ACT’s The Pitmen Painters Joins Laughter with Meaty Intellectual Concerns

April 27, 2012 StefanDW

The Pitmen Painters - photo by Chris Bennion - with R. Hamilton Wright

Original artwork by the pitmen painters known as The Ashington Group. (Photo: Woodhorn Museum)

R. Hamilton Wright in ACT's The Pitmen Painters (Photo: Chris Bennion)

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Earlier this season Seattle Rep brought us a play in which a pair of artists talked about art theory, commerce, society and the relationship between the three. This month ACT presents a play in which the characters discuss art theory, commerce, society, and the relationship between the three. However where Seattle Rep’s Red did little more than tell us about art (and a bit on its relationship to commerce), ACT’s The Pitmen Painters does more showing. In this, the script is a more successful work of drama. In ACT’s production (through May 20; tickets) it is well played with as much in the way of easy laughs as meaty intellectual content.

Though the dialogue mostly focuses on the art, The Pitmen Painters is less about the art than it is about society: specifically, the rise of socialist England. The play includes the major players of both the artistic and societal dynamics of the time. These include an artist, an artist/academic, a patron, and five eponymous artist-miners, known as The Ashington Group. The scenes take us from 1934 to 1948, the period in which these real-life artist-miners rose to prominence, and England pivoted from capitalist empire to socialist democracy. We see the miners struggle with the vast changes of the period on the personal level.

While the reverberations of the Great War remain strong enough to incite discord and even violence in early scenes, whispers of the coming WWII quickly grow to shouts. Yet for much of the play, the big stage of world events plays out in almost incidental details that make Downton Abbey feel forced and didactic by comparison. The Blitz begins, but life goes on–with occasional interruptions by air raids and casualty reports.

The politics that dominate the play are not those of fascism versus freedom, but of class and the dignity of work. The miners remain consistently proud of their work, but they are changed by their experiences as artists and by the societal changes those experiences represent. Through these changes they develop higher standards of living and a greater sense of ownership of their work. [For a modern-day take on this dynamic, don’t miss Brazilian artist Vik Muniz in the documentary Waste Land.–ed.]

From the get-go, the miners, who at first shy from the alien world of arts and high culture, bridle at the first hint of exploitation or condescension. As they grow confident in their own opinions and the value of their individual artistic visions they also become politically empowered. The play ends with a utopian vision of socialist England—crushed by the footnote of its Thatcher/Blair era deconstruction. There is some premonition of that footnote in that the toffs never entirely escape the myopia of their privilege. Each has a recognition scene in which they come to see their sins to varying degrees, but a post-class unity never comes to be.

Clearly this is a play full of big ideas and it manages those ideas well. The plot enacts the intellectual content of the dialogue, but there is little in the way of character. This might not be such a problem were the production less realistic. Though episodic, the structure is fairly standard-issue. This often feels at odds with the intellectual content and does not support the weak characterizations. A more abstract production, or perhaps one with actors who are overtly amateur, might make for a more full and powerful experience. Alternatively, more fully realized characters might justify the largely realistic portrayal.

The actors do work hard to build character from the thin, almost symbolic outlines of Lee Hall’s dialogue, but only three characters come to dimensional life. These include the central artist-miner Oliver Kilbourn (Jason Marr), the artist-academic Robert Lyon (Frank Lawler), and the merchant-noble and arts patron Helen Sutherland (Morgan Rowe).

Hall seems to acknowledge the weaknesses of the other characters through the socialist dentist, Harry Wilson (R. Hamilton Wright). Wilson begins the play focused on symbols and the need for art to say or do something for society. The predilections of Jimmy Floyd (Joseph P. McCarthy), an illiterate among high-cultural innocents who just wants things to be true and attractive, are given voice as well. He also gets most of the laughs. Ultimately it’s the voice of George Brown (Charles Leggett), the by-the-numbers union official that dominates this production. The Pitmen Painters may present a quiet portrayal of revolution, but there is nothing revolutionary about the production. It is nicely presented, funny, smart, and a touch bittersweet.

Arts & Entertainment, Music

Toradze Unleashes a Torrent of Prokofiev at Benaroya Hall

April 27, 2012 Philippa Kiraly

The Seattle Symphony’s laureate conductor, Gerard Schwarz, returns to the podium for this week’s concert pair at Benaroya Hall (April 28; tickets), including the world premiere of a suite from Daron Aric Hagen’s opera Amelia (Schwarz conducted the world premiere at Seattle Opera two years ago). Together with Prokofiev’s Piano Concerto No. 3 with Alexander Toradze at the keyboard and Shostakovich’s Symphony No. 8, it makes for an unusually long concert, a two-and-a-half-hour performance.

