I open with a question:
Why would you purposely produce a place that is linguistically dense, populated by damaged characters, and constructed in a way that is hard to follow? Why would an audience attend?
Answer to at the end of the review.
Purgatory in Ingleton was originally written in 1924 as Fegefeuer in Ingolstadt, by German playwright, Mariuluise Fleißer. The production that went up tonight as part of the Toronto Summerworks festival is a new translation by Birgit Schreyer Duarte, who also serves as director for the piece.
To say what this show is "about" is difficult after one viewing. There is a lot going on, and not all of it clear, or particularly linear. However, among the central goings-on is this:
Olga (Miranda Calderon) is pregnant by her lover, Peps (Benjamin Muir). Peps, no longer wants anything to do with her and is involved with Hemine (Anna Hardwick). Roelle (Jordan Mechano), suffering of what might be religious delusions, is attracted to Olga, who may or may not be attracted back. Olga's "good" sister, Clementine (Helen Juvonen) is jealous... generally.
Oh, and I should mentions that all of these characters are school aged, likely in their mid teens... and the show is bring performed in a church basement... set up to be a full thrust performance area.
The show, written when Fleißer was herself 25, is difficult material, with difficult themes. It takes on the vicious nature of youth. With resonance to many of today's issues, Olga is often sex-shamed by her peers, mentally bullied and abused, while Roelle, also an outsider suffers more physical violence, at one point being stoned when he fails to summon forth an angel for his peers' amusement.
One of the big challenges in this show is that none of the characters clearly communicate with each other, or even themselves. However, there is a desperation and raggedness to their situations such that you know as an audience the stakes are high, even if you're not always sure what they are.
The structure of the show, at least as realized in this production, echoes the raggedness of the characters, giving an overall feel of connected vignettes, but lacking the glue that would make it better. This aesthetic is echoed in in the production elements, which evoke the emotional distance and missing connection between the characters. C. J. Astronomo's lighting design rises to the challenge lighting a basement while creating a sense of emotional space, if not definite location. I found her use of darkness particularly interesting, including one scene lit only by a lantern and a couple LED lights on a wheelchair. Helen Yung's set, though generally bare, provides a subtle sense of frayed "wrongness" through its sculptural pieces. The standout element for me, however, was the costume choices of Amanda Wong. She uses simple devices such as shirts worn backwards, some badly buttoned, or textured and detailed to evoke straight jackets. The effect, is to effectively externalize the internal dissaray of the characters.
As a translator, I think Duarte brings forward an atmosphere and poetry in the text, and her obviously close relationship with the text pays off in the vocal performance of her actors. Their pacing, timing, and delivery working to serve the bleak poetry of the text. Duarte's blocking, however, struck me as much weaker. Blocking was often awkward, as she arranged actors in lines perpendicular to the audience. A few moments, in particular struck me as very "proscenium" in nature, even tough the show was, for all intense and purposes, in the round. As a result, significant moments, and a couple prolonged passages, suffered from blocked sight lines. It is hard to determine if this was a conscious choice or not, but the result, I feel, worked against the production more than in its favour.
But what about the performances?
The cast as a whole does an excellent job of working through this dense, complicated text, which at some points comes across more as discordant spoken choral work than what we would typically have as traditional dialog. Stand out mentions, however, must go to Mechano and Calderon who have a clear emotional and wonderfully physicalised presence from the moment they appear on stage to the moment they take their curtain call. In weaker hands, this show could be ninety minutes of an audience dumbfounded by an impossible to follow script. In the hands of this cast, however, I was continually engaged and drawn into what was going on, even if I didn't always follow it.
This show demands a lot from its performers, and a lot from its audience. In a world of entertainment that spoon-feeds easy enjoyments, this is a show that challenges its audience to actively engage and be present. For an audience who is willing to do so, this is an evening of worth spending time at.
So, back to my original question. Why would someone put on such a challenging play, in a challenging space? Why would an audience member want to see it? Want to "work" with the performance instead of just consuming it?
Because sometimes, like this time, it is worth it.
Purgatory in Ingleton is part of the SummerWorks theatre festival, and runs August 8-12 and 14-18 at the Anglican Church of the Epihapny and St. Mark at 201 Cowan Avenue. Performances begin at 9pm.
