The first production of the Sacramento Theatre Company's 2008-09 season is a work that is so quirky, so innovative and exciting – so different – that it's easy to understand why the company is a little uncertain how to promote it.
Is it dance? A musical? Drama?
Yes.
"The Ten P.M. Dream" is a dance theater piece conceived, choreographed and directed by Della Davidson, artistic director of Sideshow Physical Theatre. It is based on Anne Sexton's "Transformations," a poetic, adult reinterpretation of familiar fairy tales. Sexton explored such themes as love and passion, commitment, guilt and control as she saw them in her life and in such Brothers Grimm tales as "Snow White," "Little Red Riding Hood," "Rapunzel" and others. Davidson elucidates these themes through provocative modern dance, to music composed and arranged by Richard Marriott.
This has been performed before, including in 2005 at UC Davis' Mondavi Center, where Sideshow Physical Theatre is the resident professional company. This strong production is a daring choice by artistic director Peggy Shannon and STC. It's STC's first "crossover" work of dance and theater, a kind of contemporary performance Berkeley Rep has led the way in presenting.
"The Ten P.M. Dream" takes its title from a line in Sexton's poem "The Gold Key": "Have you forgotten? Forgotten the 10 p.m. dreams where the wicked king went up in smoke?" The scenes that follow that intriguing, vaguely threatening introduction are dreamlike in the extreme. There are segments of song and dialogue that – as sometimes happens in a dream – are incomprehensible. A couple of verbal stumbles opening night added some unintended confusion to what already is a weird, confusing landscape in which themes and dreams reveal themselves.
Scenic designer Jennifer Michelson gives us a red-bordered stage, with red chairs in many sizes, a wardrobe from which shoes tumble, and a dramatic red bed of roses; costume designer Sandra Woodall puts storytellers Sarah Kliban, Mantra Plonsey and Jorge Luis Morejon in black, and performers Kerry Mehling, Rebecca Johnson, Elizabeth Morales, Shannon Preto and Travis Rowland in what is basically white underwear with assorted adornments. Lighting designer D.M. Moon creates an atmospheric environment perfectly suited to the content.
Sometimes, fairy tales seem meant not to entertain children but to frighten them – wicked witches, evil stepmothers, wolves. But Sexton and Davidson find similarly ominous themes here for thinking adults.
In "Hansel and Gretel," Hansel leaves a trail of bread crumbs so he and his sister can find their way back home. But as he puts down each piece, Gretel eats it. This may be sibling rivalry – but it also can be seen as two halves of the same personality, illustrating how we perhaps unwittingly thwart ourselves.
In "Little Red Riding Hood," childhood is lost on the bed of roses as the wolf (actually three in magnificent masks) devours Little Red's innocence.
"Twelve Dancing Princesses" and "Sleeping Beauty" are other highlights.
Call The Bee's Jim Carnes, (916) 321-1130.
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