Invisible Man Makes a Worthy Apearance

Huntington Theater

"I am an Invisible Man," the opening line in Ralph Waldo Ellison's classic American novel, hangs in the air, waiting for a challenge, reverberating through the slowly quieting audience.
A black man stands on stage, clad in a white singlet, surrounded by a set representing his Harlem basement hiding place in the 1930's.
And so begins nearly three hours of fast paced, racy and at times difficult to grasp dialogue, ripped from a age and place few have traveled or even care to acknowledge.
Perhaps high schools teach Ellison's novel. If not they should, difficult as it may be, his work depicts a history that is uncomfortable and, like my adopted nation, still a work in progress.
With powerful and sustained cast performances, sets so incredible that I so want to photograph them as backdrops, it not only blazes to life in the Huntington Theater's production, but drives deep into the emotional core.
At times during the performance I felt deeply ashamed, none less so than when the Invisible Man speaks directly to the audience, fully exposed under house lights. Perhaps it's the fading echoes from the sins of our fathers, for surely all of our ancestors have acted themselves at some point in history in ways that  we today  regard as misguided.
I wish I could have slowed down some of the scenes, replayed them as with a book or a DVD, to grasp more fully the eloquence of both words and actions.
The final line from the Invisible Man rings as true today as it did then,

“Who knows but that, on the lower frequencies, I speak for you?” 

Theater at its best and equal to any I have seen in London or New York.

Shipwrecked - Story telling at its best

Shipwrecked by Donald Margulis is based on the story of Louis de Rougemont (hint - this is not his real name), who leaves home and his sickbed at the age of sixteen to travel the world. Taking passage as crew of pearl diving ship, he and the faithful ship's dog are washed up after a storm on an uninhabited tropical island.

After many years and rescuing a similarly shipwrecked native woman, her son and her father, he returns with them to their own land where he rides on turtles, fends of marauding pillagers with the aid of stilts and acrobatics, marries the woman, fathers two children and eventually returns home thirty years later with a fantastic tale to tell. It becomes a serialized sensation and he is hailed as a hero, adventurer and raconteur. And then comes the Oprah moment when...no go see it or if you really can't, just Google it.

This Lyric Stage Company of Boston production is the best of their season, so far. The three actors are a tour de force and two of them playing multiple roles with comic voices and timing to match are simply outstanding. The show runs until 20th December - see it and experience the true art of the story.

Let it snow

Cool walk in Minuteman National Historic Park after a night of wet and heavy snow. The building is the Hartwell Tavern and dates from the time of the American Revolution. In the summer it is open to the public and features demonstrations of musket firing, weaving and the games people played.
Today there was simply solitude.

Left Behind to Rust in Peace

Had a trip outside of Boston for Thanksgiving and found a great place to photograph the final resting place of many transportation artifacts. From Buggies to barrows, buses to Buicks this place has it all. I know as a conservation minded person I should be appalled by the dumping, but I really like the way nature reclaims - muting colors, eroding strength, and masking presence. In 50 years time, if the land does not become a housing lot, then this particular transformation might well be complete.

Storm Over Everest

I sat in the audience of filmmakers, producers, mountaineers and 60 or so other people who had applied to attend a preview of Frontline's 'Storm Over Everest' in WGBH's plush Brighton studio auditorium.
Prayer flags strung along the sidewalls fluttered in the air conditioning.
Climber, producer, director, David Breashears waited 10 years, almost to the day, to release a film the events of 1996, when 11 died on Everest in what has been variously described as a freak storm and a failure of leadership.
I have read several accounts by those involved, Jon Krakauer, Anatoli Boukreev, Doug Hansen, to name three. Each differs in there account, unsurprising given that most of what happened occurred above 26,000 feet, where, put quite simply, the brain fails to function.
Breashears' film does not solve any of the many riddles, not does it provide much fresh information. What is does do beautifully, using a mix of simulation and first hand accounts, is to put the events in the context of the appalling conditions in which some died, some lived, some were heroes and others were found wanting.
A nervous Breashears, who was on Everest with his IMAX film team and took part in the many rescue attempts, introduced his work and he answered only a few questions after the preview.
In fact Breashears seemed as concerned that is two godchildren approved of his efforts as he did the audience. At least they gave him a thumbs up afterwards.
None of the Storm Over Everest film footage came from Breashears 1996 filming activity and is a recreation of conditions. This does not detract from the film's emotional poignancy, exemplified by the audience silence during rolling of the credits, before breaking out into a mix of applause that ranged from polite to enthusiastic.
The film will be aired on PBS on Tuesday May 13 and online until June 16.
I recommend putting on a down jacket, turning the air conditioning to minimum, yanking up the audio system volume and trying to imagine what it was like to be trapped in the death zone. Just don't try and figure out why – it's what people do.

Lincoln Minute Men Muster

It's not every day that I get to interview figures from the eighteenth century and write about it from my perspective for publication.

Captain William Smith, woken at 2 a.m by Mary Hartwell, herself roused by Dr. Prescott after the capture of Paul Revere rides into the center of Lincoln to muster the militia.

The story as printed in the Lincoln Journal.

It is the time of year, with winter exhausted and taxes filed, when colonial militiamen recreating events from 1775, chase weary and outnumbered British soldiers back to Boston
Read more...

Eventful Patriots Day

Compared to last years rain soaked weekend this one was sublimely tropical. Somethings don't change though. like the bright colors, loud noises, enthusiasm of re-enactors and beer and chilli afterwards.

For those that couldn't make it, enjoy the show.