(click here to see the London reviews)
No Worse Punishment Than Love
By ROB KENDT
Published: August 27, 2005
As fine a piece of playwriting as you'll find at this year's New York International Fringe Festival, David Ozanich's ''Lightning Field'' also benefits from a rich, rangy production that shows the play's tensile strength to full advantage.
A nervy, tender and ultimately anguished examination of the damage we inflict on those we love, Mr. Ozanich's play takes its title from the sculptor Walter De Maria's vast installation, a mile-wide grid of bare poles in the New Mexico desert. This serves as the unlikely vacation spot for a young Manhattanite couple, Sam (H Clark) and Andy (Cory Grant), who bring with them one divorced parent apiece.
The sides are drawn up early: the urbane adman Andy and his happily unfettered mom (Bekka Lindstrom) versus the grizzled veterinarian Sam and his gruff, regretful dad (Ron McClary). But these dividing lines twist and tangle into funny, painful contortions. Sam wants to marry Andy and move to Denver , while their parents warily flirt and reminisce. Even with the help of some alcohol and a rainy, romantic night, neither coupling proves smooth, for reasons that feel both unexpected and terribly inevitable.
Mr. Ozanich has written a high-impact 90-minute one-act that stands on its own, particularly as shaped by the director, Jared Coseglia, and played with exceptional wit and feeling by the appealing cast. Still, ''The Lightning Field'' cries out for a full-length treatment. Its characters might breathe more between soul-baring revelations, and an audience could use time to fully absorb its shocks. A brilliant flash, the play could yet be a searing illumination. As Andy puts it, ''It's not about the lightning but about the light.''
The Lightning Field
reviewed by Kevin Connell
The Lightning Field (1977) is an art installation by the American sculptor Walter De Maria. It is a work of Land Art situated in the high desert of southwestern New Mexico comprised of 400 polished stainless steel poles installed in a grid measuring one mile by one kilometer. The Field is more than an invitation for lightning strikes, more than a piece of art, it is destination for lost souls in search of an improbable stroke of fortune.
The Lightning Field is also the inspiration for David Ozanich's new play, which is a must see! at the New York International Fringe Festival and certainly deserves an extended theatrical life. Ozanich is a daring writer, eager to give voice to the brewing storm churning inside his characters. His writing is complex without relying on sentimentality. He articulates, with skill and maturity, an ugliness in human nature that is beautifully dangerous and painfully honest.
Ozanich's story is told through the lives of four characters, two lovers and two parents. His play delves into issues of divorce, infidelity, physical abuse, and the merits of marriage and commitment. It happens to be told through the eyes of a gay couple and two of their divorced parents. On a pilgrimage in a car, going west to understand yesterday and find tomorrow, Sam and his father Gerrit, and Andy and his mother Lori, ultimately arrive at The Lightning Field where Sam's desire to propose marriage to Andy bolts the play into action. It is here that we discover the complexity of Lori and Gerrit's failings in marriage and as parents, and their effects on their children. It is here that we witness their efforts to save and protect Sam and Andy from repeating the regretful mistakes of their own pasts. And it is here that all four characters choose to embrace the light of a newly redefined love, in spite of the pain of secrets revealed and the uncertainty of the next moment.
Jared Coseglia's direction has finessed Ozanich's play with a raw sense of compassion and risk taking. Without apology he delves into the play's emotional life and graphic physical and sexual expression. He trusts the simplicity of stillness on stage and the economic effect of each gesture. I credit Coseglia's direction for the depth, integrity and honesty of each of the four performances and for the seamless integration of the production's design elements.
H Clark and Cory Grant give generous and revealing performances as Sam and Andy. They both avoid the clichés of “playing gay” that could have diminished the depth of their characters' wants and needs. But both play men that I know and recognize—maybe even are parts of myself, and my friends—and with respect to that, they are more universal than the labels of their sexual identities, making this play identifiable to a broad contemporary audience.
As Lori and Gerrit, Bekka Lindström and Ron McClary are moving as the mid-to-late-40something parents. Their performances are responsible for bringing hope into a production about second chances.
Paul Hudson's scenic and lighting designs effectively rely on the boldness of a lone silver pole center stage with moving shadows of light diminishing as the hours approach the ghosts of night. Amanda Ford's costumes capture with accuracy each character's personality without looking theatrical. And Drew Brody's original music moves like the wind through the psychological and spiritual bones of this tale.
This is smart and responsible theatre. It deserves to be seen. It deserves to be recognized.
David Ozanich's The Lightning Field is the kind of play that keeps me coming back to the Fringe. This edgy new work is a dynamic exploration of the complexities of human relationships; marriage (gay and straight), domestic abuse, passion, fidelity, and parenthood are just a few of the issues addressed here in a smart and compelling fashion. The play is also quite funny, and the shifts between moments of hilarity and high drama are skillfully done.
Sam (H Clark) and Andy (Cory Grant) are a gay couple at a crucial juncture in their commitment to each other. They're vacationing in New Mexico along with Sam's father, Gerrit (Ron McClary) and Andy's mother, Lori (Bekka Lindström). The four arrive at The Lightning Field, an outdoor art installation by sculptor Walter De Maria consisting of 400 stainless steel poles installed in a grid measuring one mile by one kilometer; when lighting strikes, the effect is supposed to be amazing. Sam and Andy's love is tested as difficult truths come to the fore. Meanwhile, an attraction is beginning to develop between Lori and Gerrit, which has not gone unnoticed by their sons. "We could be step-brothers if we're not careful," Andy tells Sam.
