Frank Nall s Governor, and Carolyn Hoerdemann s Fly are riveting. Hoerdemann s delivery is sharp and good as anything in a show filled with razor wire touches. As the audience enters the theater the players open dressing rooms are ranged on either side of the seating area. The ensemble singing is good but tends at times to be so musical that the lyrics are lost. Feingold s translation occasionally skids around and over Brecht s German, nor is it invariably focused.
Characters drift off into the linguistic ozone before reappearing as comprehensible.
Goulding uses slides to alienate sequences and his direction indicates more than the usual shaky acquaintance with Brecht s ideas. The European Reps style and elan are palpable and if they err on occasion on the side of fun, so much the better for everyone. The photo of Lenin was well placed in the lobby. Cas Neher could not have set it with more care, hinting as it does at the wicked dreams of the dispossessed. Brecht s Three Penny Opera, the company s current production, is the single most successful show in the group s history.