By Chuck Graham, TucsonStage.com
The magic of metaphor filled the Rogue Theatre in one of the most auspicious openings of a new theater this town has seen in years. Creating such a magically intimate space in the vast emptiness of a gymnasium is no easy feat, but they did it.
They are Cynthia Meier and Joseph McGrath, founders of the Rogue, with help from a whole lot of their friends. This new performance space is on the lovely hardwood floor of the gym in the Historic Y, 300 E. University Blvd. Signing a lease and accepting the responsibility, this company has a permanent home for at least five years.
Heavy black stage drapes hanging from the two-story ceiling define the space as a black box theater. Banks of risers inside provide 150 seats with a clear line of sight to the stage. Overhead, a full lighting grid can fill the performance below with atmosphere.
For its debut show at the Historic Y, Rogue has chosen "Animal Farm" adapted from George Orwell's novella by playwright Andrew Periale. The choice is appropriate for many reasons, but the one reason everyone appreciates is that, of all Tucson's theater companies, the only one willing to risk producing such a philosophical and thought-provoking piece would be the Rogue Theatre.
Periale has provided an insightful structure for presenting this parable of human nature and politics. Orwell first found success with "Animal Farm" in the 1940s wake of World War II, with communists feeding the world Utopian dreams while Europe lay exhausted.
Orwell's warning about the more insidious qualities of human nature makes the story feel just as pertinent today, but for different reasons. Dreams that big government can save us are no less dangerous than the misguided beliefs in Utopia.
The author's best known quote that we are all equal, but some of us are more equal than others, now plays out as a reminder that giving up freedom in order to have more security is a fool’s bargain. Consider the personal freedoms that we have already relinquished in order to catch terrorists in America.
Meier has directed Periale's adaptation with a clear eye on Orwell's message. Using few costumes and lots of movement, she keeps the cast of six actors covering the stage with choreographed actitivity. No one stands and delivers any speeches. Everybody is talking on the run in this pure ensemble effort.
Since there is not the usual hero vs. villain conflict to create drama, the actors equally share time being the focus of attention. All this movement creates the feeling of a larger story at work, as each performer at any moment could be an animal, a human, a puppeteer or narrator.
Orwell's main characters are still in there. Boxer represents the people. Molly is the middle class. Napoleon the pig becomes a figure resembling iron-fisted Stalin who turned the communist countries into a police state.
In Tucson, it is the Rogue Theatre's chosen role to remind us art plays an important part in helping focus society's attention on the parts of human nature that keep changing. And the parts that will always remain the same.
Performances are 7:30 p.m. Thursdays-Saturdays, 2 p.m. Sundays, to Sept. 27. Tickets are $24. Pay-What-You-Will nights Sept. 17 and 24. For tickets and reservations, 520-551-2053, or visit www.theroguetheatre.org
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