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In this week's issue (Vol. 10-No. 20-Week of May 16th, 2005), Accessibly Live Off-Line reviewed The Mysteries. Here's the review:
Son Of Semele Ensemble presents the American premier of Edward Kemp's adaptation of THE MYSTERIES, presented in two separate parts.
Based upon tales, fables, and parables that have been passed along for generations, this presentation tells the story of a human race that encounters good and evil, hope and desire, and someone who offers a gift to man and womankind, only to becomes challenged by authority.
Read the rest of the review after the jump.
The first part, called The Creation, begins when life forms among the earth, leading up to the tale of Adam and Eve, to Cane and Able, to Abraham and Isaac, to Joseph and Mary, who bears a child that is prophesied as someone who would be worshiped. The second part, called The Passion, picks up where The Creation leaves off. It tells the tales of a person named "Jesus", who promises a sense of hope and a salvation to those who follow, and presents his being as a threat to those who may think otherwise.
In such, both The Creation and The Passion stand out on their own. One doesn't need to experience one with the other, but having both stories under one's wing enhances to what this production has to offer.
Most of those may recognizes these stories as based upon the writings found within the Old and New Testaments of The Bible. This is where the similarities end. The play itself is presented using a simple, if almost non existent setting, (a series of PVP pipes set in a few places), designed by Paul R. DeDoes, that uses one's imagination to have these fables commence in either a grand setting or within its intimate space. DeDoer's lighting design also complements the 'stage'. The ensemble of fourteen play the various roles, reciting their prose in a poetic fashion, bringing the 'mystery' in and out of these sagas.
The cast appearing in both chapters include (in alphabetical order), Hillary Bauman, Elizabeth Clemmons, Tegan Ashton Cohan, Sharyn-genel Gabreil, Dawn Hillman, Kyle Ingleman, Edgar Landa, Matthew McCray, Soren Oliver, Darryl Ordenn, Anthony Brocatto Powell, Natalie Sander, Jonathan C.K. Williams, and Diana Wyenn.
Some have believed the original stories depicted as part of THE MYSTERIES as ones that are "holy scriptures". Other study these documents as historical writings. The rest fob it off as jive fairy tales! It doesn't matter how one finds these fables of yore. It's something that one should experience as theater, and exceptional theater at that!
PS..There is a brief depiction of nudity in The Creation (Part one.)
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