Every now and then, if you're lucky, you get to experience a performance that is so completely pitch perfect that when it ends, you have to remind yourself to breathe. American Players Theater's current production of Athol Fugard's The Island is such a production.
Long before the house lights dimmed, everyone in the audience had already been joined in a suffocating and visceral awareness of the suffering imposed on the prisoners of the infamous prison island, which warehoused South African political prisoners in the long decades of apartheid. The bare-bones set, the harsh yellow lighting, the pre-show glimpse into the life of the prisoners, and- most of all - the powerful and nuanced performances of La Shawn Banks and Chike Johnson drew each audience member into the quarry where they toiled and the cell where they rehearsed a liberating performance of Sophocles' Antigone.
Congratulations to first-time APT director Derrick Sanders and to designer Yu Shibagaki, but most of all to APT's new artistic director Brenda DaVita. The Island was a daring addition to this summer's lineup, superbly executed. We can't wait to see what you have in mind for next year.
Contributed by Coleman
Long before the house lights dimmed, everyone in the audience had already been joined in a suffocating and visceral awareness of the suffering imposed on the prisoners of the infamous prison island, which warehoused South African political prisoners in the long decades of apartheid. The bare-bones set, the harsh yellow lighting, the pre-show glimpse into the life of the prisoners, and- most of all - the powerful and nuanced performances of La Shawn Banks and Chike Johnson drew each audience member into the quarry where they toiled and the cell where they rehearsed a liberating performance of Sophocles' Antigone.
Congratulations to first-time APT director Derrick Sanders and to designer Yu Shibagaki, but most of all to APT's new artistic director Brenda DaVita. The Island was a daring addition to this summer's lineup, superbly executed. We can't wait to see what you have in mind for next year.
Contributed by Coleman
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