A different kind of eclectic ‘Orange’

Jennifer K Mahal

Once upon a time, there was a play by Carlo Gozzi called “Love of

Three Oranges.” It was a magical play, an offshoot of commedia dell’arte,

that told the tale of a hypochondriac prince who was cursed by a witch to

love three oranges and search for them to the ends of the Earth.

It was performed many times. Prokofiev even made an opera of it. Then

one day, a teacher at UC Irvine named Annie Loui decided to take Gozzi’s

play, add music by Los Angeles theater composer John Ballinger, put in

lots of movement, use fantastical lights and costumes and show it to the

world. Which is why it’s on stage at UCI through Feb. 2.

“It’s a perfect little fable,” said Loui, who has taught at the school

for nine years, “and it’s a very optimistic fable. It celebrates the

foibles and weaknesses of humanity and lets us know that, despite them,

if you try just a little bit, everything will work out.”

The play’s fantastical elements and use of archetypes -- the evil

witch, the bumbling-but-good wizard, the beautiful princess -- attracted

Loui. But an even greater attraction may have been the open script, which

is only 25 pages long.

“It’s meant to be filled with stage magic and movement and music,” she

said.

Loui and her 19 actors, a mix of graduate and undergraduate students,

combine dance and movement styles to tell parts of the fairy tale.

Take the confrontation between Carrie Baker as the evil witch Fata

Morgana and Andrew Samonsky as the wizard Celio for example.

“Basically [the script] says, ‘They fight,”’ said Baker, a third-year

graduate student. “Then Andrew, Annie and I came up with the movement

piece.”

The fight actually takes about four minutes.

“To perform each night takes different kind of physical focus than

acting does,” Baker said. “It almost feels more like prepping for a

soccer or basketball game than a show.”

Jenn Colella, a third-year graduate student who plays Princess

Ninetta, said the physicality of her role has been one of her challenges.

“I go from being an orange to a princess to a dove,” said Colella,

last seen as the lead in “Victor/Victoria.” “Annie is a master of

movement, and she’s really helped me to get into my body and to verbalize

a lot of that through movement.”

Colella plays the princess, the love interest of the play, as a

Southern belle, a choice that may have been influenced by her upbringing

in South Carolina. Because of its partly improvisational nature, “Love of

Three Oranges” cannot be pinned down to one style.

“The whole style that we created is an un-style, and there’s a million

different styles all built into one,” Colella said.

But all together it forms a play that Loui said she believes has

relevance in this post-Sept. 11 world.

“It doesn’t ignore the fact that there is evil in the world. In fact,

it completely acknowledges it,” Loui said. “There are some rather weird

elements that we don’t try to hide. We don’t try to turn it into

something palatable. Weird needs to be accepted as part of the world.

“The play reflects life, and life is not always simple or easy.”

FYI

* WHAT: “Love of Three Oranges”

* WHEN: 8 p.m. Thursday and Friday, and 2 and 8 p.m. today and Feb. 2

* WHERE: Winifred Smith Hall at the campus, corner of Campus and

University drives in Irvine

* COST: $7-$15

* CALL: (949) 824-2787