Without even turning down the house lights, she comes onto the stage and begins adjusting her tits. Lady Gaga's Telephone has just faded away and I'm sitting in Chapman University's Waltmar Theater about to watch Savage Love by Sam Shepard and Joseph Chaikin and directed by Brian Drummy.
The play, traditionally presented as slam poetry by one actor, has had new life, young life, my life breathed into it by Brian Drummy who delivers a sexy and moving version of "Love." A relatable version, as Drummy points out "I took it as a challenge to interpret the play and bring to it some kind of relatable-ness for our generation (aka the people who would see it). We have to work from a playing of showing what we KNOW."
Set to thumping club beats, we are thrust into a dim lit bar, not unlike the bar down the street. The attractive cast takes the stage and begins primping for a night on the town. The dialogue of the play is interrupted by dance breaks, drunken ad-libbing and general merriment. Drummy seamlessly blends the abstract dialogue of the play with the party atmosphere.
Each of our good-looking twenty-something cast members is on the lookout for love, or at least - what they think is love. Bumping and grinding, alcohol and flirting. It all leads to sex, and as Drummy and his cast will have you believe, heartbreak.
Drummy cleverly breaks it up though. They've all got motives and it doesn't stay in the bar. With simple lighting tricks, Drummy takes us from the bar to the bathroom to a one-night stands apartment. The set is sparse, decorated with the players, as opposed to a bulky set.
The design is cool and vibrant. It's a place I want to go, I have been. The nameless actors are me. All of them. Their relationship is my relationship. It hit home, which was scary. Rarely does theater put me on the stage. I sit back as a third party observer, but Drummy tapped into my psyche - and based on the rest of the audience's reaction, their psyche too.
Overall its an absolutely phenomenal piece of theater. The best thing I've seen on the Chapman main stage. The choices by both director and cast were commendable and I wish I could watch it again. It's the type of play you could watch a hundred times and see something new each and every one. It's the type that changes depending on your mood, age and relationship status. It ends on a sour emotional note, suggesting we never learn, but if we watch this version enough, we just might.
