GEOGRAPHY OF A HORSE DREAMER
Carpe Noctem Productions at Shattered Globe Theatre
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If Shepard’s plays have nothing to do with our daily lives they have everything to do with our deepest, most violent emotions. Shepard knows where our desires and fears lie and he creates situations to get at that place. His plays have a raw energy–they’re almost like a primal scream–and they resonate long after the lights go up. Carpe Noctem director Lindsay Jones comes very close to capturing this energy in Geography of a Horse Dreamer. This fast-paced production crackles and bites. It moves along with the excitement that comes to a new theater group when they know they’re doing something right. And it makes for some very satisfying late-night theater.
This is the kind of play that gives male actors a chance to flex their technique, and Jones has assembled a highly skilled cast that does just that. Ramon Lyons and Jason Singer give seamless performances as the gangsters Beaujo and Santee. Jeff Parker is a delightful weirdo as Fingers, the ominous gangster boss. Tim McGeever as the horse dreamer Cody and Scott Caple as “Doctor” come off as unnervingly real. Even the thankless bit parts are well performed. All these actors need is to open up and breathe a bit and this production will soar.
