The Dumb Waiter and Zoo Story
Signal Ensemble

" Highly Recommended - "Harold Pinter's eerie tale of two assassins weary of their profession and Edward Albee's case study in urban isolation have been staples on the classroom/storefront/loft/basement circuit long enough to have lost their immediacy even for young actors. But rather than rely on time-tested interpretations,


8/3/2006 - 09/03/06

Thu-Sat 8; Sun 3p


" Highly Recommended - "Harold Pinter's eerie tale of two assassins weary of their profession and Edward Albee's case study in urban isolation have been staples on the classroom/storefront/loft/basement circuit long enough to have lost their immediacy even for young actors. But rather than rely on time-tested interpretations, Signal Ensemble Theater builds its productions from scratch, and the discoveries the company makes are amplified by exacting, astonishingly expressive performances. Ultimately the process of unearthing the human vulnerability and despair in the texts revives the menancing urgency of the questions these playwrights posed nearly half a century ago" - Mary Shen Barnridge, Chicago Reader 8/11/06

" Critic's Pick - "Pairing these one-acts offers theater geeks a chance to compare how absurdist theater is differently refracted through American and British prisms. In Albee's The Zoo Story, a lonely loser strikes up a bizarre conversation with a well-heeled exec on a Central Park bench; in Pinter's The Dumb Waiter, two hit men wait for their next assignment, while a dumbwaiter mysteriously sends down food orders. With a more fixed sense of place and psychological naturalism, Albee's conflict suggests a distinctly American struggle of trying to hold on to one's ground even as it gives way, while Pinter's suggests a dawning awareness (and mourning) of existential ground already lost and never really owned. For the non-theater geek, however, such academic concerns might not hold interest for long. Even with solid performances, Signal Ensemble can't shake an acting-exercise sensibility in its by-the-book handling of the authors early works. While the talented Stearns is at times distractingly affected, Winston, as tormented-killer Gus, gives the evening's most compelling performance, and Prentice's vagabond Jerry effectively delivers the fascinating dog-poisoning monologue. (Both directors keep their actors thoroughly engaged, but a single director might've better teased out the plays thematic links.) This perfectly fine start to Signal Ensemble's fourth season signals the company giving itself new opportunities (Snook makes his directorial debut), yet it paradoxically has the ring of a troupe doing what it already knows it can" - Novid Parsi, TimeOut Chicago o8/10/06

Author
Harold Pinter, Edward Albee

Director
Ronan Marra, Aaron Snook

Performers
Christopher Prentice, Joseph Stearns; Phillip Winston

Production
Set:Ronan Marra, costumes & stage manager: Devon MacGregor, lighting: Julie E. Ballard, sound: ensemble member Anthony Ingram, props: Sarah Elizabeth M.

Tags: Theater, Old Europe, 2006