Flipping the Script

From Black Lives Matter to the #MeToo movement, people are being asked to "check their privilege." For those who have grown up in safe, comfortable surroundings and never suffered the humiliation of poverty, sexism, and/or racism, it can sometimes be difficult to grasp that they have a distinct socioeconomic advantage over others.

The Business Dictionary defines affluenza as "A social condition that affects a society because of the elevated number of individuals striving to be wealthy. People within the society feel that the only measure of success is determined by how much money and prestige a person has." This year, a steady stream of news reports about white people calling the cops on people of color (who are just trying to go about their lives in peace) has only exacerbated the problem.


Shortly after taking office in 2017, Donald Trump (aided by such vicious xenophobic enablers as Mike Pence and Stephen Miller) tried to institute a ban on Muslims entering the United States. In 2018, the steady stream of refugees marching through Central America with the goal of seeking political asylum in the United States has highlighted the contrast between "the haves and the have nots." While Trump takes sadistic joy in exploiting the misery of thousands of people fleeing their homeland in order to escape political oppression, gang violence, and the possibility of starving to death, too many conservatives are being conned into believing that these refugees are malicious immigrants intent on stealing jobs, land, and wealth from the so-called "real Americans."


What happens when the tables get turned and conservative mindsets are shattered by brutal reality checks like hurricanes, wildfires, and rampaging floods? In such instances, the people who were so quick to condemn others in need get a tough lesson in what it's like to walk a mile in the shoes of someone worse off than themselves.

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Berkeley's Central Works is currently presenting the company's 61st world premiere, Chekhov's WARD 6, an adaptation that has been written and directed by Gary Graves. Based on Chekhov's third novella (published in 1892), it deals with topics like mental illness, social isolation, homelessness,  the corruption of the healthcare industry, and social responsibility -- all topics that (125 years later) are acutely relevant to today's society.

“I love Chekhov’s sensibility, his language, his understanding of human psychology, and his unique sense of humor. So often in Chekhov’s works, the humor derives from the lack of self-knowledge in the characters. They just don’t see how self-serving or hypocritical they are. But we see it,” explains Graves. “Though I love Chekhov, I’m tired of seeing his four main masterpieces (the great Chekhovian tetralogy of plays), performed over and over again. Because we only do world premieres at Central Works, I’ve turned to his stories again and again over the years in my own way of trying to bring ‘new Chekhov plays’ to our audience.”

Ed Berkeley as Ivan in Chekhov's WARD 6 (Photo by: Jim Norrena)

“Before he was established as one of Russia’s most beloved writers, Chekhov made his living as a doctor," adds the playwright. "In 1892, when WARD 6 was written, he left Moscow and moved to the countryside, where he spent much of his time (when he wasn’t writing) serving as an unpaid doctor to the impoverished peasants in the surrounding community. Chekhov was clearly writing from personal experience in this story as he wrestles with a doctor’s sense of futility at not being able to offer his penniless patients the kind of medical care they need and deserve.”

Carolina Morones, Don Wood, and Louel Señores  portray mentally insane
patients in a scene from Chekhov's WARD 6 (Photo by: Jim Norrena) 

Chekhov’s WARD 6 begins in a rural hospital's ward for the mentally insane. Among the ward's inhabitants is a young man named Ivan (Ed Berkeley), who is the most coherent of its patients. Moiseika (Louel Señores) is a former Jewish tailor who goes  begging on nearby streets each day and frequently mutters the Hebrew mourner’s kaddish; an obviously deranged woman playing with an imaginary doll and talking to it as if it were her child; and Mikhail (Don Wood), an older man cursed with an persistent cough that does not respond to the rhubarb pills given to him. Nikita (Adam Roy) is the healthy young Russian who oversees Ward 6. When he enters carrying a stewpot filled with dinner, his contempt for the patients is obvious (as are his sadistic tendencies).

The scene shifts to Dr. Ragin, who sits in his study while reading and speculating about life outside the hospital as his maid, Daryushka (Carolina Morones), brings him tea. While exciting new discoveries and scientific advancements are being reported in the field of medicine, Ragin blames the corrupt and utterly inefficient healthcare system that governs the hospital he runs for its failure to take care of its patients. His personal philosophy has convinced him that nothing can be done to correct the systemic rot by only one person acting alone. Desperate for any kind of intellectual stimulation, his curiosity is aroused when told that one of the patients on Ward 6 (Ivan) is quite intelligent and a bit of a philosopher.

