Review of Pippin at Phoenix Theatre and Equivocation at Southwest Shakespeare Company
Last weekend, I attended the opening night performance of Pippin alongside many of my co-workers at Phoenix Theatre and followed it up Saturday night with a performance of Southwest Shakespeare Company's Equivocation. This wound up being one of the most oddly thematic one-two punches of theatre I can ever remember seeing.
Pippin features a troupe of performers telling a fictionalized version of the life of Pippin, son of Charlemagne. Equivocation features a troupe of performers working with William "Shagspeare" telling a fictionalized version of events in which the renowned playwright is commissioned to write a play about the infamous Gunpowder Plot.
Both productions showcase the idea of theatricality - often jumping in and out of their respective plays-within-the-plays, breaking the fourth wall, and embracing the magic of live theatre (Pippin somewhat literally on that last one). This focus on theatricality, however, also served as a metaphorical fork in the road of these two productions: one path really worked for me while the other did not.
This production of Pippin, much like the recent Tony-winning revival on Broadway, turns the troupe within the play into a circus-themed ensemble rather than "just" a troupe of actors. But, presumably because this production lacks the millions of dollars that could be poured into the Broadway revival, these circus elements are relegated to a few impressive aerial stunts, some stilt-walking and tumbling, and a handful of magic tricks and are really only trotted out during a few numbers. The rest of the time, the ensemble reverts to the more standard Fosse-esque dancing of other productions. When these moments work, they serve as spectacle but don't really add anything else to the show and I often found myself thinking, "okay...but why?"
Additionally, the focus on these moments may have subtracted from the rest of the production as the show as a whole did not seem as tight and polished as I've come to expect from Phoenix Theatre. The only performance that really stood out at me was that of Leading Player Paul Stovall. He has a great command of the stage and is clearly enjoying the role. Though even here, Stovall's many asides and ad libs to the audience place him very distinctly in a 2014 production while everyone else, and the rest of the production itself, feels like it is trapped in an era closer to that of the original 1970s run.
Meanwhile, Equivocation reminds you that you are watching a play very pointedly; early and often. Performed in the intimate Anita Farnsworth Theatre at the Mesa Arts Center, you can see the actors props tables and costume racks as soon as you enter the space. Set up with the audience on three sides of the action, you are always able to watch the audience as easily as you are the actors and the set and costume designs both feature lines from a variety of Shakespeare's works. Joseph Cannon excels as the foundation of the piece, William Shagspeare, while the other five actors seamlessly transition from character to character using all the well-established tricks: a different movement or posture, a new voice, a wig, etc. All of this is in service to a story where one of the central conceits is: Theatre exists to hold a mirror up to society.
I found the biggest difference between these two productions to be in what each of those mirrors shows. In Pippin, that reflection shows us a external beauty but the heart, soul, and inner workings of Pippin's journey to find his "Corner of the Sky" (along with our own) are foggy and muddled. On the other hand, the mirror that Director David Barker and his cast hold up in Equivocation is a crystal clear image in which we see all of ourselves in Shagspeare and company: even the parts we might want to block out or change.
If you've seen them both, what did you think? Did you see something in the Pippin reflection that I missed?
Pippin continues at Phoenix Theatre through Sunday, March 30th. For more information, visit http://www.phoenixtheatre.com/.
Equivocation continues at the Mesa Arts Center through Saturday, March 22nd. For more information, visit http://www.swshakespeare.org/
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