Sowelu Theater
Portland, OR
503.730.9066
What Others Say About Us
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| Michael Fetters, Lorraine Bahr |
| and John Breen |
Reviews: Picnic on the battlefield by Fernando Arrabal, 2005
Willamette Week says: "It would be nice to think that Sowelu's production of Fernando Arrabal's great absurdist take on war might inspire other companies to explore the playwright's work. Fat chance, I suppose, which makes getting to the Back Door Theater for this showing imperative.
Stranded in a no-man's land of trenches and craters, a young soldier, Zapo, is visited by his parents for a picnic. What follows is a hilarious damning of war's lunacies, with a number of striking parallels to our current martial madness.
Though opening night saw a few technical hitches and some uncertainty in movement, it was nonetheless clear that time will transform this into a strong production.
Director Barry Hunt provides a thoughtful interpretation of Arrabal's script, though there are moments of diffused focus. Still, Hunt has put together a marvelous cast headed by Lorraine Bahr (a charming terrorist of teacup drama) and a violently blimpish John Breen playing the parents. The production also heralds the return to Portland stages of Michael Fetters, whose intelligence and physical prowess have been sorely missed.
This is one of Sowelu's most adventurous stagings in some time, with excellent use of shadow puppetry created by cast members Amy Gray and Jeb Pearson. Picnic, (as well as Arrabal's equally riveting Guernica,) holds that war will never cease until we level it with cruel laughter."
—Steffen Silvis