{"id":10357,"date":"2019-01-16T19:22:46","date_gmt":"2019-01-16T19:22:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/?p=10357"},"modified":"2019-01-16T19:22:46","modified_gmt":"2019-01-16T19:22:46","slug":"liberte-egalite-sororite","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/2019\/01\/16\/liberte-egalite-sororite\/","title":{"rendered":"Libert\u00e9, \u00c9galit\u00e9, Sororit\u00e9"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Spot will stage \u2018The Revolutionists\u2019<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

BY DANA DUGAN<\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"\"
The cast of \u201cThe Revolutionists\u201d includes, from left to right, Yanna Lantz, Ingrid Werner, Savina Barini and, on the floor, Aly Wepplo. Photo courtesy of The Spot<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Historical plays with only women as the protagonists is a rare thing to find on stage, even today. But The Spot, the alternative theatre company in Ketchum, has never shied away from the rare or the novel. Penned by playwright Lauren Gunderson and directed by Natalie Battistone, \u201cThe Revolutionists\u201d will be staged from Thursday, Jan. 24, to Sunday, Feb. 2, at The Spot in Ketchum.<\/p>\n

The play brings together three iconic French feminists, playwright Olympe de Gouges, deposed queen Marie Antoinette, and assassin Charlotte Corday. Joining these ladies is an imagined activist, Haitian rebel Marianne Angelle.<\/p>\n

\u201cMarianne is a composite of a lot of revolutionaries of the time,\u201d said Savina Barini, who plays her. \u201cThe Haitian revolution is tied to the French revolution. But even within Haiti, what women were doing was not well documented. She is a composite of all that was happening at the same time.\u201d<\/p>\n

The action takes place in 1793 during the Reign of Terror, a bloody time when French revolutionaries arrested not just the royal family, but political activists, such as these women, who were sent to the guillotine.<\/p>\n

For many, the story of this time is told through the names and lives of the famous men involved, from Robespierre and Danton to Marat, who Corday assassinated. But women were instrumental throughout the revolution, and many lost their lives for speaking out.<\/p>\n

Gunderson describes her play as a \u201ca moment in history where the rich and poor were light-years apart in lifestyle, the country was in multiple wars, the debt was huge, the workers overtaxed, trust in the government was nil, the leaders were corrupt, and greed, racism, sexism, poverty, violence, extremism\u2026 the only difference between them and us is the year and the continent.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Revolutionists\u201d is a comedy, though a brutal one.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe characters do not know they\u2019re in a comedy,\u201d Battistone said. \u201cThe stakes are too high to even wait for the punchline.\u201d<\/p>\n

Gunderson has said that being amused while being scared is a powerful thing.<\/p>\n

Power also comes in the form of the imprisoned Marie Antoinette, played by Yanna Lantz.<\/p>\n

There is such a \u201cplethora of information to dive into, it\u2019s a real gift,\u201d Battistone said. \u201cMarie is truly a legend, and I hope to do her justice.\u201d<\/p>\n

Indeed, the play presents the overexposed queen in new and inspiring ways.<\/p>\n

The women knew about each other peripherally, but in reality never met. Indeed, the premise of the play is that four brave women had a lot to say, especially to each other.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe play is constructed in a unique way,\u201d Battistone explained.<\/p>\n

\"\"
Norwegian actor Ingrid Werner plays Olympe de Gouges. Photo courtesy of The Spot<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Though it begins with an execution, the characters carry on, ghostlike.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe characters are so compelling; these different women in one space at the same time,\u201d she said. \u201cI love contrast and it\u2019s beyond contrast. There\u2019s the inevitability of their circumstance. They are aware of who they are.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ingrid Werner, a Norwegian actor from Oslo, plays Olympe de Gouges. It\u2019s in her perspective the audience finds itself.<\/p>\n

As a political activist, women\u2019s rights advocate and playwright, Olympe may be seen as a stand-in for Gunderson, who over the past few years has built a national reputation with works that center on women\u2019s stories.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a dream fugue\u2014 Olympe is into her head space, creating these characters,\u201d Werner said. \u201cIt reads as very modern, which opens it up to a broader audience and makes it more accessible. You leave here feeling something.\u201d<\/p>\n

Other aspects that make the play feel contemporary are its colloquial language as well as the deconstructed costumes: Ceci n\u2019est pas un hoop skirt <\/em>(this is not a hoop skirt).<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cThis play feels so now,\u201d said Aly Wepplo, who plays Charlotte Corday. \u201cIt\u2019s not like plays we\u2019ve seen before. It\u2019s funny and thought-provoking and heartbreaking all at once.\u201d<\/p>\n

Wepplo\u2019s character is radical. Only 25, Corday stabbed inflammatory writer Marat in his bath in July 1793. At the time, Corday said she\u2019d killed \u201cone man to save 100,000.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s intimidating,\u201d Wepplo said. \u201cSome audience members have never heard of these characters. But it\u2019s important to me to show that these figures were real people who fought to protect what they believe in.\u201d<\/p>\n

Battistone, who is herself gaining a reputation in the Valley for directing compelling productions, cites author Bren\u00e9 Brown on the intersectionality of people; how coming together with all our imperfections and differences, whether in protest or theatre, can bring us to hope and unity.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis play is a send-up to those who met the guillotine,\u201d Battistone said. \u201cWe\u2019re honoring them in a way. Maybe even sending them love.\u201d<\/p>\n

For tickets to \u201cThe Revolutionists,\u201d visit thespotsunvalley.com.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Spot will stage \u2018The Revolutionists\u2019   BY DANA DUGAN   Historical plays with only women as the protagonists is a rare thing to find on stage, even today. But The Spot, the alternative theatre company in Ketchum, has never shied away from the rare or the novel. Penned by playwright Lauren Gunderson and directed […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":10358,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"tdm_status":"","tdm_grid_status":"","_pvb_checkbox_block_on_post":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[68,4,53],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-10357","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-calendar-2","8":"category-entertainment","9":"category-calendar-feature"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10357","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10357"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10357\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/10358"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10357"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10357"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10357"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}