June 18, 2003

 . . . Reviewers are Robert Avila, Rita Felciano, Lara Shalson, and Chloe Veltman . . .

FApocalypse: The Book of Revelation

The Marsh, 1062 Valencia; 826-5750. $12-17 (Thurs, pay what you can). Thurs-Sat, 8pm (no show June 27). Through June 28.

Solo performer Eliot Fintushel's entrancing word-for-word recitation of the Book of Revelation – that darkly mysterious and fiercely poetical work of the New Testament supposedly delivered by Jesus to the Apostle John while the latter sat in a Roman penal colony – is time well spent whether or not you're of an eschatological bent. In a passionately dramatic performance employing handmade masks and a smattering of ancient songs played on sundry instruments, Fintushel brings forth a gamut of colors and moods in conjuring up the great characters named and unnamed in this simultaneously opaque and effulgent text, the mother of all revenge tales. The shifts in tone come fast and furious, and over the course of the nearly 12,000 words that make up Apocalypse can begin to feel repetitive, but Fintushel's impressive command of the material and his craft humanizes the text, making it poignantly apt and, ironically, far more besetting than any cheap horror-flick rehash of biblical prophesy and end times could hope to be. (Avila)

" . . . a gamut of colors and moods . . . "

See the original online version at the Bay Guardian website.