Critical Praise for the World Premiere of

Strings

"Conflicting memories smash together like charged particles in a cyclotron, and the reactions cannot always be controlled... Juan Carlos De La Rosa and Michael Rodriguez, respectively as the older and younger brothers, create compelling, intense characters that must operate on several levels... Director (John) Caldon has combined simplicity and imagination to stage the two-act play... Strings is like theater squared, an engrossing passage through dramatic dimensions on a rocky journey to catharsis." - Bay Area Reporter (5/21/09)

"A nearly bare stage, draped in white light and shadow, and two lithe actors dressed in black are all that's needed to give rise to a remarkably rich tableau of memory, imagination, critique and good old sibling rivalry in Guerrilla Rep and Terrence Beswick's sharp and rewarding world premiere. Unfolding the story of a lonely boy burdened by fear and adoration of his musician father - a gifted but tempestuous violinist with little patience for his musically inept and effeminate son - the compellingly stylized, poetical, and movement-based treatment soon encounters resistance from within as its two performers, brothers Jack (Juan Carlos De La Rosa) and George (Michael Rodriguez), begin quibbling over details artistic and factual in writer Jack's supposedly autobiographical story. Admittedly, the meta-theatrical conceit strains somewhat by the second act, but two rigorous and engaging performances, combined with director John Caldon's shrewd use of properties and a trim physical vocabulary, cast a strong spell throughout. In something like a workshop production gone horribly wrong, the play undercuts and dissects its own motives while gradually elaborating the complex relationship between the collaborating artist-brothers, eschewing cliché with humor and genuine dramatic tension. If art is a lie that tells the truth, there are still two sides to every theatrical outing." - SF Bay Guardian (5/20/09)

"Playwright Beswick fearlessly delves into multiple reality levels ranging from "fact" to "theatre" and plenty of points in between. His multi-layered script posits complex questions about memory as well as art itself within the amorphous limbo world of theatre. Also, numerous levels of "now" seamlessly shift, including past tense narration, current-time narration, active- and passive-voice flashbacks, actors arguing about the script in progress, and more... Actors Juan De La Rosa and Michael Rodriguez invest themselves fully, and their character differentiations are finely-tuned, both vocally and physically. With unflagging energy the two handsome and young bearded men skillfully morph between characters and levels of reality. Excellent work. Director John Caldon provides many dynamic visuals, and he wisely keeps the pacing brisk." - SF Bay Times (5/21/09)

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