While some of the dialogue verges on the didactic -- e.g., "Love is acceptance; commitment is control" -- the superb ensemble cast is so committed to the play that even such heavy-handed lines come across as natural. Ozanich also includes much more emotionally complex declarations. When Gerrit asks his son if he loves Andy, Sam's response is: "I don't know how to be without him anymore." He doesn't deny love but doesn't declare it, either.
Clark and Grant have the kind of combustible on-stage chemistry that makes them ideally suited to play the troubled young lovers. McClary is extremely effective as a father who is trying very hard to reach out to his son. (As Sam painfully reminds Gerrit, the two were never very close.) Lindström is also quite moving as a woman who felt stifled by her marriage and doesn't want her son to give up his individuality. Andy is not normal, she insists -- and that's how it should be. Each character is sharply defined and impeccably performed. Director Jared Coseglia guides the action masterfully, building to a climax that is felt as much as it is witnessed.
The Lightning Field doesn't provide easy answers; even after the emotionally wrenching conclusion of this taut, 90-minute production, there is a great deal left unsettled. Things have changed irrevocably -- maybe for the better, maybe not. But that very uncertainty gives the play its charge.
In David Ozanich's bracing new play, The Lightning Field , Andy and Sam, a gay couple from New York, vacation in the New Mexican desert where they have gone to see a Christo-like landscape art installation – a series of metal poles arranged in a grid-like fashion over the course of nearly a square mile. The installation has taken the name of "The Lightning Field" because the poles once attracted a lightning bolt and now, visitors, like these men, come to see if they might be able to have the experience of seeing lightning strike twice. Like guns seen in the first act of any play, which are meant to be shot, Ozanich does not disappoint during the course of "Field", electricity, generated by nature and the characters flows invigoratingly.
Along with the two men, Gerrit, Sam's divorced dad, and Lori, Andy's divorced mom. Ozanich creates beautifully detailed relationships and for the four. Andy and Lori's closeness nicely contrasts with the restraint that Gerrit and Sam show toward one another. As audiences watch the couple interact with one another, one sees reflections of the parents in them, in subtle, and not so subtle, ways that both touch and amuse.
Sam has pioneered this expedition for a reason other than visiting the installation: he plans on using the time away from New York to propose to Andy and also begin the search for a home that will take them away from the distractions of life in New York. (When Sam talks about his plans with Gerrit, one senses that distractions may be code for "other men," and here, too, Ozanich does not disappoint.)
Even as the time for Sam's proposal draws near (which his dad fully supports while Andy's mom advises against her son's acceptance of the moment she senses coming), romance blossoms between Gerrit and Lori. Ozanich, though, takes his drama not down this path, but one even more dark and violent, as he explores the legacies that parents, intentionally or not, give to their children in life.
Director Jared Coseglia allows the tension in "Field" to build easily and without an undue sense of foreboding about the events that will end the play (which are handled with breathtaking brutality). Coseglia's stage pictures – which revolve around one pole of the myriad that entrance the characters – fascinate with their subtle fluctuations in balancing dominance, between boyfriends and parents and children.
These characters are brought to life by a quartet of actors who ably navigate the play's moods and situations. H Clark and Cory Grant are lovely together as Sam and Andy, naturally playful as a couple, even as they allow the cracks in their relationship to surface and quickly suppress them. Each actor performs marvelously with his respective parent, turning, at times into rebellious teen and sometimes docile child. Bekka Lindstrom and Ron McClary also provide finely shaded performances, a highpoint being their sensitively rendered conversation about their children's homosexuality and their reactions to events such as coming out and the first boyfriend.
During the Fringe, it's not uncommon to be asked the question "What should I see" when standing on line waiting for a performance or while sitting in the theater. I'm simply saying that, at this juncture, The Lightning Field is a must see of FringeNYC 2005.
Run Out And See…
THE LIGHTNING FIELD
This play needs some tightening and focusing, but the honest discussion of what marriage means, what makes relationships work, and what motivates us in the context of a relationship is fascinating.
At times graphic to the point of causing discomfort, this is ultimately a play about facing and hopefully exorcising one's demons. It's also about how far one can or will go to save a relationship. Set in the middle of an art installation in the high desert of New Mexico, the story centers on a gay couple trying to define itself in terms of marriage, monogamy, love, and its place in the culture.
The show includes wonderful performances by H. Clark, Cory Grant, Bekka Lindström, and Ron McClary. This is the richest and most emotionally daring of the gay-themed plays that I saw this year.
The Lightning Field by David Ozanich, which received a spell-binding production notable for its superb acting and provocative subject matter, has the potential to become a first-rate show .
The play tells the story of Andy (Cory Grant) and Sam (H. Clark), a gay couple on vacation in New Mexico with Andy's divorced mother (Bekka Lindström) and Sam's divorced father (Ron McClary). Ozanich's words deftly chronicle the disintegration of one relationship and the genesis of another with dialogue that crackles with authenticity.
The Lightning Field isn't without its flaws, but the cast was so good and the ending so shocking that it would be hard to name a more visceral or compelling drama in this year's Fringe Festival.
We are on a family vacation. The family is slightly non-traditional. It consists of a gay couple, Sam and Andy; the father of Sam, and the mother of Andy. The trip to see the Lightning Field, a large-scale work of art located in southwestern New Mexico, is meant as a bonding experience, but also as a romantic event for Sam to ask Andy to marry him. Once the purpose is revealed, a myriad of emotions are unleashed -- some taking surprising turns. This unique and wonderful play by David Ozanich is by turns fresh and funny, yet dangerous and dramatic. It is wholly theatrical, as when Ozanich brings on a storm, which grows with the intensity of a scene of eruption between the lovers. It is theatricality in the spirit of Tennessee Williams or August Wilson, where intense emotions cause the universe to shift.
