Past Reviews

Regional Reviews: Philadelphia

Company
EgoPo Classic Theater / 2018 Philadelphia Fringe Festival
Review by Rebecca Rendell | Season Schedule (updated)

Also see Rebecca's reviews of Bon Iver Fights a Bear and Hapgood


Cast of Company
Photo Courtesy of EgoPo Classic Theater
EgoPo Classic Theater and director Lane Savadove have successfully remounted their hit 2009 Fringe hit for the 2018 festival. Based on Samuel Beckett's 1979 novella, Company is a profoundly engaging theatrical experience that supplements spoken text with touch, sound and movement. Guided by strange phrases and invisible hands, the blindfolded audience is invited to turn their gaze inward and explore the nature of consciousness and self. It is exactly the sort of piece that makes the Fringe Festival so exciting.

Upon arrival, each participant is given a list of instructions. Go upstairs, put your shoes and worldly possessions under your chair, place the blindfold over your eyes. After that, an angel (one of seventeen students from Rowan University) silently guides each person toward a dim room and onto a small mat. Everyone starts off lying down, but as the disembodied voices—always speaking in the second person—shift from questions of self-awareness to recall of distant memories, the angels guide the audience to move their own bodies along with the dialogue. The talented Jay Ansill performs his fantastical compositions as each person listens, feels, and moves. The whole thing is impressively well executed and fairly relaxing to boot.

Company, through September 24, 2018, at the Latvian Society, Seventh and Spring Garden Streets, Philadelphia PA. Bring a pillow, an open mind, and a sweet tooth; there are complementary milk and cookies at the end. The show runs September 27-30, 2018, at the Tennessee Williams Theater in Provincetown MA.

Cast:
Memory: Maria Konstantinidis
Intellect: Davey Strattan White
Spirit: Zach Valdez
Body: Aidan McDonald
Angels: Caitlin Ablaza, Caitlin Alvarez, Matt Basen, Nathan Benson, Elizabeth Darrell, Brian Gensel, Mike Grubb, Kyle Jacobus, Nicola Jean, Raven Lanuza-Brown, Maggie O'Connor, Robin Purtell, Maddy Roberts, Claire Robinson, Adriana Santilli, Chelsea Sharp, Kylie Westerbeck

Crew:
Director: Lane Savadove
Composer and Musician: Jay Ansill
Stage Manager: Abby Leyh
Production Manager: Leo Bond