Performer
As peformer, Robert Allen's career spans more than 10 years as a Dancer and
Physical Theater artist in the US and Germany. His last public performance was in 1995.
Robert Allen's wonderful to watch, snaking with a rare full-body awareness, each
move flowing (or rebounding) into the next with an evocative logic. His mix of
physical theater, sounds, eastern and western movement forms (spiced with a
rapier wit) is as marvelous...
--Lucia Dewey, Drama-Logue
Recent Reviews
The Faulkner Project: As I Lay Dying University of Maryland, Baltimore County; November/December 2006.
Demotic Beal Center for Art and Technology, University
of California Irvine, July 2004.
Roman Forum Project/03 Beal Center for Art and Technology, University
of California Irvine, March 2003.
Excerpts
From a review on Dream Play, by August Strindberg, adapted by
Courtney Baron. Presented at Cal State University, Long Beach, March
2003.
[Dream Play features] nicely nuanced and downright professioanl peformances by a number of
student actors, and the direction, set, lighting and music [are] impeccable...
Those students in the Cal State production who go on to act professionally will
likely never get to be in something quite so intellectual again (at least not for
money). And again, they all do a great job under director Robert Allen.
--Alessandra Djurklou, Press Telegram
From a review of Willy, Mickey, and the Duke, by Howard Burman and Mat
Vinson, directed by Joanne Gordon. Presented at Cal State University, Long Beach,
November 2002.
...the five member cast performs as one seamless ensemble with every movement
beautifully staged in stop frame perfection by coach Robert Allen.
--Shirlie
Gottlieb, Press Telegram
Excerpt from a review of Order and Disorder, a workshop
for American director/choreographers and students of the Palucca
Schule conservatory for dance. Zwischen Fear und Sex, Funf Proben, an original work for dancers
and actors. Presented at the Festspielhaus, Hellerau, Germany, June
2002.
Robert Allen works with speech and movement. ...the working method of the
director includes mingling dancers and dance students with American performers
who have been trained in theater. The mixture brings primarily wonderful
contrasts [and] allows intensive moments in the confrontation/meetings of the
nine performers.
--Dresdener Neue Nachrichten, translation by Dr. Emma
Lewis Thomas
The Great Highway
A Review by Arnold Aronson for the Hammerstein Center for the Performing
Arts--Winter 87/88
American theaters tend not to produce the work of August Strindberg very often
except for Miss Julie and occasionally Dream Play. Therefore, seeing Robert
Allen's production of The Great Highway was a great pleasure.
Partly out of necessity, but mostly out of aesthetic choice, Allen chose to
produce the play simply, which placed the emphasis--as it should be--on the text
and on the performances. The play was staged environmentally, incorporating the
audience into the physical as well as the emotional world of the play. Thus, each
of us went on the journey with the characters as they moved through Strindberg's
evocative world.
The audience entered into the moody, atmospheric theater filled with crates.
These crates would become the visual motif for the play--characters would emerge
from them, some could open to reveal picture galleries, they could become rooms,
houses, forests, villages. Arranged symmetrically they could function as a maze
for the characters while evoking the images of Stonehenge or the amazing clay
warriors of China. Scattered, they could become an obstacle course for the
audience or even something to simply lean against.
Allen found great humor in the play, as well as mystery, and despair. Strindberg
translator Michael Meyer has noted that "a Strindberg play well acted is an
almost unbearable experience, both for the audience and for those taking part.
Moreover, it requires a kind of acting that . . . is not afraid to approach the
precipice." In its best moments, Robert Allen's production achieved this extreme
level in both acting and effect and made Strindberg understandable and
accessible, while also terrifying.
Arnold Aronson
theater scholar
The Creditors
Reviews from Backstage Online (Fringe Festival coverage):
Two Strindberg plays demonstrate just how important the author is to experimental
theatre, even after a century and a half of varied interpretations. "The
Creditors," a three-character play which combines naturalism with surreal
elements, is one of Strindberg's stronger scripts, and here it is smartly staged
by Robert Allen. The Henry Street Settlement's Recital Hall is an odd venue for
theatre, but Allen uses it well, and employs some terrific lighting to bring
forth his ideas.
"Secrets of the Yellow Room" consists of two one-acts by Strindberg. Where "The
Creditors" allows the surreal elements of its script to come across sublty,
"Secrets" reaches to find some in its text, and pushes them upon us. This
detracts from what would otherwise be two well-staged plays centering on
confrontations between two characters.
--Peter Shaughnessy
Three actors come together at the Henry Street Settlement Recital Hall to give a
spirited rendition of Strindberg's biting drama, "The Creditors." Strindberg
scholar Harry G. Carlson is responsible for this new adaptation, which is
thoroughly contemporary in its feel.Carlson brings out what is basic in
Strindberg's work--namely, a view of interpersonal relationships that is in tune
with our own times. In doing so, he turns 19th century Swedish dialogue into our
own vernacular."The Creditors" deals with a volatile trio--a woman, her
ex-husband and her current husband. Manipulation, cynicism, self-centeredness,
cruelty, and need are all in the mix, as the three play out their games. Like a
research scientist, detached but keenly observant, Strindberg dissects the three,
examining every facet of each personality, and the effect of each upon the
others.Though it is all talk, no action, this well-structured piece rushes on
headlong, never losing our attention. Each scene is given over to different
pairs--the two husbands, the wife and current husband, and finally the wife and
ex-husband. In tandem they wrestle with each other and their own demons. Kevin
Keaveney, Giovanni Pucci and Megan Welch plunge into this challenging work of a
master playwright with considerable skill.
--Irene Backalenick
August in January
Off Off Broadway Review (February 11, 1999)
Review by Julie Halpren
The Outlet Theater Co., an exciting group of young actors and directors, had an
auspicious debut, presenting Strindberg scholar Harry G. Carlson's successful
adaptations of Coram Populo, The Stronger, and The Creditors
for contemporary audiences. The performers were all strong, attractive presences,
and it appears that Outlet Theater has the beginnings of an important new
repertory company.
The Creditors was updated with spare sets and simple modern dress.
Giovanni Pucci gave a splendidly taut performance as Adolf, the self-absorbed
artist, obsessed with his health and his wife Tekla's attentions to other men.
Intensely propound one moment and incredibly nasty and petty the next, Pucci ran
the gamut of Adolf's emotions, making him sympathetic, no matter how ridiculously
he behaved. Megan Welch was a delight as the insecure, quirky writer Tekla. Keven
Keaveney brilliantly portrayed Tekla's manipulative first husband, Gustav, in the
best "film noir" tradition. Tom Ritchford's slightly sinister sound effects
enhanced the feeling that this was all a nightmare, and Robert Allen's nuanced
direction pulled all the naturalistic and surreal aspects of the work together
perfectly.
Videotapes,
photos, reviews, references, publications, and other materials are available on
request.
Contact Information
Email: hai@fly.net