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| Lindsay Kemp. |
SALOME [Dramatic Revival] A: Oscar Wilde; AD/D: Lindsay Kemp; S: Chris Sedimaur; L: David Andrews; M: William Hellerman; P: New York Theatre Ensemble i/a/w Alan Eichler and Ron Link; T: Truck and Warehouse Theatre (OB); 1/8/75-2/16/75 (30)
Scottish mime Lindsay Kemp--the Taylor Mac of his day--followed up his Broadway production of Flower with this eccentric Off-Broadway revival of Oscar Wilde’s one-act play, which the author wrote in French in 1893, years before it was allowed a public performance. Kemp, whose transvestite methods were evident in Flowers, brought a similar touch to Salome, doing it with an all-male cast.
His attempt to conceptualize the staging began
promisingly enough with an opening tableau in which the briefly-dressed company,
wearing white clown makeup, stood stock still for several minutes. However, as
Clive Barnes pointed out, the moment they began speaking Wilde’s words, the
play flew out the window.
Kemp himself played Salomé in this travesty version of Wilde’s
melodrama, but his performance was “a display rather than a characterization,”
wrote Barnes. The critic also faulted the show as tedious, humorless, and
bland.
