear characters they draw. The work of Carly Van Orman, Mary Faber and Matt Caplan stands out most strongly. Each has two prominent roles, while Faber and Van Orman also appear in one smaller part, and each of their characters is constructed with the utmost precision and detail.
Numerous other performances earn special mention. Montre Burton opens the show with a wordless, funny bit about a custodial worker who has less privacy than he thinks he does, then later appears as a foreign photographer attempting to grapple with the mysteries of American bureaucratic reasoning.
Steve Kilcullen is especially convincing with his crisp portrait of an arrogant, mannered and self-important aesthete. Joclyn Coleman turns in two very natural performances as a wealthy socialite and as one of the stoned women. Emilia Goldstein brings to life a young woman who claims to be the museum director's ``sketching, fetching, letching daughter.''
Director Michael S. Tick has guided his students in realistic portrayals of these sometimes farfetched characters, so that the humor is found within their work rather than on the surface.
Scott A. Skiles designed an attractive and convincing set, as he always seems to do for the Governor's School shows, and has lighted it with unobtrusive effectiveness. The costumes by Jorja Jean are a great help in delineating the characters during their brief appearances.
This is really a show about human foibles, not about modern art. The humor and the satire are quite accessible without having any background in the visual arts. by CNB