Ironic Persuasions & Soulful Tendencies: The Arts Culture Of Northern Alabama - Feature
The aspect of drama paints its picture through multiple layers of life sewn together. Alabama is no exception. In an arena known for its Civil War underpinings throughout the South, the aspect of irony and paradox resonates in much of the local performance culture creating an arts volume that elevates its abilities.
One of the most intrinsic particulars which is celebrating its 50th Anniversary is the book "To Kill A Mockingbird" which was based in the town of Monroeville. Settled within the small town element, this book brought to prominence the Pulitzer winning countenance in the very courthouse that inspired Harper Lee, who still glides around town, to write this tome of prejudice and intensity.
As the clouds hang in perpetuity, the stage play adaptation begins in earnest behind the courthouse, the recreation of an old background set made in real time. Despite a looming storm, the intensity of the courtroom fervor of Atticus Finch continues with fire creating a new context when the judge's bench literally intensifies around the viewer. One of the most necessary aspects of theater can be encompassing the viewer in the world which is the ultimate equator.
Early progressions in the afternoon give the visitor a sense of history within "Mockingbird" as well as its creator. Many people who interacted with the author work the historical trail laid out as a matter of pride. Even speaking at the local coffee shop, the connection to its history is rather specific as stories of Lee as a young girl playing on the streets giving interesting structural corrolation to the story that eventually consumed her life.While "Mockingbird" casts quite a large shadow in terms of dramatic pedigree, Alabama possesses an interesting gem within the structure of its Shakespeare Festival held about a sprawling estate that brings to mind in perpetuity the countryside of England.With two theaters able to structure interesting differences between in-the-round productions which constitute a different feeling of intimacy to the more straight-ahead approach associated with most standard theatrical productions, both plays staged at the Carolyn Blount Theatre showed dexterity from differing standpoints, both theatrically and performance-wise.
The first, a more experimental progression called "Fall Of The House", which uses time-jumping insinuations as a framework for a larger thought on the definition of family, truly works because its actors believe in its idealism in many ways. While some plot contusions might be confusing for some, it is the metaphor of what these emotions say that truly bring out greatness in the material. One time-staggered scene involves a man and his slave, both of whom have begot their social nature, and fallen in love. The abandon by which the actors showed this interaction truly anchored the play and brought the audience completely into the story. While the resolution, played with infinite structure by a young actress embodying an old lady, retained its poignancy, the true miracle was in watching the transformations of the actors allowed within the material, an original work, based in the dream life of Edgar Allen Poe, whose life consumes its basis.
The second production, retained later in the evening, relied on more conventional tones in its effervescence of Shakespeare himself within the guise of the tragicomedy "All's Well That Ends Well". Though its head heroine Helena with much dexterity commands the stage, "Fall In The House", as an experience, still rang more soundly in its point of view. Regardless of this fact, the use of sets and point-of-view perception within this production is quite intriguing as the innuendoes fly fast and furious as the Bard plays in tandem. Helena's pursuing of a Duke that does not love her becomes an exercise in chicanery in a social system that persists in a wall of sexual division and deviation. The resolution, worthy of Henry VIII, from reverse action where Helena tricks her loathsome husband into impregnating her thinking she is another women, is maniacal and fitting as pointed out by Lavatch, the devious and consuming jester of the court who sees the progression as the chorus would see the deception. The ideals, though outdated, still ring as sharp with a multi-national cast proving every bit as effective as any from London to New York.As a reflection of local intensity, touring theater companies make themselves pertinent in many different ways. Overtaking the Montgomery Performing Arts Center within the utterly central Renaissance Hotel, a production of "The Color Purple" rings with emotion as only such as a story in the South could do. Steps away from the Rosa Parks bus stop and Martin Luther King Jr.'s former church mere streets away, this tale, in countenance to its theme, simply permeated in its effect with an unworldly passion that perhaps would be unlikely on a New York stage simply because of its location. From soaring gospel hues to visions of the big city, the ideal of the play provided a resilient modern impact of the influence of arts such as this on a small but crucial town in the American South.In mirroring local history, the most intensive progression in the area is the repercussion of the Civil War and its battles upon the psyche of the land. Even as 150 years approaches, one feels the pull of kin to the honor of fallen family.
In recreating the Battle Of Selma, the visceral nature of the encroaching North is nigh. The initial juxtaposition is mired in Live Oak Cemetery as the flowers bloom and crawl in slow surrounding rapture as the procession of mourners files through. In ironic parallel, a grave for an "Indiana Jones" in the early 1900s points to the foible of art imitating reality in reverse action.
As the battlefield approaches on the site of its initial impact, the smell of gunpowder resonates in the air as cannons louder than most conventional fireworks reign smoke across the ranks. Fire bombs mark into enemy territory as the horses neigh against the oncoming attack. While throngs of locals watch the carnage unfold, the attacks continue.
The structure of the guard from the medical officers to the infantrymen keep in close proximity as the chaos slowly overcomes the battle. The encroaching Union soldiers become embroiled in a firefight on the edge of the battlefield. Seeing this inclement behavior up close as modern children take digital pictures of the slaughter of soldiers solidifies in the mind the sheer paradox of war and why the necessity of remembering its consequence is essential for all to see.Now granted, all of this cannot be done on an empty stomach. Sustenance is, of course, what keeps the fires burning.
In Birmingham, the inventiveness begins at the Hot & Hot Fish Club. Spirits belie the intrinsic personality with a Strawberry Hyssop Mojito starting the influx but lacking the requisite sugar to motivate sin while a Spicy Tini, replete with hot peppers, straddles hotness with a necessary symbiosis.
The encroaching salad, with its cross referenced possibilities of ingredients, got the blood flowing mixing trumpet mushrooms, country ham and crawfish over arugula in a wonderful cacophony of tastes as the Hot & Hot shrimp and grits gave way to resounding brilliance with its creamy percolation of ham and lemon thyme within a cheesy countenance.
By comparison, an afternoon respite at the St. James Hotel in Selma offered a structure of Old West elegance. Maintained in similar status from the time Jesse James struck through the door, the dining hall of the Troup House begets the haunted rooms looming upstairs as a river flows below unfettered.
The swirling tangy presence of gumbo and an overtly creamy and hearty caesar salad gives way to a luscious fish topped with spicy tomatoes and spinach resting within a bed of au gratin potatoes that jumped within the vision.
In tandem, the down home base of the Mockingbird Grille in Monroeville, a stone's throw from the central courthouse, went for the jugular invoking pure country comfort. The catfish, fried and tender, ensconced with chunky potato salad, silken cole slaw and splendid grits gave credence for the long walk needed to alleviate its potency.
The final resolute tendency of dinner, before a rooftop chill in the jacuzzi at the Montgomery Renaissance, lay across the street in the twilight lift of SaZa Pizza, where after the influx of silken bread, the exploded garlic made its true entrance with a chopped lobster, shrimp and spinach medley over angel pasta that ingratiated wanton tendencies to a fever pitch.Alabama, never one to shy away from history, makes the most of its theatrical background while remaining true to its roots. From the parallel life trevails of "Mockingbird" in Monroeville to the ironic prevails of Shakespeare, Edgar Allen Poe and The Color Purple to the surreal intensity of the recreated Battle Of Selma, the ideal becomes one of drama mixed with a sense of the real, not to mention a satisfied countenance.