by MARK RABINE JULY 6, 2023 (MissionLocal.org)
San Francisco has long been portrayed by right-wing politicians and press as a den of iniquity. In “Breakdown,” the San Francisco Mime Troupe satirizes that portrayal. It’s a story about a story.
We’ve all heard the story time and again, by Fox, DeSantis, Carlson and others, often echoed and amplified by local media and City Hall, to wit: “San Francisco is a city under siege from battalions of homeless, drug-addicted zombie barbarians, aided and abetted by a subversive fifth column of elite progressives.”
As a story about a story, “Breakdown” has its pros and cons.
On the pro side, it’s easy to recognize, parody and draw laughs from what I presume was an elite progressive audience on July 4 at Dolores Park.
On the con side, a story about a story often calls for some nuance and a relatively complex plot that can be difficult to follow in a park distracted by dogs, volleyball players, odd tattoos, vendors of margaritas and edibles. So when “the story” gets confronted by “the reality” of the Tenderloin, the musical breaks down into loosely linked scenes, then wanders and finally ends with a sigh.
The plot problems, for the most part, do not get in the way of the music, dance and one-liners sprinkled through most of the script. In his manifesto “Guerrilla Theatre,” Mime Troupe founder R.G. Davis said that alternative theater such as the SFMT must “[k]eep the caliber of performances high — any lack of skill will lose audiences.”
Under the direction of Michael Gene Sullivan, the performance level is as high as any theater in the area. The sparkling music and lyrics by Daniel Savio cover most of the script’s dry spots, and the five-person cast (playing multiple roles) communicates the fun they are having to the audience. The actors play their roles with generally good timing as they take on the Mime Troupe’s signature genre — call it Farcical Realism.
A feature of this genre is to humanize some characters (workers, women, people of color, etc.) while stereotyping others (white male bosses, politicians, etc.). “Breakdown” tinkers with this formula, but mostly holds to it. For actors, it’s more than merely a matter of changing costumes. The cast is to be commended to the degree they pull this off.
The mixed genre also challenges a coherent story and the development of a compelling plot. “Breakdown” does better with the farce than it does with realism, which is reflected in too much exposition and added minutes.
The blending of farce and realism, especially in politics, seems as San Francisco as the fog. But to bring these two elements together successfully on stage requires another level in terms of skill and dedication (and luck). The Troupe has been at it for nearly 60 years, and keeps struggling to get it right. Good for them.
Over halfway through the performance, my brother said, “This is the best Mime Troupe ever,” and I agreed. By the end, we both felt it needed work.
Fortunately, that will happen over the next couple of months as the Mime Troupe takes its show on the road. Here’s the schedule.
“Breakdown” returns to Dolores Park on Sept. 4 and we will find out what the Troupe has learned. Expect the (more or less) final product to be professional and entertaining, but will it get tighter, will it get wittier, will it get sharper? We’ll see.
MARK RABINE
Mark Rabine has lived in the Mission for over 40 years. “What a long strange trip it’s been.” He has maintained our Covid tracker through most of the pandemic, taking some breaks with his search for the Mission’s best fried-chicken sandwich and now its best noodles. When the Warriors make the playoffs, he writes up his take on the games.
