Two Unique Chicago Theatrical Experiences

I’ve talked a lot in these blogs about how much I love Chicago and how much this great city has to offer.  I want to concentrate on theater today, and in particular two brilliant performances I saw within a week of each other.

The first was An Iliad at the Court Theatre, a professional theater on the campus of the University of Chicago.  An Iliad had been here before, about a year ago, but because the U. of  C. campus is so far south, it’s difficult for me to get there, and even though the critics and everyone I knew from the university sang its praises, I didn’t get a chance to see it.  It left and went to New York, again playing to great praise.  And then the Court brought it back, and I was able to arrange a ride to the campus and several of us went to see it.  It was, perhaps, the single most singular evening in a theater I’ve ever spent.  It’s a retelling of the Iliad, on the surface anyway, but it’s so much more.  The single actor, Timothy Edward Kane, retells the epic story, pretty much complete, in an hour and a half, without intermission.  The premise of the play is that he is a story teller, perhaps Homer, perhaps a Universal Story Teller, but he’s been telling and retelling the story of our wars for centuries and as he recounts the horrors of the Trojan War he makes references to many other wars; in fact, one of the most gripping moments is when he starts to list all the major wars of humankind through the centuries. He builds in intensity until it seems he will explode with the horror of what we humans can do to each other—and continue to do even up to modern times.  The lesson is clear: we never learn and we will not change in the future.  It’s most disheartening.  You can see that scene here, which is from the first production; when I saw it several more wars had already been added in slightly over a year: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6veWKP6PIuE.  Our saving grace is our art.  In spite of the ghastly record we humans have, productions like this give me some sliver of hope.  When the lights dimmed at the end of this production, there was a stunned silence, no applause, not even any breathing, I think.  When the lights came back up on Kane, everyone jumped to their feet and the applause was thunderous.  It was a revelatory evening in the theater, and one I will never forget.  (Here’s another scene from earlier in the play: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AUwMwDhJeuw.)

The second impressive play I saw in that week was The Normal Heart by Larry Kramer.  This play recounts the early years of the AIDS epidemic, as seen from the point of view of the outspoken and often grating character of Ned, clearly a stand-in for the outspoken and grating Larry Kramer (he’s still at it, by the way).  Ned rails, with little success, against the government’s refusal to acknowledge the epidemic, contrasting the number of deaths and the lack of funding and research to the relatively minor number of deaths from legionnaires disease which received massive funding—because, he believes, as did most of us, that it was considered a “gay disease” and therefore of little note.  He takes special aim at Mayor Koch, very likely a closeted gay himself, who refused to work with Ned and the organization he finally cobbles together (referred to as the “Organization” in the play but is the Gay Men’s Health Crisis in “real” life).  A particular and well-deserved target is President Reagan, who didn’t mention the disease until well into his second term.  And even then it was dismissive and horribly cruel: (http://www.actupny.org/reports/reagan.html).  The plot of the play centers around the relationship with Ned and his lover (as we said back in those days) Felix, who comes down with AIDS.  As Ned fights with the government, the crisis is brought home, touchingly and sadly.  Larry Kramer survived, as did I, but many of our friends did not.  And so many deaths could have been prevented but for the Conservative government’s head-in-the-sand attitude toward gays and the disease.  It’s a shameful moment in our history.  And this great production brings that home.  (You can see a preview of it here:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pQ-LeXpjCAs&feature=youtu.be.  It’s not easy to watch, but I do encourage you to do so.)

I love Chicago, I love the operas I’ve seen, the concerts, the parks, the museums, but I also love our theaters and the enormous pool of acting talent here.  And these two plays bring that home.