Minimalism to the Max

Comments (0) By Lily Janiak Wednesday, Jan 25 2012

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Royce Gallery

2901 Mariposa
San Francisco, CA 94110

Category: Galleries

Region: Mission/ Bernal Heights

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"A country road. A tree. Evening." So go the opening stage directions of Samuel Beckett's Waiting for Godot, one of the most important plays of the 20th century. But if the set description seems minimal, Tides Theatre's interpretation of them is anything but. Director Jennifer Welch says the set (designed by Richard Colman) will be a fuchsia tree against a black-and-white background, together with an angular, industrial soundscape, by Jon Bernson -- an unusual stamp on Beckett's existential "tragicomedy" and a bold beginning for a new theater company. Welch founded Tides with Cary Cronholm Rose and Ann Hopkins, and the three chose to inaugurate the company with Godotbecause of the challenge it poses. "Almost everyone has read the play, and then when they see it, it doesn't live up to their imagination," says Welch. "I wanted to do a production that would live up to mine." This production, which stars Keith Burkland Jack Halton as Vladimir and Estragon, will be staged at the Royce Gallery and also tour local Veterans Administration hospitals as part of Tides' mission to use theater to heal. For Welch, "this play is about what happens next, which is what soldiers who return from Iraq and Afghanistan deal with." Godotisn't about the war; it's about "what happens after the war."
Thursdays-Saturdays. Starts: Jan. 20. Continues through Feb. 18, 2012