These four imperfect people, in their own ways, have sworn devotion to each other despite the storm or storms to come. It is a strong message, so welcome today, for the importance of commitment to one another. Indeed, we walk as half-people if we forsake our opportunities to share the world with each other, and these people choose to share. Sure there are problems: the mother ( Bekka Lindstrom ) and the father ( Ron McClary ) are at odds with their sons' possible marriage. The mother is against it and the father is for it. Moreover, the two “grown-ups” might be attracted to each other. We never find out how far that relationship goes, for the play is turned over to the complicated relationship between the two young men. This gay relationship brings up several contemporary issues common to the cosmopolitan gay male. How do you negotiate open relationships? What is the difference between love and sex and where do they fuse together? Is a city with the highest single population in the U.S. the best place to pursue a committed relationship or must one start over in a simpler environment?
Jared Coseglia directed the play with a masterful hand, sensitivity, and handled difficult and violent scenes with good taste and care. The durable cast handled this lovely play with conviction -- the young men ( H Clark and Cory Grant ) standing out as superb in their most emotionally charged scenes. This production was a magnificent example of the power of the theatre, even when produced under the limitations of Fringe Festival conditions. The play is also a testament to the fact that the stories of modern gay life have barely begun to be explored in the theatre. The Lightning Field is a leader in that way, and it is hoped that it will find a bigger and more important venue so that the public really has a chance to embrace it. As for an Off-Off-Broadway offering, The Lightning Field is one of the best productions seen this year.
Young blood :Three actors with Irish roots impress on NY stages
By Joseph Hurley
jhurley@irishecho.com
In one of those coincidence the theater sometimes churns up, there are three outstanding, possibly even extraordinary, young Irish-born or Irish-American actors, mainly unknown, doing exceptional work on three New York stages in notable productions, all of which will have vanished in the course of the next eight days.
David Ozanich's "The Lightning Field" was named the best play in the recently completed 9th annual New York International Fringe Festival and earned, on the basis of the award, a few added performances at Flea Theater at 41 White St., South of Canal, of which four remain. "The Lightning Field", which runs about 80 minutes, will play tonight at 9.00, and then Monday, the 26th at 7.00, and finally, Tuesday and Wednesday evenings, the 27th and 28th, both at 9:00.
There appears to be a strong possibility that director Jared Coseglia's well-paced production of Ozanich's powerful four character play will return in a month or so for a regular off-Broadway run, in which case it will almost certainly be the making of H. Clark, a gifted young actor whose participation is the core of "The Lightning Field."
Clark, who is sometimes billed as H. Ryan Clark, plays Sam, a New York-based veterinary surgeon in his early 30s, who with his younger lover, Andy, well played by Cory Grant, embarks on a trip to the New Mexico desert to see the art installation which gives the play its title.
The work, created by Walter De Maria, described in the play's program as a "land artist," actually exists, made up of 400 20-foot steel poles, separated 220 feet apart, covering an area of one mile by one kilometer. A cabin accommodating up to six guests is available for a 24-hour viewing period, provided the visitors, who are afforded cooking privileges, restrict themselves to vegetarian meals.
Sam and Andy take along Sam's veterinarian father and Andy's giddy mother, both divorced, and, in the course of their visit to the site, the lovers come to realize that they, and their relationship, contain the seeds of the faults and problems which had wrecked their parents' marriages, and, to an extent, their lives as well.
The lanky, articulate Clark , scruffily bearded for his "Lightning Field" role, brings an amazing gravitas to his character, somehow making the audience invest a vastly greater measure of sympathy and compassion into Sam's plight than would have been possible if the role had been cast with a less compelling actor.
Visitors are lured to De Maria's New Mexico installation in the hope that lightning will actually strike, while they're there granting his sculpture the ideal visual charge for which he had initially designed the work.
There are, of course, differing varieties of lightning, metaphorical as well as actual, and Ozanich's play concerns itself with both kinds.
H Clark is an actor to treasure. Any Off-Broadway season that showcases actors as promising as H. Clark ... is a solid indicator of good things to come in the theater's future.
Hy on the Fringe: www.hyreviews.com by Hy Bender
They say lightning never strikes twice in the same place.
When it comes to family, though, lightning hits the mark again and again—by way of patterns of destructive behavior passed along to each new generation. Such dysfunctional cycles wreak as much havoc as any force of nature.
That's evident in this thoughtful, fierce play written by David Ozanich. The drama is set at a (real life) art installation by sculptor Walter De Maria consisting of 400 metal poles, set at intervals spanning a mile across the New Mexico desert, that are designed to attract lightning. When they do, the sight is supposed to be spectacular.
On the trip are two gay lovers, Sam (H Ryan Clark) and Andy (Cory Grant), who are contemplating making their long-term relationship official. Along with them is Sam's divorced father Gerrit (Ron McClary) and Andy's divorced mother Lori (Bekka Lindström). As we get to know them, it becomes clear that Sam and dad Gerrit have much in common, as do Andy and mom Lori—even to the point of Gerrit and Lori becoming increasingly interested in each other. But each character is a human lightning pole, both attracting and being attracted to some of the darker elements that reside within all of us. As these aspects of their nature are slowly revealed, we see flashes of dependence, infidelity, physical violence, and emotional violence. And when the lightning strikes, it is indeed spectacular.