Tickets can be purchased online at http://summerworks.ca
Why would you purposely produce a place that is linguistically dense, populated by damaged characters, and constructed in a way that is hard to follow? Why would an audience attend?
Answer to at the end of the review.
Purgatory in Ingleton was originally written in 1924 as Fegefeuer in Ingolstadt, by German playwright, Mariuluise Fleißer. The production that went up tonight as part of the Toronto Summerworks festival is a new translation by Birgit Schreyer Duarte, who also serves as director for the piece.
To say what this show is "about" is difficult after one viewing. There is a lot going on, and not all of it clear, or particularly linear. However, among the central goings-on is this:
Olga (Miranda Calderon) is pregnant by her lover, Peps (Benjamin Muir). Peps, no longer wants anything to do with her and is involved with Hemine (Anna Hardwick). Roelle (Jordan Mechano), suffering of what might be religious delusions, is attracted to Olga, who may or may not be attracted back. Olga's "good" sister, Clementine (Helen Juvonen) is jealous... generally.
Oh, and I should mentions that all of these characters are school aged, likely in their mid teens... and the show is bring performed in a church basement... set up to be a full thrust performance area.
The show, written when Fleißer was herself 25, is difficult material, with difficult themes. It takes on the vicious nature of youth. With resonance to many of today's issues, Olga is often sex-shamed by her peers, mentally bullied and abused, while Roelle, also an outsider suffers more physical violence, at one point being stoned when he fails to summon forth an angel for his peers' amusement.
One of the big challenges in this show is that none of the characters clearly communicate with each other, or even themselves. However, there is a desperation and raggedness to their situations such that you know as an audience the stakes are high, even if you're not always sure what they are.
The structure of the show, at least as realized in this production, echoes the raggedness of the characters, giving an overall feel of connected vignettes, but lacking the glue that would make it better. This aesthetic is echoed in in the production elements, which evoke the emotional distance and missing connection between the characters. C. J. Astronomo's lighting design rises to the challenge lighting a basement while creating a sense of emotional space, if not definite location. I found her use of darkness particularly interesting, including one scene lit only by a lantern and a couple LED lights on a wheelchair. Helen Yung's set, though generally bare, provides a subtle sense of frayed "wrongness" through its sculptural pieces. The standout element for me, however, was the costume choices of Amanda Wong. She uses simple devices such as shirts worn backwards, some badly buttoned, or textured and detailed to evoke straight jackets. The effect, is to effectively externalize the internal dissaray of the characters.
As a translator, I think Duarte brings forward an atmosphere and poetry in the text, and her obviously close relationship with the text pays off in the vocal performance of her actors. Their pacing, timing, and delivery working to serve the bleak poetry of the text. Duarte's blocking, however, struck me as much weaker. Blocking was often awkward, as she arranged actors in lines perpendicular to the audience. A few moments, in particular struck me as very "proscenium" in nature, even tough the show was, for all intense and purposes, in the round. As a result, significant moments, and a couple prolonged passages, suffered from blocked sight lines. It is hard to determine if this was a conscious choice or not, but the result, I feel, worked against the production more than in its favour.
But what about the performances?
The cast as a whole does an excellent job of working through this dense, complicated text, which at some points comes across more as discordant spoken choral work than what we would typically have as traditional dialog. Stand out mentions, however, must go to Mechano and Calderon who have a clear emotional and wonderfully physicalised presence from the moment they appear on stage to the moment they take their curtain call. In weaker hands, this show could be ninety minutes of an audience dumbfounded by an impossible to follow script. In the hands of this cast, however, I was continually engaged and drawn into what was going on, even if I didn't always follow it.
This show demands a lot from its performers, and a lot from its audience. In a world of entertainment that spoon-feeds easy enjoyments, this is a show that challenges its audience to actively engage and be present. For an audience who is willing to do so, this is an evening of worth spending time at.
So, back to my original question. Why would someone put on such a challenging play, in a challenging space? Why would an audience member want to see it? Want to "work" with the performance instead of just consuming it?
Because sometimes, like this time, it is worth it.
Purgatory in Ingleton is part of the SummerWorks theatre festival, and runs August 8-12 and 14-18 at the Anglican Church of the Epihapny and St. Mark at 201 Cowan Avenue. Performances begin at 9pm.
Tickets can be purchased online at http://summerworks.ca