The only fully credited outside college, American Conservatory Theater’s Master of Fine Arts Program raised the bar yet again with Robert O’Hara’s red-hot “Good Breeding” performed on Zeum stage at Yerba Buena Gardens during this hot month of October. The play, based on “Oresteia” by Aeschylus, reflects too many contemporary attitudes and realities to be considered classic antiquity-inspired. (Perhaps, those attitudes have never changed, as the humanity matures at a speed of geological eras). Greek mythology covers about any kind of dysfunctional family—no wonder they call it the cradle of Western civilization—so the playwright, followed by the director (Timothy Douglas) and the well-attuned cast are all having a field day, to which the viewers are generously invited. The gods, the demigods, and the mortals are butting heads or razing each other, blinded by their conflicting interests and wild emotions. Fates collide and cross, vanities run rampant, and Furies (capital F) follow each bloody murderer to seek the most sacred of antique acts—revenge. Sex abounds, as was the habit of the glorious ancient society worshipping the perfect human body. This amount of tension and electricity on stage is probably only achievable with a young, tenacious, and physically fit cast, and that’s what the Program provides in good supply. The show is unfortunately over as of yesterday, but the Program goes on. To find out more, visit http://www.act-sf.org/. Photo: Pylades/Cupid (Nick Gabriel) confesses his love for Orestes (Weston Francis Wilson).
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