Review: Outcry Theatre's DESCRIBE THE NIGHT exposes the truth among lies and the lying liars who tell them.
Directed by Becca Johnson-Spinos
Produced by Outcry Theatre
Running Time: Three hours with two ten-minute intermissions
Accessible Seating: Available
Hearing Devices: Not Available
Sensory Friendly Showing: Not Available
ASL Showing: Not Available
Sound Level: Comfortable Volume
Noises and Visuals to Prepare For: Blood, handcuffs, violence, language, themes of war, bright lights
Reviewed by Natalie Shaw
The truth is what you make it, or perhaps, what others make it. It stands to reason that truth is relative and ultimately depends on the perspective of those who witness it, understand it and agree with it. Describe the Night is a beautifully complex script that is brilliantly executed by Outcry Theatre's cast and creative team who explore this concept. Through "bold artistic vision, highly physical staging, and an energetic and visceral performance style," Outcry's mission is to take stories like this and craft an experience that explores their themes in a full, holistic manner.
Describe the Night takes place over a 90 year span, with scenes that navigate us through Germany and The Soviet Union from 1920-2010, connecting the stories of seven individuals through friendship, romance, and deception. Isaac Babel's (Dylan Weand) journal travels through history, passing through the hands of the remaining six characters, linking them together in a fascinating way, setting them all on an unforgettable path.
1920, Act One, Scene One opens with Isaac writing in his personal journal. Weand is inspiring and charming as Isaac, a passionate creative writer and filmmaker, who is warm and humble-- a romantic at heart, with a self-imposed duty to humanity; using metaphor to conceal the discernible meaning of his work. His love interest, Yevgenia (Katelyn Yntema) is a wiser-than-she-looks submissive wife to Isaac's military friend, Nikolai (Connor McMurray.) Yntema's female protagonist is unafraid and unbothered by her husband's restless temperament, who seeks to be a comfort to him, while remaining true to her own aspirations. Under McMurray, Nikolai's secrets and desires both haunt and propel his need for validation and redemption throughout the course of his life.
1989, Seventy years after Isaac and Nikolai's first meeting, KGB agent, Vova (Bradford Reilly) locates Urzula, an aspiring singer (Marcy Bogner) who has been identified as an elusive figure, mostly due to a suspicious journal she carries. Her plans to make an illegal escape West, to Moscow, are delayed, as she is found out. Reilly's Vova calculates his intimidation and fear tactics throughout the play, adjusting truth, so that it may bend to his will and authority. Ultimately, however, he is more naive than he looks, able to be misled when he believes he has the upper hand. He is no match for Urzula, nor her grandmother, who are indeed, cut from the same cloth.
2010, the Polish President Lech Kaczynski and much of the Polish government are killed in a mysterious plane crash in the Russian city, Smolensk, while on their way to visit the Katyn Massacre Memorial on it's 70th anniversary. Journalist Mariya (Whitney Renee Dodson) was nearby, as she awaited President Kaczynski's arrival to the memorial, which marks the memory of the Polish military officers who were murdered in a mass execution during World War II-- an event that is still a highly sensitive subject between Poland and Russia today. Mariya flees the scene of the crash, running until she finds a nearby car rental, run by Feliks (Chase Di lulio,) who is also in possession of a strange journal and coldly apprehensive about renting a car to anyone who may have witnessed the crash. After a few minutes together, with suspicions averted, Mariya and Feliks recognize their humanity and begin to build trust in one another.
You don't have to be a history-buff or political science expert to grasp the concepts within the script, as it is thoughtfully written with this in consideration. And you don't have to be an artist to understand and appreciate the beauty that Director Becca Johnson-Spinos uses in the choreographed movements between scenes or the utilization of the white screens, which cleverly transport us along the timeline and between scenes. But, you will make connections. You will see for yourself. And you will be wanting more! This is the most artistic expression I've seen onstage this year, in one sitting, and I can't stop thinking about it! I am truly in awe and in love with this production!
Outcry Theatre's Describe the Night runs for only one more weekend, through August 31 at Theatre Three's Norma Young Arena Stage. Tickets can be purchased at outcrytheatre.com
Enjoy the Show!
Natalie Shaw
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