Hagen’s Five Sky Interludes, thirty minutes of orchestral sections bridging or introducing scenes in Amelia, are full of themes which pervade the opera, but for those who don’t know the psychological baggage of that story, they didn’t convey much. The work is based on a bland lullaby, introduced in the first interlude. While there are flashes of interest in the second, it’s not until the third that anything exciting happens. This one, depicting the state of mind of Amelia, gets ever more feverish and cacophonous. While well organized and orchestrated, the whole work seems a bit earnest, uninspired, though there are nice touches like the use of bells and a trumpet toward the end.

Unfortunate to pair this, then, with the brilliance of Prokofiev and the emotion in Shostakovich.

The former’s third concerto requires extraordinary technique from the soloist, which Toradze has no trouble in providing. Much of it the work is played at lightning speed. Toradze, like an elderly elf with his frill of white hair around a shining pate, used his whole body in the act of performance. His hands, a blur on the keyboard, were accompanied by his body rising right off his seat, while his feet, both of them, kept the rhythm with stamps and taps, even when the toe was providing the necessary pedalwork.

A notable Prokofiev interpreter, his playing could as easily be a soft expressive caress on the keys as a formidable cascade of coruscating notes. Schwarz and the orchestra stayed closely with him throughout, always allowing the piano’s role to come through.

Schwarz has done well by Shostakovich in the past, but in recent years he has tended to veer towards demanding louder and louder sound from the orchestra more and more of the time. The performance of the Eighth suffered from far too much fortissimo, to four ‘f’s, negating much of the nuance which can be present. At the same time, he also at times elicited some beautiful soft playing from the musicians.

Shostakovich gives long solos to several instruments, including several we don’t often hear from at such length and in such prominence, such as Zartouhi Dombourian-Eby’s piccolo and Larey McDaniel’s bass clarinet. It’s always a pleasure to know we have such gifted and expressive players in the body of the orchestra. However, Schwarz had the piccolo at such volume that it was sometimes painful to the ears, even in Row Q, and particularly when combined with the cymbals.

Both these works brought enthusiastic applause from the audience, which had also given Schwarz long applause when he arrived on stage at the concert start. He will be back on the Benaroya podium May 15-17 for performances of Bartok’s dark opera Bluebeard’s Castle, with the unusual sets by Dale Chihuly.

Arts & Entertainment, Visual Arts

Glimpses: “20”

April 27, 2012 Chelsea

You’re already at the 20 yard line – and the arrow looks like a piece of pie. We don’t know a lot about football, but enough to know these are good things. Thanks to Great Beyond for adding his unique perspective to our Flickr pool yet again. Won’t you do the same?

News, Sports

Seahawks 1st Round Draft Pick Bruce Irvin: What They’re Saying

April 27, 2012 Seth Kolloen

The Seahawks threw fans a curveball last night, drafting West Virginia pass-rushing specialist Bruce Irvin. The Georgia-born Irvin, who some draft experts had as a fourth-round pick, was a high-school dropout living on a drug dealer’s couch four years ago before dedicating himself to football, convincing his working-class family to pool money to pay his junior college tuition, and eventually getting to West Virginia, where he recorded 22.5 sacks in two seasons. Here’s what Irvin, Seahawks leadership, NFL cognoscenti and fans are saying about the pick.

“I love eating quarterbacks.” — Bruce Irvin

“He immediately is a third-down rusher. He’s got extraordinary speed. This is the kind of guy who puts fear into offensive linemen. I’m really pumped about this.” — Pete Carroll

“We viewed him as the best pass-rusher in the draft.” — John Schneider

“Ever since I’ve been in coaching, we’ve been looking for a guy like this. This is the fastest guy that you could hope to get to play this position.” — Carroll

“We didn’t want to get too cute, this guy is too special of a football player. This guy comes off the ball like Dwight Freeney and Von Miller and Jevon Kearse.” — Schneider

“I will work my butt off and the rest will take care itself. #12thman I won’t let you down I promise!” Irvin, via Twitter

“We had to sleep on the floor sometimes. You had creatures living with you sometimes. You get depressed about the money situation. We had only two meals per day. I was out in California by myself with no relatives, and I got depressed a lot of the time.” — Irvin on his junior college experience

“At least seven teams had Irvin rated as one of the top 15 players available in the draft.” — Mike Florio, National Football Post

“Did Seattle write the wrong name down on the card? If they did mean to pick him, did they even watch him on tape? He’s an athlete playing football. This is one of the worst draft picks of all time.” — WalterFootball.com

