Upcoming: Salome, Wondrous Strange Players at Renaissance Community Market, May 13 - June

Received directly:

Wondrous Strange Players proudly present

Oscar Wilde's

Salomé

a story of decadence and obsession on a biblical scale: THE DANCE WORTH HALF A KINGDOM

May 13 - 22, June 10 - 19, Fridays- Sundays, 8 p.m.

6800 WestGate Blvd at William Cannon

Tickets $12 at the door

For any questions call 832-492-8031. www.wondrousstrange.org

Wondrous Strange invites you to a night of debauchery, madness, and doom, served with coffee and dessert. Have a seat on the stage as the Wondrous Strange players enact Oscar Wilde's Salomé, a story of decadence and obsession. Witness the macabre tale of Salomé and Iokannon unfold, and behold the infamous Dance of the Seven Veils, with its monstrous consequences!

I WILL KISS THY MOUTH, IOKANNON

Director Casey Allen, a laid-back poet with charm that borders on the supernatural, calmly steers his actors through beautifully chaotic moments of the story while playing an intimidating Iokanaan. Cristl Climans returns in the title role of the beautiful and dangerous Salomé herself. Christopher Harris takes on the role of the loathsome and slimy King Herod while Sabrina Tarbutton rolls her eyes at him as his wife Herodias. A charmingly drunken Tigellinas is played by Julio Mella while Steven Brandt brings a dry humor and dapper air to King Herod’s bodyguard. Travis Doherty, playing the Young Syrian, and Ksynia Hoover, playing the Page, joined the cast for Richard III and proudly returns in Wondrous Strange’s production of Salomé.

Reviews from Elsewhere: Salome by David Yeakle & Justin Sherburn, Ft. Worth Star-Telegram, September 4

Link received from Tongue & Groove Theatre:

Hip Pocket Theatre walks tightrope with 'Salome'
Posted Saturday, Sep. 04, 2010
By Mark Lowry
Special to the Star-Telegram

FORT WORTH -- A band of circus performers can be an odd lot, a mix of attention-hungry clowns, demanding bosses, ego-driven daredevils and aerialists whose moves blend precision and sensuality. But they all have one big thing in common: They're all misfits in a world that places so much emphasis on normalcy.

Put all those elements in one performance, and it can be thrilling one minute and creepy the next, peppered with amusing and erotic interludes.

All those aspects work for Oscar Wilde's most scandalous play, Salome.

It comes together magically in David Yeakle's adaptation of the 1891 script, set in a circus milieu, for Hip Pocket Theatre.

In Yeakle's vision, the virginal temptress Salome is an aerialist (Mimi Kayl-Vaughan), her stepfather, Herod, is Ringmaster (Thad Isbell), mom Herodias a retired aerialist (Susan Austin), and Jokanaan, the character based on John the Baptist (Richard Rangel), is a caged wild man. Narraboth is an animal trainer (Paul Logsdon), and Naaman, the executioner, is a knife thrower, sharpening his blades throughout the show (and played by Grover Coulson).

Around them, strongmen, contortionists and clowns create that sense of whimsy and awe that can best be captured under the big top.

The show uses original music (by keyboardist Justin Sherburn), and oddly, a foursome of readers who speak the lines of the play, while most of the actors mime the action.

Read more at the Ft. Worth Star-Telegram on-line . . .