Enormously enhancing the play is superb direction by Jared Coseglia. The cast is also fine; particularly McClary, whose acting serves to anchor the story in reality, and Grant, whose expressive face and body language guide us through the emotional upheavals (not to mention, he can do an impressive cartwheel...).
The play starts out quite slowly, and the first 20 minutes could arguably be punched up with humor to make the exposition more entertaining. The foundations laid by those initial scenes definitely pay off, though, ultimately providing unforgettable shocks and jolts.
It's also worth noting that while two of the characters are gay, this isn't a production tailored for any particular type of audience. All you have to be to appreciate the themes of this drama is human.
In fact, after you see the play, a rather dark game is to imagine in what ways the story would and wouldn't change if Sam were straight and Andy a woman...
And another game to try—especially edgy if you're with a date—is to discuss whether the ending is a tragic one or a hopeful one. The answer might end up being the equivalent of a Rorschach test on how you and your companion view relationships.
The Lightning Field deserves a life beyond the Fringe. The show enjoyed a successful extension at The Flea during September 2005. Here's hoping it now gets picked up for a longer-term commercial run.
TIME OUT LONDON :
http://www.timeout.com/london/theatre/events/611999/the_lightning_field.html
The Lightning Field
Until Dec 8 Oval House, 52-54 Kennington Oval , SE11 5SW map
Rating: 4 STARS
David Ozanich's excellent new play is set in the Lightning Field – a piece of ‘Land Art' that you may have heard of. It's a grid of 400 20-foot high metal poles set in the New Mexico desert. Despite the name, it doesn't actually attract that much lightning, though Sam and Andy are hoping for the best on their visit/art pilgrimage there. The mechanics behind the trip are pretty messy – their relationship needs patching up, which mid-thirties Sam hopes to do by proposing to the decade-younger Andy, plus – oops! – they've each brought along a parent.
The play won a clutch of awards in New York , and you can see why. At just 90 minutes, it makes good use of its high concept setting to put its themes immediately in context. For Gerrit, Andy's homo-ambivalent dad, gay marriage is as close to normal as he can hope for from the child he has just about given up on. Sam's mum, the more liberal Lori, doesn't want to see her son throw away the edgy, exciting life she imagines he leads and which she envies. ‘I could watch them for hours,' she says of her son and his lover asleep together on the ground, ‘like puppies in a storefront window.' And we haven't yet got down to the nitty-gritty of Adam and Sam's problems.
The frustration of Ozanich's play is that it doesn't go far enough into the host of sexual and social issues it expertly throws up, but cuts and runs for the slick denouement. Director Jared Coseglia's cast, largely intact from New York , are impressive if a little jaded, with H Ryan Clark and Rightor Doyle as the lovers, and Bekka Lindstrom and Rick Zahn as the parents. A good bet, nonetheless.
Jonathan Gibbs, Mon Nov 19
________________________________________________________________________________
METRO UK
THE LIGHTNING FIELD
Emotional lightning crackles across the stage
Lucy Powell, Metro 27.11.07
4 Stars (out of 5)
In this searching new play by US writer David Ozanich, art is a life-changing business. Gay partners Sam and Andy (H Ryan Clark and Rightor Doyle) have driven down from New York to see Walter De Maria's piece of 'land art' in New Mexico , a vast field of 400 metal poles.
Sam is planning to propose, but both boys have dragged a divorced, damaged parent in tow, and the revelations their presence elicits prove explosive. Andy's arty mother Lori thinks marriage is an archaic mechanism of control, while Gerrit, Sam's misogynistic, oddly endearing father, endorses his son's stab at normality. Sam's secret, insatiable thirst for sadistic sex is not so easily quenched, however.
Director Jared Coseglia handles the script's streetwise humour and dark psychological terrain beautifully and his cast are superb, particularly Clark as the aimlessly angry Sam.
But the play doesn't fulfil its sexy, dangerous potential because, having performed searching psychoanalysis on his characters, Ozanich can't forbear telling us as much. Gerrit, for instance, confesses to beating his wife, and to having been beaten himself as a child. But if Ozanich has a tendency to shove into dialogue what he ought to leave to subtext, and to run for the hills just when things get interesting, there's no doubt that when the storms gather, the emotional lightning crackling across his stage is real enough.
_______________________________________________________________________________
EXTRA EXTRA:
http://www.extraextra.org/Review_The_Lightening_Field-07.html
A review by Mary Couzens -
This riveting production of American playwright David Ozanich's, award winning play, The Lightening Field is as intelligent and uncompromising a theatrical experience as you are likely to encounter. Under the simmering direction of Jared Coseglia, its deeply flawed and engaging, thoroughly human characters seemingly, ignite passion not only in one another, but also, in their appreciative audience as well.
The Lightening Field which inspired the play's title is a seminal work of land art created by Walter De Maria in 1977, comprised of 400 steel poles strategically placed in mile long rows in the middle of a remote Southwestern New Mexican desert plain at an altitude of 7,200 feet where they will, hopefully, attract nature's wrath to the amazement of their onlookers. De Maria's brainstorm work functions as a magnetic source of wonder for Ozanich's characters, attracting them to wander in a way that, conceivably, nothing else could, drawing their inner demons dangerously close to the surface as they await enlightening flashes in the darkness.
Sam wants his partner Andy to relocate with him from their New York home to Denver , Colorado to start a new life. Hopefully, once he proposes in this romantic locale, and Andy agrees to marry him, everything will change for the better. Sam's divorced, long distant father Gerrit has come along to bear witness to The Lightening Field and finds himself attracted to Andy's similarly disengaged mother who is attractive, spirited and flattered by his unexpected attentions.
