The Truth: A Tragedy
Cynthia Hopkins' new solo piece is an often engaging yet unsparing look at her recently deceased father.
(© Thierry Chassepoux)
Hopkins wears those memories, almost literally, on her sleeve, before casting some of them off, peeling away the layers in a quest to understand the enigmatic man who gave her life. In her skirt of neckties and her whiteface makeup, she almost seems to want to exoticize him at first. (The production design and direction were led by Hopkins' frequent collaborators, Jeff Sugg and DJ Mendel, respectively.)
And John is indeed a colorful character, a "fool in a Shakespeare play," according to his daughter. He's the kind who would write a musical about suicide, choose as its title a folky euphemism for testicles, and premiere it with a group of grade-school students at the Massachusetts day school where he taught. Yet, ultimately, this man is extraordinary in ordinary ways. "The nature of my father's tragedy is partly that it is not legendary," she says.
As with most of Hopkins' shows, it's set to an eclectic variety of music, ranging from the "Dies irae" of Verdi's Requiem to the old folksong, "English Country Garden," to Hopkins' own complex, Joni-Mitchell-flavored, indie-folk compositions.The only problem with the original numbers is that the performer sings them herself, often-times outside of her vocal comfort range. Only a shanty towards the end, accompanied on the accordion, is delivered in Hopkins' beautiful lower register.
What ultimately lifts the performance away from unremitting bleakness is Hopkins' humor. Don't go seeking comfort. But she will make you laugh, no more so than when she discovers, underneath her father's stubborn sloppiness, a wily principle of "anti-organization." Or when she, impersonating him, gets continually ambushed by a piano lid.