`Charlie Victor Romeo' crackles with tension

By Jeanne Claire van Ryzin

AMERICAN-STATESMAN ARTS CRITIC

Sunday, October 13, 2002

The audience sat riveted, barely moving through the 80-minute show at the B. Iden Payne Theatre on Wednesday. And it wasn't like the outcome of each of the six scenarios was any surprise. After all, "Charlie Victor Romeo" is a live performance documentary derived verbatim from the transcripts from half a dozen major airline emergencies. You know that the plane is going to crash.

Yet you don't know how the emergencies progress -- how ordinary people will deal with extraordinary situations. And that makes "Charlie Victor Romeo" intense theater.

Such intensity was all the more remarkable Wednesday given that there is little physical action on the stage. Actors sat in a simple set that resembles an airliner cockpit, though there were no flashy lights nor gratuitous special effects. What did provide atmosphere was the sound, an outstanding aural-scape that evoked everything from the scratchy radio transmissions from air traffic control to the low-level thundering of the planes themselves.

At times, the rapid-fire aviation-speak left a layperson out of the dramatic loop. A handout at the end of the show did explain well what actually happened in each incident, and an audience talk-back with the entire cast after the show eliminated some of the confusion.

With so much sensationalistic and exhibitionist reality programming clamoring for our attention, "Charlie Victor Romeo" appears as a smart, ethical and sensitive approach to documenting real people faced with unimaginable crises.

jvanryzin@statesman.com; 445-3699