Two of this production's four charismatic cast members, H. Ryan Clark (Sam), Bekka Lindstrom (Lori) also took part in the original New York one, but newcomers Rightor Doyle as Sam's sensitive twenty four year old love Andy and Rick Zahn as (Gerrit) his seemingly, easy-going father easily disown the fact that they are newcomers. The heart aches when witnessing Doyle as Andy longing for H. Ryan Clark's rough-hewn Sam and the great sense of depth Rick Zahn brings to his multi-layered role enables his character, Gerrit to ultimately, embody the concept of toxic family cycles. In their mutual scenes as father and son, Clark and Zahn are almost reminiscent of the combatants of rage fuelled scenes from Arthur Miller's great plays - All My Sons and Death of a Salesman. Having said that, Ozanich's characters are definitely moving through contemporary space and times, for the more youthful of the two couplings, Andy and Sam, are counter-played by the unlikely paring of one of each of their divorced parents, respectively, Lori (Bekka Lindstrom) and Gerrit (Rich Zahn). The electricity flowing between these two unlikely pairs makes for compelling viewing, as personas and facades are slowly shed in favour of truer, starker realities. Bekka Lindstrom is something of a revelation as Lori, acting as a sort of one woman Greek chorus, instilling a sense of wit and wisdom into the proceedings with her wry philosophising.
Lighting design by Paul Hudson, who also created the sparsely effective set, consisting of a lone metal pole and two folding chairs, boosts the dramatic quota further by simulating lightening bolts of King Learesque proportions, while sound design by the play's winning director Coseglia adds notes of wistful poignancy, via songs with identity searching lyrics and seasonal subtleties appropriate to time of day, like that of crickets on a summer's night. Ozanich's expansive script allows scope for the actors to lend their lines a Shakespearean sense of place via their dialogue and intonations while Coseglia's imaginative directing melds a unique sense of individualistic physicality to the playwright's words.
Within the context of this searing production, the action of Ozanich's human drama appears to unravel before its audience in real time, rather than in enacted moments, branding as lasting an impression on the memory as a blinding flash of lightening inevitably does on the mind's eye.
__________________________________________________________________________________________
GAYDARNATION:
http://www.rainbownetwork.com/UserPortal/Article/Detail.aspx?ID=19755&sid=53
THE LIGHTNING FIELD
4 Stars
David Ozanich's award-winning play, The Lightning Field , has just transferred from New York to London . The work uses a real life art installation as a backdrop against which a modern American family considers some uncomfortable truths about their situation.
The Lightning Field is a land art installation in by Walter De Maria, situated in New Mexico . It consists of 400 stainless steel poles set in a grid that measures a mile by a kilometre, supposedly attracting lightning. In Ozanich's short play, the action takes place at the bottom of one of these poles, on an otherwise bare stage, with the installation, and the approaching lightning storm, acting as a multi-faceted metaphors for what is about to unfold.
The play starts wholesomely enough, aside from a rather creepy anecdote about a “teaser bull”, which forewarns of events further on down the line. Sam and Andy have decided to come and visit The Lightning Field with their respective parents. Sam has a secret agenda - to ask Andy to marry him and to consider moving from their native New York to Denver , to begin a new life together.
Andy is unsure, the couple have what might be lightly referred to as “problems”. Lori is Andy's mother, the epitome of the bourgeois, liberal, divorced parent who loves and accepts her son's sexuality. She's also lonely and possibly interested in establishing a relationship with Sam's father Gerrit, also along for the ride, a straight-laced, single, regular kind of guy.
But nothing is what it seems in this play. You may start out finding the characters quite likeable, but it's unlikely that you'll feel the same way by the end. They all have secrets, nasty secrets, which only come to light in The Lightning Field's final harrowing scenes.
Banner NY 's production of this play presents an uncomfortable sense of brooding doom throughout, even though it zips along at quite a pace. There is a palpable sense of menace in the air, and viewers might spend some considerable time wondering why anyone would want to hang around such a dangerous, yet beautiful, place when there's a good chance that they're going to get struck by lightning!
Part of this sense of unease must surely come from the excellent casting, it's a shock when H. Ryan Clarke drops his goofy and cute persona and when Rick Zahn's Gerrit turns out not to be such a cosy character after all. The play's length is its strength and weakness. It may sock you right between the eyes, but it also feels rushed, as though the playwright is trying to lever in as many issues as possible into a short space of time of the play.
Some of the chemistry between Sam and Andy feels false too, primarily because there is not enough time to establish their relationship at a more leisurely pace. But the sheer energy, and the cast, and some sly lines and smart observations make it more than worthwhile.
Find out more at www.lightningfieldtheplay.com and www.myspace.com/lightningfieldtheplay and read our interview with H. Ryan Clarke .
The Lightning Field , by David Ozanich
Oval House Theatre Downstairs
52-54 Kennington Oval
London, SE11 5SW
020 7582 7680 / www.ovalhouse.com
13 November- 8 December 2007 _______________________________________________________________________________________
THE STAGE REVIEW –
http://www.thestage.co.uk/reviews/review.php/18932/the-lightning-field
Thunderbolts are hardly original as a symbol of violent love, but as symbols of intense gay feeling they have fresh potency.
The romance deepens as we find ourselves witnessing a gay marriage proposal in the setting of sculptor Walter De Maria's cult installation The Lightning Field - a collection of 400 steel poles in New Mexico .
