The Circle of Blood.

It takes all shapes and styles for a play. Agamemnon: The Circle of Blood at LA MAMA Downstairs is an interesting, nuanced kind of show. The play is based as much on video artistry as it is on the solo artist: Rafika Chawishe. Out of Ayos, the play can take place in pretty much anytime the earth has existed. As it is set in Greek times, the modern music and sound design (Manolis Manousakis) and video (Asteris Koutoulas) is earry at times; edgy and absorbing at other times.

While "Circle of Blood" may not be for everyone, the 60 minute show keeps the audience thinking. It is both modern theater and traditional theater. I say traditional on how the actor speaks to the audience, she is reminiscent of the ancient plays in her word-speak. In the modern, the most obvious is the video and sound, however, at times the play play is reminiscent of the old "Beat Plays" of the 60's in the Village.

In Ms. Chawishe's play which she also directed and created, the plot has several scenes to it: The Husband, The Boarder Guard... The scenes are each in there own separate, but linked to the main plot, which underscores the characters plight within the world. Sometimes confusing as to the plot jumping a bit, the video is always a reference to what is going on in the play. Where the Husband scene at the beginning and then referenced at the end is a tad contrite, The Boarder Guard and Immigration Officer is excellently portrayed.

I thought that the lighting could have been more useful in this dark, deep, edgy play. When Melina Mascha used the periwinkle blues, it made the show pop more. I would have been interested in more blended colors than the white she mostly hit the actor with. The great sound to this play could have been more complimented with hard, resonant and soulful lighting.

The story line is one that can be debated long after the show is over. What is the writer bringing to us? The main take away from this is that she has lived a very difficult life in a war-torn country. She is desperately trying to get out but can't. Bombs are being dropped, people suffer, dictators cling to power and there seems to be little hope for the people who occupy these countries. So what has changed over time? Since Biblical times man has always fought one another, abused one another, and killed one another. From the ancient and onto the technology age, it seems nothing has really changed.

Like the circle of life, the title is very app repose, we go around and around in the killing fields. If the play was more streamlined, even made longer, the writer may have been more effective in what she was portraying here. Rafika Chawishe has a new way of creating a play and broadening it would have been more effective. She also should have explained some of the scenes better, it would have been more effective in that the audience could have picked up on where the character was at each time passage.

...............................................................................................................

The Sheds "King Lear"

While the big name star (Kenneth Brannagh) does his best, he too slips in this one.

This "Lear" is to quick (2 Hours), too evasive to be a contender for great Shakespearean theater. The play seems like a wind sprint, and rather than letting it unfold, it gets smothered in this poorly directed play. The casting does it no favors either. Trying to be in the modern with the reverse casting of genders from the original writing by The Bard, it makes for cheap and uneventful.