October 27, 2000: Volume 50, Number 8

Newton to Springer: 'Big Bang'

Director Joann Yarrow began nearly every rehearsal this fall for "The Big Bang" with a line like this: "OK, you guys, I've been thinking and what this play is really about is..."

Then would come a chorus of groans from the eight-member "Saucy Minds of Science," the College's Commedia dell'Arté troupe, as they began to experiment with yet another wild idea.

"One night, (Yarrow) came to rehearsal talking about Keanu Reeves," recalls Colleen Sentance '03, who quickly adopted the actor to her repertoire of characters. 

At another rehearsal, Yarrow proposed a swordfight, an idea that turned into a combat scene with toilet plungers staged in the style of the light saber battles in the Star Wars movies.

The Big Bang, which runs through Sunday in the Yulman Theater, is a highly improvised romp through the world of science. The production is a series of sketches loosely connected by a plot ("If you could call it a plot," says Yarrow) in which two bumbling scientists travel about recklessly in a time machine. It makes some very unlikely and irreverent connections between icons and theories of science – like Einstein and relativity – and contemporary celebrities and modern culture – like Jerry Springer and trash TV.

"Joann would have an idea and have us work with it," says Elizabeth Halakan '02, whose characters include inventor Bernie McPhoney. "Usually, it would turn into something really cool."

Yarrow describes the production as "high-paced, raunchy, offensive, shocking, gross and politically incorrect." In other words, not appropriate for children, she warns. "We've degraded every social and cultural norm out there," she says. "We see everyone in the worst possible stereotype there is."

Commedia dell'Arté was born in Italy in the mid-16th century, as professional actors would travel town to town, putting on improvised shows in public. The plays are mild and vapid or perverse and gross – as long as they are topical, says Yarrow. The actors use grotesque masks and exaggerated movements to portray their characters. "The Big Bang" uses traditional Commedia stock characters – the old miser, the saucy servant, the pompous captain, and the lusty old man – finding modern representations in the world of science and popular culture. The set is made of discarded apparatus from the physics department.

The play runs through Saturday with performances at 8 p.m. There are also 2 p.m. matinees on Saturday and Sunday. Admission is $7, $5 for students and seniors. For tickets and information, call ext. 6545. The performance is the first in this year's three-play "Season of Science" at the Yulman Theater.

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