Angie Flynn-McIver and Charles McIver are steeped in theater — between them they have directed or performed in a vast range of stage productions, from Shakespeare to Ibsen to Wilde, and collaborated to produce Hedwig and the Angry Inch, A Wrinkle in Time and The Complete Works of William Shakespeare [abridged] with the NCSC, to name but a few. But Flynn-McIver had never directed McIver, and McIver had never performed a solo work before the company’s current offering, Chesapeake by Lee Blessing.
The story line involves politics, art, sex and death, not necessarily in that order. (Oh, and dogs. Two of them. Both Chesapeake Bay retrievers.) It is by turns quite funny and deadly serious, with two suprise endings, so to speak. (I don’t want to say more about the plot, for fear I might spoil it.) The set is spare: two crates and a backdrop-projection screen. The production is multimedia, depending on images from the laptop of Projection Designer C. Craig Hobbs and audio from the laptop of Sound Designer Mike Ponder. Leigh Spencer Brown designed the lighting.
The assemblage works well, with one shortcoming — McIver’s action seems too limited, too static. While it is difficult to imagine what more could be done to move the monologue around the stage, the overall effect was that of a mostly stationary speaker. McIver’s acting was quite good, particularly in the abrupt shifts from human to dog consciousness. Chesapeake is another solid offering in a string of fine NCSC productions.
See the preview in this tomorrow’s Xpress for more detailed information about the show, or visit this Web site.
— Cecil Bothwell, staff writer
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