PicksInSix Review: An Iliad - Court Theatre
Kane’s Mesmerizing Performance Returns To Court!
PicksInSix® Gold Review | Guest Contributor | Ronald Keaton
Bravura. That's the appropriate word for the Court Theatre production of “An Iliad,” running now through June 29.
It's a solo play based on the legendary epic poem by the Greek poet Homer, who also wrote The Odyssey. Both these poems form the foundation of Greek literature, even as there are continuous attempts to deny authorship, not unlike what the reputation of William Shakespeare occasionally experiences. This version is co-authored by Lisa Peterson and Denis O'Hare in an endlessly eloquent fashion.
The term 'bravura' is most often used to praise what musical elements are being presented, as well as to the skills of the performers sharing their wares. This play offers itself in such a way that it is quite easy to compare it to a musical motif. The play itself is a kind of verbally spectacular music on its own, and Ms. Peterson and Mr. O'Hare hold nothing back in what they offer.
As the audience watches and takes it in, the story becomes easily absorbed in each movement, much like a symphony or even an opera, with its tragic plotlines that challenge believability in today's terms but were comfortably accepted back in "the day". And each character—Achilles the god-like Greek warrior; Hector, the greatest soldier of Troy; Patroclus, the Greek second-in-command; Agamemnon and Paris, the two sons whose actions make them so vulnerable—has his/her own section of the story devoted to them. It really is symphonic itself, both tragic and grand.
This sounds odd, but all the almost fantastical elements that the great director Charles Newell has assembled are almost players in their own right. Scenic Designer Todd Rosenthal and his Associate Scenic Designer Lauren M. Nichols have created a dystopian-like shelter with a variety of levels and steps and holes in the back wall, as well as a very sharp raked platform that an actor can negotiate for any part of the play. Sound Designer André Pleuss and Associate Sound Designer Josh McCommon share an almost constant low-level drone that surrounds the storytelling with an enhanced tension, matching the language and character in its various and sundry auditory nooks that push the environs of the piece even higher.
Rachel Anne Healy's costume for the actor Timothy Edward Kane is a highly layered vision, where Mr. Kane takes off pieces as he goes in a compliment to the exposure of man's vulnerability to his thoughts and actions, one by one. Lighting Designer Keith Parham and his Associate LD Josiah Croegaert have done absolute yeoman work in "giving light to the dark," so to speak, with their angles and shafts of light and faded colors that enhance what is seen. All this expert technicality greatly heightens the elegiac authenticity and makes this truly a special ensemble experience.
And the conductor of this symphonic reality is Mr. Kane as The Poet. He sings. He speaks in an otherworldly language. He moves balletically across the stage. His seasoned command of the character—in rage and in vulnerability, with the entire range of the actor's voice and emotions—is one of the best this writer has ever witnessed. Yes, there is lots of purple prose here, but it's all well-earned. Mr. Kane takes us on a journey that, even if you've never read the original epic poem, you can easily understand and appreciate the flowing, heightened story—another bow to the authors. He has mined humor where it's a surprise, and his own relationship with the audience is at once intimate and grand. It's one of the great performances presented this year at Court and, dare we say, ever in Chicago.
A favorite actor, Robert Duvall, said once: "I remember something Sandford Meisner told us. When you create a character, it's like making a chair, except instead of wood, you make it out of yourself. That's the actor's craft—using yourself to create the character." This is indeed what Mr. Kane, Mr. Newell and the other fabulous artists of this exceptional orchestra have ultimately accomplished over the course of four productions of the piece dating back to 2011—unique, mesmerizing and an extraordinary accomplishment that is not to be missed.
GUEST CONTRIBUTOR | RONALD KEATON received an Equity Jeff Award for the performance of his one-man show CHURCHILL. www.solochicagotheatre.com Coming soon, his new solo play “Teddy’s Last Ride.”
PHOTO | Michael Brosilow
Court Theatre
presents
An Iliad
featuring
Timothy Edward Kane
Abelson Auditorium
5535 S Ellis Ave
through June 29, 2025
WEBSITE
PROGRAM
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