Richard Frederick (Dr. Andrei Ragin) and Ed Berkeley (Ivan) strike up
an unlikely friendship in Chekhov's WARD 6 (Photo by: Jim Norrena)

Unlike the doctor, Ivan firmly believes that  that poverty and political corruption must be confronted and opposed; and that, in the long run, how each and every individual behaves really does matter. Diagnosed with “persecution mania,” Ivan possesses strong enough communicative skills to open Dr. Ragin's eyes and heart to the suffering and corruption  around them. As an intellectual bond develops between the two men, the doctor gets up the courage to explore the world beyond the hospital, but is appalled by the social injustice he encounters. What he sees leaves him increasingly disturbed and depressed until his enlightenment triggers the arrival of a new doctor. Soon enough, Dr. Ragin finds himself locked up in Ward 6 as its newest mental patient.

The supporting cast of Chekhov's WARD 6 (Photo by: Jim Norrena)

As much as I admire the skill Gary Graves frequently shows as a director, lighting designer, adapter, and playwright, I found Chekhov's WARD 6 to be extremely disappointing. Some of this could be due to the curious restrictions of the playing area at the Berkeley City Club, where a steady stream of costume/character changes creates a carousel effect as actors enter and exit the room after each brief scene. The larger problem (at least to my mind) is that some stories work better when left to a reader's imagination rather than attempting to bring them to life them on a stage.

Ed Berkeley as Ivan in Chekhov's WARD 6 (Photo by: Jim Norrena) 

Performances of Chekhov's WARD 6 continue through November 11 at the Berkeley City Club (click here for tickets).

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When Spartacus was released in 1960, the muscular drama about a slave rebellion in ancient Rome starring Kirk Douglas became an instant hit in an era when Italian spaghetti westerns (also known as "sword and sandal" epics) had become a popular form of entertainment. One of the campier moments in the film came when Tony Curtis as the slave Antoninus let his New York accent give an extra frisson to the line "Yonder lies the village of my muddah." The homoerotic bath scene featuring Curtis and Laurence Olivier that was deleted from the film prior to its release has resurfaced on YouTube.


Two decades following the theatrical release of Spartacus, the legendary gay porn film, Centurians of Rome, was released. As noted on Wikipedia: "One of the most expensive gay films of its time, it was directed by John Christopher and starred George Payne and Scorpio. The film was reportedly financed from a 1980 theft by a Brinks security guard of almost $2 million (Lloyd's of London, an insurer of Brinks, filed claim to partial ownership of the film)." The less than brilliant script (spoken by less than brilliant actors) included the line "The Emperor wants to fuck you now!"

Poster art for 1981's Centurians of Rome

With this year's San Francisco Olympians Festival dedicated to deities from Roman mythology, festival founder Stuart Bousel made an interesting artistic decision by elevating Julius Caesar, Cleopatra, and Mark Antony to the level of cultural gods as a result of the celebrity status they earned posthumously. One of the festival's playwrights, Nic Sommerfeld, chose to write about Octavian Augustus (the adopted son and heir to Julius Caesar who became first Roman Emperor, ruling over the Roman Empire for 40 years).

Actor/playwright Nic Sommerfeld

Sommerfeld's one-act play, (appropriately entitled Octavian Augustus) updates the relationship between Mark Antony and Octavian Augustus to the present day, setting the action during a film shoot for a gay porn movie about the two legendary military leaders. Whether or not the audience was aware of how the funding materialized for Centurians of Rome, as directed by Kieran Beccia the reading of Sommerfeld's script kept the audience howling with laughter. Among the key figures were:

• David (Eric Bergland), a prissy scholar heavily versed in the history of ancient Rome who is driving the director crazy with his attention to detail (or, as Pooh-Bah stated in The Mikado, "Merely corroborative detail, intended to give artistic verisimilitude to an otherwise bald and unconvincing narrative").
• Sir Nancy (Sophia Lanza-Weil), the film's director who is trying to keep an eye on the budget and restrain herself from throttling David. A likely inspiration for this character might have been Mr. Pam (one of the most respected and successful females in the gay porn industry).
• Octavian (Michael Houston), a popular performer in gay porn films whose reputation as a top drives sales.
• Antony (Will Livingston), a newbie making his porn debut who is handsome and decently hung but suddenly refuses to bottom in front of the camera.

Poster art for Octavian Augustus (as imagined by Cody Rishell)

After much hemming and hawing, the big reveal is that Antony (who is making his first venture into "gay for pay" acting jobs) only auditioned for the part because his girlfriend thought it would be good for him (and, besides, he needed the money). Others who performed during the reading included Rachel Levy as Julie and Christy Conway (Gaius), Nicole Odell (Quintus), and Ely Orquiza (Publius) as three supporting actors in the film. It's safe to say that a good time was had by all.