Moscow at Diversionary Theatre Review

Last Monday I went to the pay what you can performance of Moscow at Diversionary Theatre. I mainly went because my friend, Kevin Koppman-Gue, was in the production, and I'm never disappointed with his work as an actor.

Honestly, I didn't know what to expect going into this production. I hadn't heard of Moscow before, and I hadn't asked Kevin anything about it. So, I went in with no expectations. The first thing I noticed when I walked into the theatre was that I almost got hit by a sock. It seemed Kevin and the other two actors were doing their pre-show; playing a game called "sockball" in character. It seemed interesting enough, and I could tell already that this would be an interesting performance. The stage was very simple, with an all back set, save for a few drapes artistically hung up and a lone ladder on stage left.

When the show began, I wasn't exactly drawn into it. I didn't know it was a musical, so it threw me off a tiny bit, but not enough where I didn't like it. There was no doubt that the actors all hit their marks in their performances, but I didn't particularly care for the way the story was written. I found that some of the text was too mysterious or ambiguous, but this, of course, wasn't a problem with the production or the actors.

In the aspect of the acting, I found all three actors to fit perfectly into their roles. I particularly found Kevin Koppman-Gue to be outstanding, and not just because he's a friend of mine. He was so involved in his character, and it truly showed that he had done his character work. In addition, he really tried to connect with the audience and make his emotions readable and relatable.

Once again, I was really impressed with the work of Diversionary theatre and their choices in actors. I can't wait to see their next season, and hopefully see more actors that I know!

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The Love of Three Oranges Review

Jumping out of the SDSU theatre scene, I decided to see a play off-campus. Well, I didn’t merely decide to, I was excited to. My younger sister was in a production of The Love of Three Oranges at my old high school. (Grossmont High School) Her excitement of the production increased my own excitement to see it as the weeks of her rehearsals passed by. In this production, the play calls for improv. Copious amounts of improv. At first I was wary, since this was in fact a high school production, and saying that they can use improv in a production is putting a huge amount of trust in them. However, I found it worked extremely well and was very pleasantly surprised!

The show The Love of Three Oranges is essentially a comedic play that makes fun of the fact it’s a comedic play. The narrator frequently interrupts the actors giving back-story and making comments such as “It can’t be comfortable to hold that pose… *chortle*”. The story is essentially that of a two fairy tales in two acts with the same characters. The first act focuses on Prince Tartaglia and his case of “clinical hypochondria”. Essentially he had a spell cast on him by a witch and a meddling group headed by his cousin, Princess Clarice (whom my sister played), and the only way he can be cured is to make him laugh. Hilarity ensues with slow-motion swordfights, corny jokes, and silly costumes, and at the end of the first act, Tartaglia manages to laugh. However, in-turn the witch, Fata Morgana, casts another spell on him making him fall in love with three specific oranges.

The second act is essentially Prince Tartaglia’s quest to find the three oranges, and it is revealed that within the oranges are princesses that have been sealed there for ages. However, two of the princesses die due to their being released too early. The third princess and prince Tartaglia fall in love, and after many attempts to foil their marriage by Princess Clarice and her gang, the two end up living “happily ever after”.

Being a high school show, I didn’t have very high expectations for the level of skill in general. However two actors in particular impressed me a huge amount. I swear I’m not playing favorites at all when I say that Claudia Ethridge, who played Princess Clarice, was utterly hilarious. She played the sinister, demented, yet fashionable princess perfectly. She utilized her facial expressions very skillfully in order to reap comedic effect and characterization. Nothing she did was merely to get a laugh from the audience. You could tell that she really did her homework on her character and its levels and “ticks.”

In addition, I found the actor Sam Halgren to be very entertaining. Sam played Pantalone, the queen’s right hand man. Sam created an elaborate character for himself. I personally know Sam and his disposition off the stage, but onstage he was an extremely flamboyant manservant. In likeness to Claudia, Sam played the role with truth; he also never did anything just for laughs from the audience. Though he received them, you could tell that he wasn’t just trying to get a reaction from the audience.

Altogether I found the play to be extremely entertaining, and though some roles did fall flat, I never found myself simply laughing to make an actor feel good about themselves. I laughed with gusto and interest, and I’m truly proud of the cast for gracefully pulling off such an endeavor.

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