Gutsy performances drive Upstream Theater’s “Pictures from a Revolution”

Award winning Italian playwright Tino Caspanello’s works have been produced worldwide. His more than 20 plays have been translated into multiple languages and his “Pictures from a Revolution” (“Quadri de una rivoluzione,”) is receiving its United States premiere by Upstream Theater through February 9, 2025 at The Marcelle.

Directed by Upstream Theater’s Philip Boehm, and translated by the University of Chicago’s Haun Saussy, “Pictures from a Revolution” uses imagery from the classic works of Rembrandt, Dali, Degas, van Gogh, and more to introduce 11 vignettes set in a revolutionary encampment. The three surviving revolutionaries, fully committed to their resistance, are weary, exhausted, hungry, and desperate.

The three fatigued men survive in their delirium as the revolution wanes on. The emotional and physical toll on the exhausted revolutionaries is humorously evident. Their undernourished bodies and hunger induced cognitive decline facilitates bad decisions, including capturing a woman and bringing her back to the encampment.

Philip Boehm has staged a highly entertaining and humoristic premiere of “Pictures from a Revolution.” He immerses his audience into the encampment that has been artfully constructed by his technical team. His collaboration as co-sound designer with scenic, projection, and sound designer Patrick Huber, costume designer Michelle Freidman Siler, painter David Schuman, and lighting designer Steve Carmichael have created a set that plunges the audience into the world of the revolutionaries.

Boehm’s exceptional casting choices, his direction, and his vigorous blocking draws kinetic performances from his cast. Isaiah DiLorenzo, J. Samuel Davis, Andre Eslamian, and Lizi Watt physically and fearlessly commit to Boehm’s demanding staging. Movement consultant Cecil Slaughter’s work with the director and cast produces outstanding physicality. The quartet of actors work as an effective ensemble to develop characters that engage the audience and draw them into their resistance movement.

Caspanello’s script and Saussy’s translation is enjoyable and amusing, albeit very predictable. It doesn’t take one long to understand the characters’ motivations. There are no big reveals or real surprises, but Boehm’s lively direction coupled with DiLorenzo, Davis, Eslamian, and Watt’s gutsy performances make “Picture’s from a Revolution” worth seeing.

“Pictures from a Revolution” continues at The Marcelle through February 9, 2025. More information is available at upstreamtheater.org.