SHAKN´, PART ONE |
Review by
Willard Manus QUARTERMAN SHAKES UP SHAKESPEARE Los Angeles -- Saundra Quarterman lights up the stage incandescently in the world premiere of SHAK'N, PART ONE, her one-woman show running through March 2, 2002 at Stages Theater Center in Hollywood. Conceived and performed by Quarterman, the show consists of excerpts from some of Shakespeare's plays and sonnets, plus a snatch or two of scripture. Quarterman, an African-American woman of statuesque beauty and presence, takes on daunting challenges in SHAK'N, if only because she refuses to restrict herself to speeches by such Shakespearean heroines as Portia, Lady Percy and Lady Macbeth. She dares us to also believe in her impersonations of King Henry V, Hamlet, Richard III and, yes, even King Lear. Thanks to her considerable
gifts as an actress and to her deep, powerful voice and impeccable diction,
Quarterman succeeds in all respects. Credit for her triumph must also
be shared with director Lisa Arrindell Anderson, lighting/stage designer
Frederick Wenzlaff and sound designer Bryan D. Wilhite, who have combined
to mount an Equity-waiver production that rates with the best of L.A.'s
major theatres. |
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In Act Two ("Sleeping Monster"), Quarterman delivers thirteen soliloquies and sonnets, most of which are packed with the intensity and pain people experience in the face of war (Henry V), betrayal (King Lear) and murder (Macbeth). As a change of pace, Quarterman also elicits bawdy laughter as Mistress Quickly (Henry IV). SHAKIN, PART ONE
(presumably Part Two will be mounted at a later date) Stages Theatre Center
is located at 1540 N. McCadden Place. |