Whether heterosexual cliches and institutions are worth replicating is a moot point, especially through the eyes of divorced parents who want their children to chart a different path, and David Ozanich's short, sharp play leaves us pondering.
Jared Coseglia's deft direction draws out rich humour as the ageing, but mostly tolerant parents stumble across their offspring in various positions amid the poles as part of a highly-charged debate on relationships homosexual or otherwise.
The play's one woman is Bekka Lindstrom as Lori, the very feminine mother of Andy, played by Rightor Doyle, young, vulnerable and a self-hating masochist - “because aren't all gays?”, he asks, to audience laughter.
This tender pairing is offset by the tougher love of father Gerrit (Rick Zahn) and his son Sam (H Ryan Clark), with whom Andy is slavishly in love.
The danger is they are repeating their parents' cycles, but in the rare instances when lightning strikes twice, it's hard not to brave the risk.
____________________________________________________________________________________________
WHATSONSTAGE.com
THE LIGHTNING FIELD
RATEING: 5 STARS
Review By Nina Romain
Manhattanite couple Sam and his younger partner Andy (plus their respective divorced father and mother) are on a trip away from the city to see the New Mexico art installation, The Lightning Field. Sam is about to propose to Andy and suggest they relocate once married to Denver , while their respective parents are flirting with each other and enjoying the trip. The biggest problem anybody appears to be facing on this idyllic break can only be mosquitos, surely? But what seems to be a cosy domestic set up, with two separate happy ending seemingly just over the horizon, is about to be shattered as the four people's secrets come to the surface. Andy isn't sure about leaving the safety of Manhattan and knows that getting married isn't going to stop his older partner sleeping around - although he accepts this infidelity at present and in fact defends it to his mother, Lori (Bekka Linstrom). She becomes more and more opposed to the idea of her 20-something son marrying at this young age. Meanwhile, Sam's father Gerrit (Rick Zahn) is drinking heavily, and revealing his past domestic violence towards Sam's mother. But perhaps the biggest surprise is Sam himself. The excellent H.Clark manages to make Sam seem still human as he steadily becomes more and more disturbing in his behaviour towards his partner and father. The further the play continues, the more obvious the dysfunction in Sam and Andy's relationship becomes - and the lack of example they have been set by their families. The opening halfhour in this one-act play is a little two slow and should be more summarised, and at times the bare set (one prop only, the titilar lightning rod, and a blank backdrop) can seem affectedly stark. The dialogue and snappy humour make up for it. The play becomes darker as it continues, and the cracks in the relationships between the four become more and more complex. It culminates on one of the more disturbing scenes you are likely to see onstage - making A Clockwork Orange look like a teddybears' picnic. Although certainly not a firstdate-play, The Lightning Field is a powerful, striking piece of theatre.
____________________________________________________________
Review By: Debbie Anne
The Oval House Theatre is usually associated with helping the development of new projects on it's home turf. In a new departure ‘The Lightening Field' hits the Kennington Oval fresh from already established success including a handful of awards Off-Broadway in New York .
Situated in the Oval House's downstairs theatre, a lone silver pole centre-stage provides the simple set throughout, accompanied by some dramatic lightning effects.
The production tells the story of Sam and Andy, young gay lovers from New York who take a trip to see Walter De Maria's 1977 work of land art ‘The Lightning Field'. Sculpted in the New Mexico desert, encompassing a grid of 400 stainless steel polished poles and hence it's title, known to be a frequent target for lightning strikes – they take along a divorced parent respectively for an unconventional family holiday.
As Sam and his father Gerrit and Andy and his mother Lori explore the vast open space, it unveils that Sam instigated the vacation with an arterial motive in mind – to ask for Andy's hand in marriage. The disclosure of his wishes sparks an array of questions for debate amongst the families that scrutinize issues that are irrespective weather a gay or straight relationship – What does marriage really mean? What makes it work? What extents should you take to keep a relationship? And what traits do we inherit from our parents?
If not just a solid production from the strengths of it's originality and tastefully explored tense subject-matters – a clear highlight is the outstanding chemistry and human performances from the cast with clearly concrete direction from Jared Coseglia that concludes in a solid, if not heart-rending pinnacle.
Be sure to catch ‘The Lightning Field' during it's run at The Oval House Theatre before it makes a surely impending move from the Fringe.
_________________________________________________________________________________
Blogcritics Magazine –
http://blogcritics.org/archives/2007/11/23/110818.php
Theater Review ( London ): The Lightning Field at the Oval House, South London
Written by Natalie Bennett
Published November 23, 2007
Part of StageMage
A couple have gone for a cultural trip cum "weekend of decision about their future," but one of them has deliberately complicated matters — perhaps with the aim of putting off the moment of decision — by inviting one each of their respectively divorced parents. It could be the set-up for a romantic comedy, with plenty of light innuendo, a few unfortunate misunderstandings, and a happily-ever-after ending.
This is the set-up of The Lightning Field , the new play by David Ozanich that has just had its European premiere at the Oval House Theatre in South London , in a Banner New York production. And there are plenty of laughs in this fast-moving one-act production, but "light" it certainly isn't — as you might expect from a production associated with the Shamelessboyz Theatre Company in London, which has previously presented work on some pretty confrontational topics .
The couple are Sam, a New York veterinarian who has plunged into the depths of the gay scene, and Andy, his much younger partner who has to decide how he's going to respond when the question is popped. And so there are plenty of "social issues" questions in the air confronting Gerrit, Sam's country club-frequenting, hard-drinking father, and Andy's mother Lori, a former teen bride who is now a bitter divorcee.
