LAFF 2013: IN A WORLD...

Carol (Lake Bell) in In a World...

Hear me roar (sort of)

By Don Simpson

In a world where men — such as Carol’s father, Sam (Fred Melamed) – are worshipped for their booming bass voices that accompany the trailers for Hollywood’s biggest blockbusters, Carol (writer-director Lake Bell) works as a lowly speech and accent coach for actors. Luckily for Carol, a new wave of female-centric blockbusters has begun, thus opening the possibility for Hollywood’s first female voiceover artist.

Bell’s In a World... reveals the chauvinistic and incestuous tendencies of Hollywood, showcasing just how ridiculous it is to have the same male voices attached to every movie trailer. She might not be any better than her male counterparts, but Carol is incredibly unique because she is a woman. Now that Hollywood action films have finally opened their arms to female heroes, it only makes sense that they retain that strong female voice in the trailers to those films. It seems logical, but not necessarily in a man’s world.

In a World also speaks directly about the female voice as Carol works with women to correct the way in which they speak. Often, women are judged by the sound of their voice. If a woman speaks in a high-pitched Valley Girl tone with a lot of filler sounds, she is typically not taken seriously by men. Even Carol conforms as much as possible to the voiceover industry standard by lowering the frequency of her own voice whenever she is on the microphone. In other words, to break into a man’s world, you must play by their rules and abide by their standards with the hope of eventually making changes from the inside.

Female writer-directors are unfortunately a rare breed in Hollywood, so we need women like Bell to bring their voices to the forefront. As In a World... suggests, this is not an easy proposition. It is one met with ridiculous resistance from the old guard of Hollywood. In the end, the decision will have to be made by fans. If films with powerful women sell tickets at the box office and do well in home video sales, then Hollywood will have no choice. In a World... is a worthy crossover comedy that seems independent but has enough star power to hold its own in the box office.

THEATER REVIEW: THE TAMING OF THE SHREW

A scene from The Taming of the Shrew.

For the birds

By Ed Rampell

“Hark! What light breaks through yonder canyon?” Why, it’s none other than another repertory season of revels and revelations at Will Geer’s Theatricum Botanicum, made glorious summer by these sons and daughters of Geers.

As I’ve written for years, no summer in Los Angeles is complete without a stage sojourn to the Theatricum and this remains true as ever for 2013’s theatergoers. There’s nothing quite like seeing Shakespeare under the stars in that rustic amphitheatre nestled in Topanga Canyon. Never ones to shrink from controversy, the Theatricum has launched its 40^th Anniversary Repertory Season with one of the Bard’s most contentious plays: The Taming of the Shrew.

Let me say from the outset that the mise-en-scene, which creatively makes use of the natural surroundings, the music, the period costumes (I’m always up for traveling back in time to the Renaissance) and the acting are up this equity house’s usual high standards. As Grumio the sly cross-dressing Melora Marshall humorously plays yet another male character. Raven-haired Willow Geer -- who has trod the boards in many a Bard play and is arguably one of Los Angeles’ finest theater actresses -- is superb as the fiery, strong-willed (and did I forget to say sexy?) Katharina. Willow can heave her bosom with the best of them, and coming up against this force of nature is another Theatricum veteran, Aaron Hendry, as Petruchio, who seeks to woo, wed and domesticate this fireball.

The troupe’s venerable Artistic Director, Ellen Geer, presides over the organized mayhem of this naughty, bawdy, rowdy farce with her usual astute aplomb. In the playbill’s “Director’s Notes” Ms. Geer -- a Shakespearean expert -- observes that there are “many points of view” about The Taming of the Shrew, which is indeed subject to interpretation. One point of view is that in this play about the eternal war between the sexes where Petruchio subdues and subjugates Katharina to his will. Backstage, after the show, Hendry told this critic that Petruchio could be considered to be a “misogynist."

In the story Katharina, the “shrew-ish” title character, is an acid-tongued, temperamental woman used to having and getting her way in Padua. Or, she is a proto-feminist, free spirited and determined to live life on her own terms. However, she is coerced against what appears to be her will to enter into an arranged marriage on very short notice with Petruchio. He is no gentleman from Verona, and after marrying Kate, literally uses Guantanamo-type (I kid thee not) “enhanced interrogation” methods to break her spirit, including sleep and food deprivation.

The reader may feel that, to paraphrase Queen Gertrude: “The critic doth protest too much, methinks.” To be fair to the production, Hendry does succeed in conveying a sense that Petruchio is genuinely smitten with Katharina. And when they lip lock one can sense that both characters feel a libidinal thrill.

However, at one point Kate shrieks at the top of her lungs that she wants to be “free!!!”

Here, here -- hear, hear the voice of women throughout the ages struggling for their rights, to be treated as equals, not chattel!

To be sure, the Theatricum’s version is a romp, but many of the jokes may stick in your craw. The subjugation of human beings is never a laughing matter to be taken lightly -- although there are those who argue that Kate bests her loutish husband by using submissiveness as a ruse to -- as ever -- get her own way. But what would we say if Shakespeare had titled The Merchant of Venice “The Taming of the Jew”? Some of this tale of domination is frankly disturbing to my egalitarian, anarchistic sensibility. But as far as the Theatricum’s production goes, to paraphrase Cassius:

“The fault, dear Bard,
Is not in the staging
But in our text.”

The Taming of the Shrew runs through Sept. 29 at the Will Geer Theatricum Botanicum: 1419 N. Topanga Canyon Blvd., Topanga, California, 90290. For more information: 310-455-3723; www.Theatricum.com.