". . . a surreal, nightmarish parade of outlandish, inventive, thoroughly original sights and sounds: a mad Alice-in-Wonderland-ish presidential soap opera on acid. I was constantly engaged, almost always entertained, and frequently surprised. And I laughed a lot. The stage pictures, images, juxtapositions, even (in one place) the smells of Symphony of Rats provide a feast for the senses and fuel for the mood and, often, the intellect."
--Martin Denton, nytheatre.com
Read the full review HERE
--Martin Denton, nytheatre.com
Read the full review HERE
The President of the United States is receiving messages from other worlds.
Perhaps they are the voices of Angels, bringing a Divine message.
Perhaps they are the voices of Aliens, bringing warnings from other worlds or other dimensions.
Or maybe, just maybe, the President is merely going mad.
In any case, the leader of the free world is beginning to hate that world,
and may be deciding to put an end to it once and for all.
More and more, everyone else in the world looks like nothing more or less than a rat to the President,
and the vermin have entered the White House.
It’s time to exterminate.
Perhaps they are the voices of Angels, bringing a Divine message.
Perhaps they are the voices of Aliens, bringing warnings from other worlds or other dimensions.
Or maybe, just maybe, the President is merely going mad.
In any case, the leader of the free world is beginning to hate that world,
and may be deciding to put an end to it once and for all.
More and more, everyone else in the world looks like nothing more or less than a rat to the President,
and the vermin have entered the White House.
It’s time to exterminate.
The Brick Theater, Inc. and Gemini CollisionWorks present
Symphony of Rats
Directed and Designed by Ian W. Hill
In Ian W. Hill’s new production of Richard Foreman’s Symphony of Rats, the positive and negative features of the Office of the Presidency are examined in a manner both comic and terrifying, as it perhaps becomes apparent that a President who actually believes in receiving messages from non-corporeal sources may not be exactly what the USA needs. Foreman’s original text is treated the way the author has requested it be dealt with by other directors – removing all indications of Foreman’s original production and working with just his dialogue – and is now set in an oval office that may in fact be merely a reflection of the inside of the President’s head, we are presented with a world of rodents, spacemen, pimps, mistresses, detectives, and yes-men, and where our only hope for survival may lie only in the President’s ultimate inability to do anything for sure except ride around in a great car.
featuring
Peter Bean*, Gita Borovsky, Amy Caitlin Carr, Bryan Enk, Ian W. Hill*,
Carrie Johnson, Roger Nasser, Alyssa Simon*, Moira Stone*, and Adam Swiderski.
* by permission of AEA – Symphony of Rats is an Equity-approved Showcase
Preview: Tuesday, February 7 at 8.00 pm
Performances:
Thursdays, February 9 and 23 / Friday, February 17 /
Saturdays, February 11 and 25 and Tuesday, February 21 at 8.00 pm
Sundays, February 12 and 26 at 7.00 pm
(Runs in rep with FILM IS EVIL: RADIO IS GOOD)
or $15 for both shows playing in rep
Reservations: 718.907.3457