But Ozanich doesn't fall for the obvious ploy of making the elder pair, who are getting perilously close to becoming a couple themselves, homophobic. They both seem entirely adjusted to their sons' homosexuality. What's hanging over them, and their sons, are the scars of their own earlier failed, traumatic relationships. Whatever the sexuality, it seems the problems are almost the same.
All of this is skilfully brought out by Ozanich in a play that covers a lot of ideological territory without once threatening to become didactic or overtly "political." The characters are entirely themselves, not cardboard examples of type.
The setting too is an inspired touch. The Lightning Field is a real place - an art installation by Walter de Maria in a field in New Mexico that can only be visited by six people at one time. It allows for a spooky, effective atmosphere in which the symbolism doesn't overwhelm the emotion.
This is, above all, the story of a couple who are strongly attracted, yet who must overcome the conflicts of their desires if they are to decide to stay together. It's a play that demands, and here gets, a strong cast, and it never threatens to fall into melodrama.
Rightor Doyle as Andy balances almost to perfection a potent mix of passion and vulnerability — a young love Everyman. Bekka Lindstrom plays Lori with a giddy energy that almost steals the show at times. H. Ryan Clark as Sam is slower to express the depths of his role, but they grow through the play, and Rick Zahn as Gerrit ensures that his character doesn't slip into stereotype.
It is a tight, gripping production, but it is the writing that really makes the play something special. I'll certainly be looking out for Ozanich in future.
The Lighting Field continues at the Oval House Theatre until December 8.
________________________________________________________________________________________________________
An Interview with Jared Michael Coseglia
Jared Michael Coseglia: In addition to being an actor, co-artistic director of Banner NY, prolific director, playwright, producer, screenwriter and sound designer, Jared is also one of the resident directors at the NYU Department of Dramatic Writing where he develops new work with emerging playwrights and screenwriters. His latest project in pre-production, CUTMAN – a boxing musical, is slated to premier in New York City in 2008.
The Lightning Field (Best NYC Play Fringe and GLADD Award for Best Off-Off Broadway Play 2005) is currently knocking out audiences at the Oval House Theatre, Kennington. Ticket demand for this intelligent, riveting play, co-produced by the Oval House with Banner New York, and Associate Produced by Shamlessboyz, has been so high that the company will now be staging two additional 4pm matinee performances, on Dec. 1st and 8th. Call the Oval House box office now on 020 7582 7680 or book online at www.ovalhouse.com to avoid disappointment!
An interview by Mary Couzens for EXTRA! EXTRA!
Mary: Why did you choose to direct The Lightning Field in the first place Jared? What attracted you to this play?
Jared: Well, David Ozanich (playwright), Cory Grant (played “Andy” in NY and is the Co-Artistic Director at BNY), H Ryan Clark (plays “Sam”) and I all went to NYU undergrad together. That's where the story starts. J We had all graduated and just finished making our first feature film together in the summer of 2003 entitled SEX FARCE (produced by BNY) which was written by David and starred myself, H, and Cory. David had also at the time been accepted to the NYU MFA Dramatic Writing Program. So… while David was in school, he began writing scenes about a gay couple who go on a pilgrimage to The Lightning Field . I was a resident director at the NYU MFA DWP and began working with David in scene class to rehearse and develop what would later become the play you saw entitled The Lightning Field . Oh… and I should also mention that Cory and H were the actors who work-shopped the play with David and I the entire two years of his MFA cycle. So we have all been with the material since its inception, grown with it, changed with it, seen it in many incarnations, and now we are bringing it to London. So, to answer your question more directly… I guess it was the collaborators that first drew me in. We all work together a lot, and I get a tremendous amount of artistic satisfaction working with this crew.
Mary: How did the play come to be co-produced with the Oval House Theatre, in London? How did the relationship between the New York company – Banner New York and their London Associate Producers, Shamelessboyz come about?
Jared: That's a two part question. I'll start with Shamelessboyz… The Managing Director of BNY, Jared Fine, had a working relationship with Peter Bull from Shamelessboyz. Peter has brought a lot of his work to the States, and I had even met Peter briefly during Fringe NYC 2005 when The Lightning Field and Seduction were both playing. Jared Fine and Peter had wanted to work together on something for some time and when Oval came to BNY with the opportunity to co-produce together in London, we felt this was the perfect opportunity for BNY and Shameless to collaborate as well. Let me just take a moment to say: Peter Bull is amazing. He has such a passion for theatre, and he really has his finger on the pulse of the gay theatre community. He has done a terrific job of helping TLF find an audience in London. He has also been a huge asset in helping BNY with issues of housing the NY actors and hiring local talent to crew and SM the show… not to mention pointing me in the right direction of which tube will take me home at the end of the night. As for Oval… they had a slot in their season. BNY was in a position where we could produce it in accordance with their timeline. And we went for it. Everything just fell into place. I believe Oval had heard about the play years earlier when it premiered at Fringe NYC. The Oval House is an important institution. They are building community around the work they produce. The facility itself is more of a compound for artistry than just a theatre. The staff is very skilled, very passionate, and very patient. It was a pleasure being in their home. They made us feel very welcome.
Mary: I think one of the most wonderful things about The Lightning Field is the way it expresses the universality of light and dark aspects in love relationships, without over emphasising anything irrelevant to being in love, such as, in the case of this play, sexual preference. I can't think of anything else I've seen in recent years, apart from possibly the film, Brokeback Mountain that gets that idea across so effectively. What are your thoughts on that Jared?
