Oregonian, The (Portland, OR)   (1988-Current)
NewsBank Inc.
SEARCHING: OREGONIAN, THE
for:  Advanced Search | New Search 
return:
Search Hints:
To find an exact name or phrase, use quotes.
Custom date example: Jan 1, 2000 - Feb 3, 2000.
timeframe:     
custom date:
Record 87 of 92
 Save this Article 
Email this Article To:
SENSE OF THE RIDICULOUS KEEPS `BATEAU' ON EVEN KEEL
Oregonian, The (Portland, OR)
October 27, 1987
Author: BOB HICKS of the Oregonian Staff
Estimated printed pages: 2


The night lights of downtown Portland sparkled on the water as the paddles of the stern-wheeler Columbia Gorge lightly rippled the calm of the Willamette River.

Inside the riverboat -- site of Charles Deemer's ``Bateau de Mort, or, Revenge on the River'' -- the disturbance was more like pandemonium: as strenuous and volatile as a bad day at the stock exchange.

Deemer, whose latest simultaneous-action drama had a dry -- or should we say, wet -- run Monday night before Tuesday's official opening, has whipped up enough high-society sin and scandal to do Sidney Sheldon proud.

But he's done Sheldon one better, sticking his audience smack in the middle of the action and daring them to keep track of all the mud as it flies from fore to aft and deck to deck. And he's done it with a keen sense of the ridiculous.

The convoluted plot (or series of plots) involves a scam religion called the Universal Church of Primitive Balance, a ritzy wedding, a dead man's ashes, a Mafia revenge, a cocaine sale, some surrogate mothers, a 25,000-year-old chanting priestess, and enough greed, selfishness and double-dealing to satisfy several prophets of doom.

``The crowd appears to be just a little bewildered right now,'' a society reporter (one of the actors) intones into her tape recorder. ``Not sure what to expect next.''

That's as Deemer wants it.

His multiple-action plays run backward from the normal course of drama or literature. Rather than extracting clarity from the unformed, he seeks to obscure (perhaps even deny) meaning by deliberately dipping his audience back into the pool of immediate experience.

While audience members mill about trying frantically to keep up with the action, as many as five scenes are being played out at once -- each in a different place.

A scream or caustic remark or gunshot in one location will bring a flock of people scurrying to the scene, often just a moment too late: The next flare-up might be coming from the spot they just left.

Because no one can see all that's happening on the boat, no one can ``understand'' what's happening in the ordinary sense of achieving an overview.

``Bateau'' is a sequel to last year's popular Pittock Mansion mystery, ``Chateau de Mort,'' and like ``Chateau'' is a benefit for The Musical Company. Several of the same characters are involved, though fewer live to tell about it.

Quarters are more cramped on the stern-wheeler than in the Pittock Mansion, and that makes it more difficult to follow a single performer. That also makes it more difficult to find ``sense'' in the proceedings -- but then, sense is much less important than sensation.

At different times we followed (and enjoyed) Sam A. Mowry as the bridegroom and cult leader, Patricia Armsted as the high priestess, Run Vzel as a suave Mafioso, Alyson Osborn as the bride with much more than a honeymoon on her mind, and Gaynor Sterchi as the bride's mom, a convicted murderer.

THEATER REVIEW Bateau de Mort Author: Charles Deemer Director: Ghita Hager Where: aboard the Columbia Gorge sternwheeler, departing from Waterfront Park at S.W. Front and Stark When: departure 7:30 p.m. Tues.-Sun.; boarding 6:30 p.m. Tues., 7 p.m. Wed.-Sun. Tickets: $90 Tues.; $37.50 or $70/couple Wed.-Sun. (280-6592 or 235-4551)
Edition: Fourth
Section: Arts And Entertainment
Page: C04
Index Terms: Review Theater
Copyright (c) 1987 Oregonian Publishing Co.
Record Number: 8710270695

OpenURL Article Bookmark (right click, and copy the link location):
http://docs.newsbank.com/openurl?ctx_ver=z39.88-2004&rft_id=info:sid/iw.new
sbank.com:ORGB:ORGB&rft_val_format=info:ofi/fmt:kev:mtx:ctx&rft_dat=0EB084B
264D7BB17&svc_dat=InfoWeb:aggregated4&req_dat=0D0CB55EC55440C0
Record 87 of 92
 Save this Article 
Email this Article To: