Hold and The Godling

Last evening at the Gene Frankel Theatre we were presented with a short, "Hold" and a full length play, "The Godling". Written by Mark Borkowski, the two plays had two different directors. Under the direction of Shira-Lee Shalit,"Hold" was a twenty minute farce that left the audience in stitches. The blend between Gerry (Santo Fazio and Bernie (Rich Pecci) was tremendous. Able to feed off of each other, the two gave the small theater audience a Broadway quality performance! Rather than make this performance campy, director Shalit went for the absurd and in doing so she hit it out of the park. While all three characters were excellent here, it was the brother's that brought this to the height of raucous farce.

The brilliance of the writing in "Hold" is so far fetched... the brothers talk and debate the benefits and the shortcomings of opening a nightclub with the sole entertainment in the club to be based on hold music. As we listen to our favorite nerve racking hold music, Bernie tries to explain to his psychotic brother that this would not be a good idea. Gerry is obsessed with the hold music, the whole experience of being put on hold; he even has his favorite golden oldies hold songs.

As far as a short goes, this one can compete with the 59/59 summer shorts; it can go toe to toe with any short that I have seen at any fringe festival or even at the Under the Radar Festival. The quality of writing, the acting, the artistic direction by Gail Thacker, the costumes, lighting and the deft body language as well as the pace and flow bodes well on the director.

THE GODLING.

Directed by Karen Giordano, "The Godling" is straight out of a "Tales From The Crypt". With many twists and turns, this play is macabre, absurd and borders on human degeneration. The plot deals with the carnival and the people involved in the carnival. It is a place where the carney folk can check in but they can never leave. As the clown explains (Seth Michael May), being a clown is in his blood... it was his father and grand father whom paved the way for him. Wanting to leave ended up being very painful for him, a decision he would regret.

Like the previous show, "The Godling" has all very good actors in it. Director Giordano turns the horses loose and lets them bring the audience down to the dark place several stories underground. After all, we are in the East Village, a place know as the underground of New York City. Whether in art, music or theater, the East Village was the home of the experimental and apparently still is.

The plot goes one way at the beginning, it then takes us to a whole different place. While loosely connected from the beginning , the shows core is at the carnival. This is where the debauchery takes place; where the evil lurks. It is here that we meet the Master of the Carnival (Zen Mansley) and his side kick, Lilly (Elizabeth Carlsen). The two are merciless in what they want and will stop at nothing to achieve it. Between their makeup and costumes, the two command the stage and lock in the audience. In fact, all the actors command their roles, they own them; from the lady in the cage, to the doctor; Giordano brings out the best in each and every actor.

These two plays bring me back to the bygone era that is the East Village. The creativity for the two hours were remarkable. Mr. Borkowski wrote two classics, Gail Thacker and both directors delivered a tremendous evening. Much attention was given to the lighting, sound and the staging. At the Halloween season I could not think of a better place to be on a Saturday night then the Frankel watching these two wonderful plays!