Jared: Y'know, Brokeback and TLF both won GLAAD Awards the same year in 2005. David, Cory, and I went. We saw Ang Lee give a speech. It was a pretty cool night. I got a free Tommy Hilfiger bag and some tube socks.
Mary: I see De Maria's artwork – ‘The Lightning Field' as a metaphor for both the volatile aspects of us and the triggers that can set them off and the aspects we're attracted to/repelled by in ourselves and each other. What relevance do you think the artwork has in conjunction with the themes of the play, as you view them?
Jared: The funny thing about the actual Lightning Field is that lightning doesn't strike that often. It's a pretty peaceful place. But every now and again, a storm will blow through… and I think people are that way too, for the most part. And in my relationships with people, sometimes I can see their storm brewing, and sometimes I want to get as far away from them as possible… but other times, I want to be right in the path of fury. I think all the characters in the play struggle with this dilemma.
Mary: For me, another impressive thing about this production is the way it manages to exude such strength despite the fact that there is hardly any set to speak of, apart from a couple of folding chairs and a single steel pole which, under your direction, signifies the presence of the entire mile long field of 400. How challenging was it for you, helping the actors get across the presence and the ideas the artwork suggests and how much of what they did in terms of physicality was already written into the stage directions?
Jared: Very little of the staging is written in the stage directions, though it was always David's intention that the play be staged around a single pole. I believe strongly in the power of minimalism, and with such a minimal scenic design every detail of movement, every gesture, every spatial arrangement of bodies is brought into focus. Composition becomes critical to articulating the emotional landscape of the characters moment by moment. I think of staging as dance. The right staging will free the actor to be full - moment to moment, night after night. Throughout the course of the rehearsal process, I work with the actors to find the right choice for every beat in the play. Everything is a choice. Nothing is arbitrary.
Mary: You're also a playwright and author as well as a director and producer, and you usually create the sound design for most of your creative projects. Which medium(s) do you prefer, or do you enjoy combining them?
Jared: Oh, I love'm all. But, god help me, directing is what I love. It is what I was put here to do.
Mary: After the Press Night performance at the Oval House, someone referred to you as ‘the next Orson Wells'! Who are your directorial influences?
Jared: Just because I'm 6'2, 275 lbs, and a director with a severe alcohol problem… that doesn't make me the next Orson Wells. I'm so sick of people telling me that. As for my influences… I'm inspired by the people I work with, and there is no better influence than experience.
Mary: I'd like to see this production transfer into London's West End, into one of its more intimate, but accessible theatres, such as Trafalgar Studios, or New Ambassadors, where I believe it could have a very successful run. But maybe that's just me, dreaming of the day that fringe theatre here proves that it's often more valid than large scale West End productions!
In my opinion, I believe fringe theatre in general tends to be undervalued here, in London, which doesn't seem to be the case at all in NYC!
Could you comment on what you see as those differences in appreciation levels? Are there any plans in the works to take this production of The Lightning Field on tour, possibly across the U.S.A. via festivals perhaps, and then, through Europe? Is there any chance of it transferring from off-off Broadway to Broadway itself?
Jared: Personally, I'd like TLF to transfer to the West End too. I think my entire team will happily entertain that idea. And yes, there is a lot of talk of potential future productions in the UK and back here in the States. Time will tell what the future holds.
As for theatre appreciation… What drew me into the theatre as a kid was the catharsis: Going into a dark room filled with other people and sharing an intensely emotional experience. I think a lot of contemporary theatre has lost sight of that, and I think TLF delivers exactly that.
Mary: How easy/difficult is it getting a play staged in London, as opposed to New York? Could you talk about what's involved in that process a little Jared?
Jared: This play was made to travel. It is a small cast with no set. It's all about the writing, acting, directing, and design. So, creatively it was fun and easy. This is my first time producing overseas, and there are plenty of challenges to be had there. All of which were overcome (so far).
Mary: I, for one would like to see more of a give and take in terms of London, and New York exchanging fringe productions, with their original casts intact! What do you think the chances of something like that happening are Jared?
Jared: Sure! We American's LOVE to hear British accents. So sexy. Come on over!
Mary: The original New York production of The Lightning Field , which you also directed, was honoured with a couple of prestigious awards in New York, Best Fringe Play of 2005 and GLADD Best Off-Off Broadway play– in the same year. Did the awards come as a surprise? Why do you think the play was so popular?
Jared: Totally surprise. The play struck a chord with the gay community, and also the theatre community. I think it is the first play to tackle a gay relationship and the issue of gay marriage from an honest, sincere perspective. The play, from a mathematically point of view, has all the elements intrinsic to basic good drama. AND – its 75 minutes! Americans love a quick thrill ride.
Mary: Is there any project that you've always wanted to become involved in that you haven't been able to yet, one that would, perhaps fulfil a long-standing dream? Doesn't have to be related to anything you've already done, though you seem to have covered loads of ground already in terms of dabbling in genres/mediums!
Jared: My next project, which is the love of my life, is CUTMAN a boxing musical which I wrote with Cory Grant. The music is by Drew Brody (who wrote and performed all the original music for TLF). The play premiered at the NYMF (New York Musical Theatre Festival) a few months ago and we are working on a full scale production now. CUTMAN is the only thing I want to do next. I honestly can't see past it. So, keep your eyes peeled London.
Mary: Thanks so much for taking time out of your busy schedule to talk to our readers. We recommend that each and every one of them go to the Oval House to see The Lightning Field ASAP!
Jared: Please! I only have ten friends in London and they've all seen TLF three times already! Thanks for the opportunity to dialogue about the play.