Rogue reviews, Part 2: ‘S’Will 24,’ ‘Breakneck Romeo and Juliet,’ ‘The Only Virgin in New York City’ and more
Our collective Rogue coverage continues. (As does the festival; two days remain, with final performances on Saturday, March 9. Click here for more late-breaking reviews.
Donald Munro reports:
I say mur! You say der!
“Mur … der!” “Mur … der!”
Pictured above: Mason T. Beltran and Haley White get rowdy in “S’will 24.” Photo: Kristin Goehring
Yes, “S’will 24” is back for another go at Rogue, and I loved it once again. This guilty-pleasure offering from The Fools Collaborative, a rag-tag collective of some of the area’s finest actors, delivers the silliness, creative flair and political punch you’d expect.
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The ingredients: Take a well-known Shakespeare play (in this case “Julius Caesar”), satirize and contemporize it (pizza-pizza, anyone?), lard it up with local references (“I had rather go to Adventure Church in the Tower Theatre!”) and, for the crowning touch: Pick one actor shortly before curtain and make them drink. A lot.
The drunken thespian on the night I attended was Haley White, who also penned the play (and served as a sorta narrator). I couldn’t tell much of a difference between White with a significantly elevated blood alcohol content and a sober White in a comic role, which attests to her 1) acting chops; and 2) ability to navigate the world with tequila sloshing through her veins. In the case of “Swill,” the drinking-game gimmick was just another drop in a sea of silliness.
Director Miguel Gastelum keeps the cast on its toes, while I Adeficha, credited as fight choreographer, gives us a human-vs.-hand-puppet encounter that should go down in the annals of stage combat. Mason T. Beltran (who uses they/them pronouns), playing Caesar and others, booms out a hilarious turn as the title character (at one point they actually triggered a sound-level alert on my Apple Watch), while Jacob Gonzalez and Colin Helpio offer frantic, funny performances. Finally, no one can ham it up quite like Brooke Aiello, who chews up the scenery like it’s a basket of breadsticks and then gives us a big, garlic burp. Sometimes you just have to let loose and laugh. Thanks, Fools, for indulging us.
“S’will 24,” 8:30-9:30 p.m. Friday, March 8; 2 p.m. Saturday, March 9, VISTA Theatre (Fresno Arts Academy). Tickets $15.
Coincidentally, I saw another Shakespeare adaptation at the Rogue that has no performances remaining: Tim Mooney’s “Breakneck Romeo and Juliet” was an odd, disjointed offering. I can best describe as a cross between a straightforward opera synopsis, a Cliff’s Notes “Here are five ideas for a term paper” summary, a literary critique (lots of talk of mixing metaphors), and an acting-class exercise. Mooney definitely knows his Shakespeare text, but his efforts at jocularity were both too obvious and too faint.
Shane Moreman offers a few thoughts:
One of the festival’s best attended shows is Janice Noga’s, and why not? The title, “The Only Virgin in New York City,” is an attention grabber. In this heartfelt piece, Noga looks like a Broadway star and she sounds like a Broadway star, complemented by Terry Lewis’ outstanding accompaniment. More importantly, she interacts with the audience and chooses songs that remind us that we have all had our hard moments but, with one another, can all rise from them. (Plays 5 p.m. Saturday, March 9, VISTA Theatre (Fresno Arts Academy). $15.
And: “You’re Good for Nothing… I’ll Milk the Cow Myself,” Natacha Ruck draws us into a complicated relationship between her and her mother that doesn’t necessarily resolve itself but rather evolves itself. In the end, one of her messages is that our lives are wonderful for the moments when we see what people can give us, not necessarily what we think people should give us. (Plays 10 p.m. Friday, March 8, and 6:30 p.m. Saturday, March 9, The Lotus Room). $15.
