Casanova
Collaboraction

"Given Greig's premise’the joyous, dangerous disruptiveness of sex it's mighty odd just how undangerous his 2001 play is. With a modern-day Casanova, history's most prolific fornicator,


11/2/2005 - 12/11/05

Thu-Sat 8p, Sun 7p


"Given Greig's premise’the joyous, dangerous disruptiveness of sex it's mighty odd just how undangerous his 2001 play is. With a modern-day Casanova, history's most prolific fornicator, who loves sex because it feels good, Greig seems to be saying, in schoolboy fashion, Isn't promiscuity terribly naughty? But in post Carrie Bradshaw America, it's hard to take seriously Greig's implicit straw man of a sex-shy audience. A curator arranges an exhibition to showcase Casanova's conquests, with a display case for each of his thousand women. Of course, we know from the get-go that the curator's prim assistant, who escorts Casanova as he trawls for the final perfect woman, will hook up with him. A thumping, Viagra-jacked production might make up for the clumsy writing; instead, Senior gives us an uninspired one that seems curiously not in the mood. Greig's sophomoric ideas aren't helped by plodding pacing. And while Casanova may be past his prime, Neumann doesn't give off even a whiff of pheromone. Yet as the curator and her assistant, Carolyn Hoerdemann and Kathy Logelin, respectively, capture their characters' quirkiness. Casanova is pathetic because he doesn't know real love; we're petty because we judge him. Greig wants to have it both ways not to address the subject's complexity, but to cover his bases. It's exceedingly clear that Casanova is a walking metaphor for the messy unpredictability of desire, but there isn't anything unpredictable in this schematic work. More than anything, Casanova is weirdly asexual" - Novid Parsi, TimeOut Chicago 11/10/05

"David Greig's contemporary take on the Casanova legend is a glib, aimless dalliance lacking dramatic structure, theatrical plausibility, and political savvy. The title character, a libidinous art collector who beds 1,001 women for sport, imagines himself a revolutionary because he acknowledges women's right to sexual pleasure. A subplot involving a cuckolded cabinetmaker trying to exact revenge on Casanova through the services of a shapely female detective is ludicrous even within Greig’s playfully distorted universe. The show is a waste of Kimberly Senior’s skillful, flexible Collaboraction cast, who can find humor in the most overwrought moments. Though Scott Kennedy as the cabinetmaker and Larry Neumann Jr. as Casanova supply charm and pathos, they can't surmount Greig's undisciplined self-indulgence" - Justin Hayford, Chicago Reader 11/11/05

" In all his heat-seeking vainglory, Casanova the Venetian who became a brand name has been impersonated by everyone from Donald Sutherland (for Fellini) to Bob Hope (for "Casanova's Big Night") to Heath Ledger (in the forthcoming Lasse Hallstrom film). The Casanova archetype, like the earlier Don Juan legend and the later, female Lulu archetype, has cast a wide net across many cultures and media. We are interested in men and women who have sex with a lot of men and women. We are interested in being those people, or at least thinking about the emotional consequence of all that rutting. Scottish playwright David Greig's "Casanova," making its American debut in a Collaboraction production at the Chopin Theatre, updates the archetype to modern-day Glasgow. This Casanova grows weary of the game. He's being feted by an exhibition commemorating his thousand-plus sexual conquests. To complete the exhibit he must find his assignation and then call it a day. Yet in Milan and Frankfort and elsewhere, Casanova keeps meeting The One before the last one. His personal assistant, vowing never to fall under his vulpine spell, falls all the same. Greig's play, unfolding slowly mostly in prose but sometimes in verse, devotes a lot of time to the story of the man making the cabinets for the art exhibition. His wife was seduced by Casanova and then ran off, shattered. The cabinet-maker hires a detective to entrap the rake and kill him. It's a plod. Director Kimberly Senior struggles to give the lugubrious text a shape and some momentum. As a multiethnic array of pliable dames, Sandra Delgado does all she can. Kathy Logelin adds a nice snap to the role of Casanova's assistant. As for Larry Neumann Jr.'s Casanova, well the reedy actor with the strangulated vocal delivery is an interesting presence and does well enough, though I find his attack on any given scene pretty wearing. Neumann is Mr. Pause. Take this simple bit. Casanova and his aide are at the Frankfort airport terminal. He says: "I'm just tired. Physically.
I'll be fine.
You can't smoke on the flight.
It's three hours.
Where's the smoking lounge?"
Neumann takes so much angst-ridden time with this straightforward progression, and dozens of similar passages throughout, you're given all too much downtime to wonder: Why give birth to every line? Greig's play is tedious enough. There's a reason why the audience responds to what Logelin, especially, does with what she has. She knows how to move it, yet make the most of things" - Michael Phillips. Chicago Tribune 11/5/05

Author
David Greig

Director
Kimberly Senior

Performers
Scott Kennedy, Larry Neumann, Kathleen Logelin, Carolyn Hoerdemann, Sandra Delgado,

Production
Joel Moorman, Ian Forester, Geoff Curley, Sean Mallary, Brant Russell, Mikhail Fiksel, Caroline McCall, Laura Dieli, Joe Schneider, Sam Poretta, Stephanie Hurovitz

Tags: Theater, American, 2005