‘Gary, A Sequel to Titus Andronicus’ at Left Edge in Santa Rosa
If a dearth of penises and flatulence on North Bay stages has kept you from returning to live theatre, Santa Rosa’s Left Edge Theatre has got a show for you. It’s Taylor Mac’s Gary, A Sequel to Titus Andronicus and it’s currently covering the stage of The California with blood, guts, and various intestinal materials through September 7.
For those not familiar with Shakespeare’s Titus Andronicus, it’s an incredibly violent play containing rape, mutilation, dismemberment, cannibalism, and a whole lot of death. Mac picks up from that play’s ending and asks the question “Who cleans up the mess?”
Well, it’s Gary (Be Wilson), a pigeon-juggling clown who talks his way out of a hanging by asking that very same question. He’s sent to the palace banquet room where bodies are stacked like cords of wood awaiting disposal. Gary doesn’t mind, as he sees being a maid as a promotion of sorts from being a clown. He thinks he’s in charge until maid Janice (Jess Headington) shows up and lays down the law. She knows what she’s doing. She’s done it before.
They don’t know how they’re gonna get everything cleaned up in time for a coronation when midwife Carol (Lydia Revelos) shows up. Now the three of them together can get an assembly line of sorts moving to handle the stack of bodies around them. Each of the bodies needs to be drained of blood, intestinal waste, and gas. Good thing they’ve got hoses and pumps to speed things along.
As they get about their task, conversations flow about status, inequality, improving one’s lot in life, gender roles, the patriarchy, and the role of art in changing the world for the better.
Ah ha!
And there you have it. Mac’s modern Grand Guignol answers the show’s original question: Who cleans up the world’s messes? According to Mac, the artists do. Well, they at least play an important role in getting the world to acknowledge its messes and help people visualize and perhaps even create better days. Maybe that’s why the arts, along with democracy as a whole, are under attack right now.
As far as this particular piece of art goes, director/sound designer Lulu Thompsxn has gathered a terrific trio to take on the show’s three roles, and together with set designer Tenn Elledge, lighting designer Matilda Black, and with props by Lexus Fletcher and Serena Elize Flores (Who sewed all those carcasses?), have all created one of the most theatrical experiences to hit a North Bay stage in a while.
Anatomically correct torsos cover the stage (when they’re not being “manipulated’), body fluids are frequently sprayed (yes, there are “splash zone” warnings for the audience), and Mac’s often-lilting dialogue floats through the air, sometimes in rhyming couplets, other times in piercing monologues delivered in a Cockney accent. And in case I haven’t made it clear, all the horror on stage is dressed in some very dark comedy.
Wilson, a Dell’Arte-trained clown, is in their element here. Their talents have never been put to better use on a local stage. Headington grounds the chaos with her “been-there-done-that, probably-gonna-do-it-again-so-I’ll-keep-my-head-down” approach to her character.
Revelos opens the show and, despite a gaping, gushing wound in her throat, provides a recap of what happened in the original play (So you don’t need to be familiar with the source material.) She disappears until the second act and becomes quite an aural presence from that point forward. Her character actually provides a smidgeon of hope at the end.
Gary, A Sequel to Titus Andronicus is not going to be everyone’s cup of tea. At the end of two hours, you may be asking yourself “What the hell did I just watch?” , or “What will wash stage blood out of my shirt?”, or “What is the point?”
That last question can be asked of far too many things in the world today.
Maybe that’s the point.
Left Edge Theatre’s ‘Gary, A Sequel to Titus Andronicus’ runs through September 7 at The California Theatre. 528 7th Street, Santa Rosa. Wed – Sat, 7:30pm; Sat & Sun, 1pm. $22–$44. 707.664.7529. leftedgetheatre.com
