Theater forecast by Robb Bonnell
For some people, fall signifies an end, when the light and heat of summer are shortened by the early pau hana twilight. But in the pitch black of this season, the footlights come on at theaters all across the island, and troupes of performers take center stage and entertain the community.
But it is fall�s least conventional and darkest show that is the brightest point of the season. On Oct. 26, Late Night Theatre at UH-M�noa presents Crave, by British playwright Sarah Kane.
"Sarah Kane is a major playwright who many consider to be the centerpiece of what�s being called �In-Yer-Face� theater," said Dennis Carroll, UH-M�noa Theater chair and Late Night board member. In-Yer-Face is, as might be expected, an aggressive, abrasive brand of contemporary theater that often explores harsh themes through caustic images and dialogue. The young Kane and her unapologetic plays embodied the burgeoning movement in the �90s, right up until her suicide in 1999 at age 28. For Late Night Theatre to stage Crave is to live by its stated mission, "to present a kind of theatre not otherwise available to Honolulu audiences by producing challenging works from some of today�s most dynamic playwrights."
Kane�s early plays appalled and outraged critics in Britain. They dismissed the graphic images and language as puerile grabs for attention. With Crave, Kane provides merely four disembodied voices, eschewing stage directions entirely. No cues are given by the playwright, who trusts each director to devise a staging for the poignant, if nonlinear, narrative.
Director Taurie Kinoshita undertook this task by proposing Crave to the Late Night Board. "I want it to create an impression," she said, "the way a surrealist painting does. Impressions can be made, even if it doesn�t make sense at first on a literal level."
Theories abound as to who, or what, the four characters in Crave (known only as A, B, C and M) represent. Their spare, stark and poetic lines weave around and through each other, hinting at crushing or frightening needs. Yet what strikes some as nihilism is actually a stubborn, uncompromising optimism in the face of unspeakable tragedy.
"Kane focuses on dark themes and presents some really savage images," said Kinoshita. "But she was once quoted as saying that taking pain and loss and making it into something beautiful, into art, is the most hopeful thing you can do." Kane found light in the dark. This fall, Honolulu theatergoers can do the same.