“Two years in a row now Seattle has taken a player in Round 1 who I think they could have gotten perhaps 10 to 15 slots lower on the board. So again, it’s not that Irvin can’t be successful. It’s that Seattle might still have Irvin today but perhaps an added pick or two this year or next if they managed to move down.” — Mel Kiper Jr., ESPN

“A move like Irvin is surprising, but not without recent precedent. As the league shifts toward the pass, expect defensive priorities to shift with it.” — Brandon Adams, 17 Power

“Irvin is RG3 the pass rusher. He’s got 10-15 sack a year potential, but he’s got more red flags than any pass rusher in the draft. He’s boom or bust to the extreme.” — Kip Earlywine, Seahawks Draft Blog

“Irvin had a big impact as a specialist rusher in 2010, acting on third downs and recording 14 sacks after transferring as a JUCO prospect. In 2011, the Mountaineers attempted to turn him into an every down type player. In his first five games last season, he had just one sack. When he reverted back to a ‘specialist’ role, he notched 7.5 sacks in five games. Go figure.” — Rob Staton, Seahawks Draft Blog

“Irvin brings ridiculous raw athleticism for Pete Carroll to use on third downs and in obvious passing situations. On 3rd down and 8, when the defense needs to get off the field having a front four of Chris Clemons, Jason Jones, Brandon Mebane and Bruce Irvin, for example, is certainly an intriguing prospect.” — Danny Kelly, Field Gulls

“Imagine putting Irvin on the end opposite of Clemons. Consider how edgy tackles will feel when the CenturyLink Field crowd is all-out seismic and a guy who can run a 4.4 40 is flinching across from them.” — Dave Boling, Tacoma News Tribune

“shocked with this pick at first but after reading your story out of all the kids in this draft the Seahawks landed a man.” — @deanforbes10

“Been watchin @BIrvin_WVU11 youtube on bus ride to work. QBs gonna be seeing dirt or throwin picks with our complete D now!” — @HawksBum

“12th man last night: ‘Who? What the hell?! WHY??’ This morning: ‘The Hawks just drafted Jevon Kearse, bro.'” — @ShaunDolence

Irvin’s junior-year highlights (NSFW language):

Arts & Entertainment

With His Regards For Everyone: Levon Helm Remembered

April 26, 2012 Andrew Hamlin

Towards the middle of Tommy Lee Jones’ The Three Burials Of Melquiades Estrada, a film feeling by that point, I think, the wear and tear from a director who rolls out too many films too fast, a film stuck in the desert with eight ways of pointing the camera but no escape from that desert, the action (and the camera) happen upon a blind man living alone in a desolate small house. We know he is blind because he never opens his eyes. He listens to Mexican radio, he says, not because he understands Spanish–he doesn’t–but because he loves “the sound of the language.”

The three main characters, that is one hostage, one hostage-taker, and one corpse, stop a spell to hear the blind man out. He explains, after some pleasantries, that he wants the two live ones to kill him. He has no one left to care for him, he doesn’t care to live alone, and he doesn’t want to commit suicide. That would offend God. The two living ones counter than murder would offend God also. They leave him and the only alive portion of the film, in the sandy heat.

The blind man was and is, of course, drummer/singer/actor Levon Helm, who died April 19th in New York City of cancer. His passing silenced the third and only American-born voice of the the band called the Band, following pianist-singer Richard Manuel, who took his own life in 1986; and bassist Rick Danko, felled by heart failure in 1999. Each man brought a distinctive, respirating texture to singing: Manuel’s falsetto carried melancholy and resignation; Danko’s similar but normal-range timbres caught the deep yearning of the deep-hearted, plus the paranoia of the deep-hearted who feel their desires hidden from them.

Helm, who got to study Elvis, Conway Twitty, and Robert Jr. Lockwood up close growing up, had something distinct from the other two. He could yearn for lost warmth–hear him enrich Manuel on the last verse of “Whispering Pines”–but pleasure, and the necessity from poverty and violence to always remember pleasure, stayed with him. “Ophelia,” another of the Band’s signature tunes, should be a sad song and isn’t, because Levon loses himself in the storytelling.

Levon also managed a film career, trooping bravely through solid structures and shaky mistakes, blockbusters and bottom-of-the-bin. He helped carry The Right Stuff both on and off camera, lending a warmth to the bluster of men who do impossible things because they can and for the bragging rights. In Smooth Talk, he’s a father who wants good for his daughter but finds himself unable to speak except in platitudes, leaving his daughter, Laura Dern, open to the smooth talk of Treat Williams, the snake in the grass.

