“Rock ‘n’ Roll” reviewed by Jeffrey Leibham

[rating=3]Upon entering the theater at The Artistic Home you will feel transported back in time to a more liberally-minded, free-spirited era to experience Tom Stoppard’s 2006 play “Rock ‘n’ Roll.” The stage consists of one very long, slightly raised platform which runs the length of the room from south to north and has four distinct playing areas, cozily designed by Kevin Hagan. With several selections of 1960’s and 1970’s British rock bands providing the pre-show recorded music, patrons are encouraged to view the art work on the walls and grab a seat anywhere. The seats run on either side of the stage, the entire length of the room, and are made up of very comfortable padded chairs and randomly placed large, over-stuffed easy chairs or compact sofas, all covered with plush velvet drapery or hand crocheted afghans. It all exudes enough grunge that you would swear you could be in a dive bar right off of Leicester Square, circa 1970. While they certainly got the vibe exactly right, Kathy Scambiatterra’s loosely directed production doesn’t always come off feeling cohesive.

Stoppard’s works can be a challenge for any theatre company but “Rock ‘n’ Roll” is one of his more accessible pieces, dealing more with human emotions and inter-connections than the more cold, cerebral word play and idea deconstruction found in his other plays. It tells the story of a multi-generational “family” and spans nearly 25 years, from the Prague Spring of 1968 to the Velvet Revolution of 1989. Max (H.B. Ward) is an instructor at Cambridge, married to Eleanor (Kristin Collins) who is suffering from breast cancer. They have a young daughter named Esme (Kayla Adams) who worships her father. Foreign exchange student Jan (Julian Hester) has escaped his native Czechoslovakia to study at Cambridge, and Max, who is a Marxist,  soon becomes his mentor and includes him in his inner circle of academicians and intellectuals. The action shuttles back and forth between Cambridge and Prague. Many scenes are rapidly played out in Act One and the script sprawls over fifteen years. A clever visual device, in keeping with the title of the show, is utilized so that you will always know what year it is. Act Two consists of one very long scene, a 1990 dinner party in Cambridge around the table of the mature Esme (now played by Kristin Collins) and her daughter Alice (now played by Kayla Adams). Things begin to resemble a Doris Lessing novel more than a Stoppard play here, and the entire script is a sort of love letter to Vaclav Havel, Stoppard’s compatriot and fellow playwright who was elected President of the Czech Republic in 1993.

Grounding this entire production is Ward as the sometimes cantankerous but always wide-eyed enthusiast Max. Collins does better with her role as Eleanor than she does with the older Esme, but part of that reason may have to do with the fact that she in encumbered by an ill-fitting and very unattractive blonde wig in Act Two. Strong support comes from Freedom Martin as Stephen, Alice’s boyfriend. His character does not appear until late in the evening, and has far too limited stage time, but Martin makes a memorable impression as he gently chides Max for abandoning the Party, all the while maintaining a perfect English accent. Unfortunately, the same cannot be said for Hester’s Jan. There are moments when it sounds like he is from Munich rather than Prague, and we never really get to see the full evolution of his aging from a young student in awe of rock music and the freedom that it represents to those in the West nor sense the true paranoia and dread that he encountered living in a repressed system under the constant supervision of the secret police.

Still, this “Rock ‘n’ Roll” is a nostalgic vision peppered with the playfulness of Pan, the whisps of Sapphic verse and the ethereal presence of Syd Barrett running through its veins. At the conclusion, you’ll want to jump up and celebrate with them all as the Rolling Stones take to the stage for the finale.

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“Rock ‘n’ Roll” runs through November 18, 2018

Approximate running time is 2 hours and 50 minutes with one intermission

Schedule:

Thursdays at 7:30 PM

Fridays and Saturdays at 8:00 PM

Sundays at 3:00 PM.

Tickets are $34 (seniors and students $20).

The Artistic Home Theatre, 1376 West Grand Avenue, Chicago, IL  60642

Tickets: (866) 811-4111 or go to http://www.theartistichome.org/

To see what others are saying, visit www.theatreinchicago.com, go to Review Round-Up and click at “Rock ‘n’ Roll”