Sowelu Theater
Portland, OR
503.730.9066
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| Sean Skvarka |
Reviews: The Swan by Elizabeth Egloff, 2001
The Oregonian says: "OF METAMORPHOSIS AND PASSION" Elizabeth Egloff's The Swan is a fairy tale set deep in the American heartland.
In this complexly textured theater piece, Egloff spins a yarn in which the mundane and the marvelous are tightly intertwined — forming a unique blend that the Sowelu Theater company masterfully manufactures.
The play's action is initiated when, one quiet summer night, a large swan crashes into the living room picture window of the protagonist Dora's modest Nebraska house. Suddenly awakened, Dora takes in the apparently injured bird. She is amazed when the following evening it physically changes into a man.
A swan caught in a man's body, this fanciful swan-man, dubbed Bill by Dora, gradually learns something of human behavior by imitating those around him, but he never loses touch with his fiery animal nature. A mysteriously wondrous entity, Bill resonates with suggestive psycho-sexual significance. For Dora, who is oppressed by a past of failed marriages and a present stagnant relationship with the married milkman, Kevin, Bill evokes an unfulfilled desire for an all-encompassing and liberating love.
We may soar on the wings of Egloff's poetic imagination, but she also keeps us well grounded. Although serious, The Swan — especially at the start — does not take itself overly seriously. Egloff ably offsets the play's symbolic romantic content with comic ballast, and it is here that the Sowelu company, under Judy Goff's direction, is most successful — balancing emotional intensity with a sense of humor.
Lorraine Bahr plays Dora with a somewhat clipped rhythm that lends itself well to a gently humorous sarcasm. While Bahr demonstrates wonderful comic timing, she also clearly delineates the gradual awakening of desire that drives Dora. Not only does she convey a sense of the heartfelt depth of Dora's passion for Bill, but she ably articulates Dora's rapid progression at play's end into an hysteria that is marked by frenetic movements and gestures similar to Bill's.
Whether he is preening himself, puffing out his chest, charging in circles or slipping over the furniture effortlessly rising from floor to refrigerator top, Sean Skvarka skillfully portrays the swan with finely tuned athletic movements that are graceful, controlled and birdlike. Through his eyes more than the little dialogue Egloff gives this character, Skvarka conveys the yearning and desire that propels him.
As Kevin, Joe Stoddard ably conveys the puzzled befuddlement and frustration of one who struggles against forces he can neither understand nor govern.
While nudity in the early scenes might trouble some prospective viewers, The Swan should fly with Portland audiences."
—Richard Wattenberg