The Godling
Friday, March 4th 11:30pm
Saturday, March 5th 11:30pm
Sunday, March 6th 10:00pm
Thursday, March 10th 10:00pm
Friday, March 11th 11:30pm
Saturday, March 12th 10:00pm
$8
Broken Leg Stage – 1470 N Van Ness Ave.
A carnival owner’s dream to be at the top by making his own freaks. An elegant horror story to wake up your senses.
Dir. Brandey Steiner, Jay Parks, Travis Sheridan/KP Phagnasay, Christina Tellifson, See Lee, Ron Blackwell.
Borkowski’s work is highly sought after. A member of the Lark, The Actors Studio Playwright’s Unit and Dramatist Guild of America, His dark thriller “The Perfect Witness” is on Showtime and DVD.
Fresno, California
Modern Gran Guignol, 60 minutes, Rated NC-17, leaning toward X
No latecomers allowed
I know this is a little late to review, but as I saw the closing night performance I just wanted to write a bit for the benefit of those involved with the production.
Let me start by saying that this show did make me feel uncomfortable, and at times I felt very disturbed to be sitting there. With that said, I have to say it was well worth it. I saw some really good shows this year, but I don’t think any of them left me thinking as much, or talking about them as much as this one did.
I get why others would be disturbed, and not come out liking the show, but I think good theatre leaves you with an impression, and this show could do nothing but that. The script itself gives you a glimpse at humanity that most people don’t like to think about. The idea of “human curiosities” is so true because even when something is horrific, or unpleasant human curiosity tends to lead people to wonder about the horrors living beyond their own safe world. Because people may not want horrible things to happen, but when they do happen it is curiosity that leads people to want to learn about them.
Another thing that good ART does, is that it leaves the audience with a new perspective, or it changes them. At the end of this piece Mr. Ron Blackwell gave a monologue that discusses the change that occurs between when a wound is made, and when that wound heals, and becomes a scar. This monologue definitely changed the way I think about transformations, because to me a wound could be physical, but it could also be a mental wound, but no matter what kind of wound it is, a transformation does occur, and you are left with a scar, and that scar is a reminder of what you had to go through to make that change. If someone comes within an inch of their life because they are stabbed, this wound is going is going to change them, and if another person feels the breaking of their heart when they lose a loved one, this wound will also change a person, the writing of this play touched on what the human experience is, and I am very glad that I was able to see it.
I also think that the performers in this piece deserve some recognition because with a piece like this I could see how a weak performance could hurt the overall show, but all of the performances were good, and I felt like this cast did an immaculate job of conveying the intentions of the playwright to the audience.
Kudos : )
I think one of the main complaints was not the acting or the writing but the fact that it was not adequately described in advance, and that some of us, if we had known how graphic it would be, might not see it. I don’t think art has to slam you over the head with grossness in order to make its point.
I’ve been asked to repeat what I said on Facebook about this show: “It’s as if Rob Zombie wrote a play with Ingmar Bergman.”
Can’t sleep..clowns will eat me… or pull out my fingernails… scarred for life now… thanks guys.
I attended the 10pm show on March 10 and was quite impressed with the ensembles performance.
Shame on me, “ensemble’s performance.” Okay, now I feel a little better.
http://fresnobeehive.com/2011/03/rogue_review_th_18.html
http://fresnobeehive.com/2010/10/theater_review_145.html
I went to this show thinking it would be, As the program says:
“An Elegant horror story of those caught in a carnival owners dream to be at the top by creating his own freaks”
‘Elegant’? This it was not. ‘Elegant’ is poetic. The thing I just saw, however, was just one long bloody scream that went on and on for almost an hour.
I spent almost all of the show with adrenalin, or trying to better prepare myself for the inevitable resurgence of adrenalin.
Just so you know, It was sadistic and unpleasant…
I actually usually like plots described the way this was, as “An Elegant horror story”
I don’t usually like things in shockvalue-adrenalin land.
So, to sum it up. I personally had no fun viewing it. If you actually like the sorts of things I said above, good for you- just please warn me if your play is like this.
This play offers kind of out-there, nightmarish stuff I love about the Rogue!
The genre for this play (defined below) is misleading. Seriously, does anyone expect the public to look this term up prior to attending? The purpose of the Rogue guide is to help the public select shows they want to see and using a term that’s not remotely common is useless.
Now, that having been said, graphic, startling, and disturbing do not preclude good thought provoking entertainment… but… uh… you need a little more than a series of pretentious, monologues and “Scream in the Dark” props to bring it home.
Had the genre been listed as “Grindhouse” or “Rogue-sploitation” I would have spent my money in support of something that didn’t leave everyone in my party vacillating between dumb founded head shaking and a strong urge to shower.
Titus Andronicus this is not.
From Wikipedia:
Le Théâtre du Grand-Guignol (French pronunciation: [ɡʁɑ̃ ɡiɲɔl]: “The Theater of the Big Puppet”) — known as the Grand Guignol — was in the Pigalle area of Paris (at 20 bis, rue Chaptal). From its opening in 1897 until its closing in 1962 it specialized in naturalistic horror shows. Its name is often used as a general term for graphic, amoral horror entertainment, a genre popular from Elizabethan and Jacobean theatre (for instance Shakespeare’s Titus Andronicus and Webster’s The White Devil) to today’s splatter films.
I love bad reviews. This really makes me wish I caught the show.
Wow.. What can I say, The Godling was F’ing amazing! I highly recommend!!
This is the local Fresno cast
Is this the same cast who appeared at the SF fringe or is it some local people who got the rights?