Hellish Half-Light

Hellish Half-Light

Angel Island Theater
731 W. Sheridan Chicago

Six actors assume multiple roles as six of Samuel Beckett's shorter works are staged together in one theatrical experience, in which audience members and characters seamlessly share the same space. The six shorts include Castastrophe, Come and Go, Play, Rough For Theater I, Rough For Theater II and What Where: an autocratic director and his assistant put the final touches on the last moment of a play that consists entirely of a man standing still onstage; three women of indeterminable age sit quietly together on a bench surrounded by darkness, whispering secrets to each other; a man, his wife and his mistress, each imprisoned in individual urns, are held captive by an interrogating, hellish half-light; on a derelict street corner, a man in a wheelchair meets a blind beggar; two bureaucrats search through papers and testimony used to decide the fate of the man standing at a window, posed to jump; and an interrogator engages in self-reflection by directing a memory to perform.

Thru - Aug 30, 2014