SALOME

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written by Christopher Adams-Cohen
directed by Patrick Kennelly

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"The first thing to understand about Christopher Adam-Cohen’s world premiere production of Salome is that it is neither a simple updating of Oscar Wilde’s lavender-scented melodrama, nor a queer interpretation of the text. What it shares with Wilde’s original are two character names and an overripe, almost incantatory text awash in eroticism.

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Upon entering the basement playing space at the Mack Sennett Studio, you are greeted by a decaying living space with a filthy kitchen piled high with more dirty dishes than a college freshman’s first apartment. But John Iacovelli’s brilliant set design transforms the ordinary— a working shower, a dirty oriental carpet, a refrigerator topped by cereal boxes—into an oddly beautiful space. Overlaid with mist, the rooms are a perfect backdrop for the hallucinatory narrative that unfolds.

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Salome (Christopher Adam-Cohen) lives his life in decadent depravity, living off others and taking lovers with impunity. Prowling around the apartment in a silk dressing gown and pajama pants, he seems capricious and undirected, even with his tolerant lover/host, Indian Joe (Matt Raich). (I’ve no idea if the Twain reference means anything.) Salome’s mother, Herodias (Jacqueline Wright) tracks down her wayward son, invades his home, and threatens to upset his fragile equilibrium. The battle lines are quickly drawn.

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Patrick Kennelly directs the piece like the steamy, gay fever-dream it is, though the feel is more Kenneth Anger than Oscar Wilde. There are jockstraps, lovemaking, and a possibly desired beating (Fight Choreography by Edgar Landa) along with a subversive sense of humor. Scraps of music flicker in and out of focus. Interestingly, the only extended musical excerpt is from Carmen. No hint of Strauss’ operatic version of Wilde’s drama."   - Showmag.com

 

Mack Sennett Studios - January 2016