For Mark Stouffer’s Man Outside, a film so obscure it isn’t listed amongst Levon’s accomplishments at Wikipedia, the director used the four members of the Band then still playing together–all except guitarist Robbie Robertson. Organist Garth Hudson has a quiet, beautiful cameo as a draft dodger who’s hidden in the woods at least LBJ’s day, at first unwilling to make war, then unable to leave what he found. Rick Danko plays the father of the kidnapped child. Richard Manuel has a blink-and-miss-it bit as a vigilante. Levon played the local sheriff and played him as a decent man whose only handicap is the all-too-human lack of a crystal ball. “You’re in deep shit,” he advises the hero when the evidence goes against the hero.

And when the sherrif learns the hero was in the right and a soft, silly man, broken–or more prescisely, never given a chance to grow–was behind the horror, Levon’s eyes do not blaze with rage. He watches the human monster sobbing and something small but precise breaks in his gaze, a sparrow alighting on early-winter thin ice with just enough pressure to snap. Levon, the master behind all these impressions, always knew what he meant.

But he also loved the sound of every language.

News, Transportation

Foes of SR 520 Bridge-Embiggening File Opening Brief in Federal Lawsuit

April 26, 2012 Michael van Baker

6871626390_7b44feec6b_z — East approach of the new 520 bridge. You can hardly tell it's there. (Rendering: WSDOT)

The 6-lane expansion of the SR 520 bridge can’t hardly get a legal break without another challenge popping up. First of all, Washington State Patrol troopers have been ticketing overweight trucks crossing the bridges around Aberdeen. The Daily World reports: “A single over-the-weight limit trip on the Chehalis River Bridge can cost a trucking company upwards of a $17,000 fine.” Repeated fines can lead to an impounded truck.

Brundage Bone Concrete Pumping truckers, contracted to work on the 520 pontoons, were having to drive a half-hour out of their way to avoid the Chehalis River Bridge, until owner Jim Wright secured a weight-limit exemption from the Washington Department of Transportation. The new Montlaker site cried foul at WSDOT acting so expeditiously to waive limits for its own project, without granting them equally to other concerns.

In his blog post at the Seattle Times, Mike Lindblom writes: “On the $4.65 billion Highway 520 project, the state spent 14 years and $263 million from 1997-2011 on outreach, designs and preliminary engineering. For $263 million, the state could have funded a new bridge in Grays Harbor, with millions left over.”

Now, the Coalition for a Sustainable 520 has filed their opening brief in a federal suit against WSDOT. In an email to supporters, Fran Conley outlines the arguments that the brief makes:

It points out that federal and state laws require the agencies to evaluate reasonable alternatives, and that this was not done… For instance, adequate review was not done on a tolled, transit-optimized 4 lanes. It points out that federal and state law require avoidance of taking public land, and that adequate analysis of alternatives to taking our beautiful waterways and natural areas was not done. It points out that the state did not do a cost-benefit analysis that is required by state law and that is supposed to inform the decision-makers.

The Coalition admits that “the existing 4-lane bridge is in danger of collapse” in their brief, but argues that it’s stretching truth and necessity to call the new 520 project “6-lane” when it tops out at 12 lanes (in Montlake, as it connects with various on- and off-ramps). “For instance, just east of Montlake Boulevard,” they point out, “the project’s width is approximately 250 feet.”

That’s a notional 250 feet, of course, since WSDOT has only gathered the funds to build a bridge from Medina to about Foster Island. If WSDOT can’t find that extra $2 billion in time, the Coalition worries that the new bridge will meet the Seattle approach in its current form, creating a choke point. Instead, the Coalition argues, pre-construction tolling on 520 has already shown that a 4-lane rebuild of the bridge (with better pedestrian and bicycle access) is enough to handle the amount of traffic that people are willing to pay for.

Failing that, or in anticipation of greater cross-lake traffic need, the Coalition proposes that a 6-lane solution with dedicated light rail or BRT is still vastly superior to the selected alternative, because transit doesn’t require all those on- and off-ramps that generate such a large footprint from Montlake to I-5. (It remains unclear to me, no matter how many lanes are employed, how I-5 and Montlake Boulevard congestion won’t simply feed back eastward on the new bridge, since there isn’t money to enlarge their connection points.)

Those are the more practical and pragmatic concerns raised. There are also a host of environmental issues that it is hard to feel WSDOT didn’t minimize in their attempt to increase vehicular capacity (again, notionally–fitting more cars onto a bridge that is stoppered at both ends by congestion isn’t the kind of capacity that people typically pay more than $4 billion for). It’s more than a little striking that WSDOT is embarking on half-building another megaproject at the scene of the “ramps to nowhere,” built to connect to the R.H. Thomson Expressway, before the money ran out. Is that what they call institutional memory?

The SunBreak

Monthly Archives: April 2012