{"id":315,"date":"2016-04-08T17:03:04","date_gmt":"2016-04-08T17:03:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.critical-stages.org\/10\/?p=315"},"modified":"2022-05-22T09:58:51","modified_gmt":"2022-05-22T09:58:51","slug":"everything-old-is-new-again","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.critical-stages.org\/10\/everything-old-is-new-again\/","title":{"rendered":"Everything Old is New Again"},"content":{"rendered":"

Wendy Rosenfield<\/strong>[1]<\/sup><\/a><\/p>\n

\"aWendy-Rosenfield-8x6\"<\/p>\n

Samuel Beckett\u2019s Waiting for Godot<\/i> at Comedie de Caen, directed by Jean Lambert-wild, Lorenzo Malaguerra and Marcel Bozonnet. \u2013 Pierre Corneille\u2019s Le Cid<\/i> at Cherbourg\u2019s Le Trindet, directed by Sandrine Anglade. \u2013 Henrik Ibsen\u2019s Ein Volksfeind<\/i>of the Berlin Schaub\u00fchne, directed by Thomas Ostermeier.<\/p>\n

When the IATC\u2019s Ex-Com met in March 2014 for a round of European theatregoing, we were presented with a roster of three interpretations of classic works, all produced by French theatres in the Normandy region, each enlivened and rejuvenated by a strong directorial vision. At Comedie de Caen, we saw Samuel Beckett\u2019s Waiting for Godot<\/i>. At Cherbourg\u2019s Le Trident, it was Pierre Corneille\u2019s Le Cid<\/i>. In Rennes, at the Theatre National de Bretagne, we saw Thomas Ostermeier\u2019s radical reimagining of Henrik Ibsen\u2019s An Enemy of the People<\/i> (Ein Volksfeind<\/i>), touring from Berlin\u2019s Schaub\u00fchne.<\/p>\n

\"Lucky
Lucky (Jean Lambert-wild, left) with his host Pozzo (Marcel Bozonnet) meet Estragon (Fargas Assand\u00e9) and Vladimir (Michel Bohiri, right) in “Waiting for Godot.” Photo by Tristan Jeanne-Val\u00e8s<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Directed by Jean Lambert-wild, Lorenzo Malaguerra and Marcel Bozonnet, Comedie de Caen\u2019s Godot<\/i> used immigration as a metaphor for Beckett\u2019s existential displacement. With two African actors (both hailing from Cote d\u2019Ivoire), Fargass Assand\u00e9 and Michel Bohiri as Gogo and Didi; Lambert-wild\u2019s own Lucky, with a red nose and grey striped pajamas recalling a concentration camp uniform; and Bozonnet\u2019s Pozzo, a grey-haired portrait of power in decline, these directors walked the line between defying and respecting Beckett\u2019s wishes for a \u201cuniversal\u201d interpretation of his work.<\/p>\n

The production worked as a tableau of an economically impotent France, tethered to its failures\u2013colonialism, collaboration\u2013propped up by an influx of immigrants (literally, as Pozzo stood between Didi and Gogo, an arm thrown over the shoulder of each as they supported his weight). It was also the first\u00a0Godot<\/i> I\u2019ve seen to place Lucky in the forefront, and Lambert-wild delivered the character\u2019s monologue in a desperate, aching tumble. The more frenzied he became in his desire to communicate, to wring meaning and connection from sentences that can never connect, the more despondent his expression. It was a remarkable interpretation, but was also the production\u2019s most developed characterization.<\/p>\n

\"Estragon
Estragon (Fargas Assand\u00e9) and Vladimir (Michel Bohiri) wait for Godot in Caen. Photo by Tristan Jeanne-Val\u00e8s<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

If Lambert-wild\u2019s Lucky was extraordinary, despite their thematic overlay, Didi, Gogo and Pozzo\u2019s interpretations remained ordinary. Didi and Gogo\u2019s relationship never transcended the stage, and, aside from Assand\u00e9 and Bohiri\u2019s national origin, remained a standard interpretation of the pair, with a rather patient wait. Bozonnet\u2019s Pozzo also paled beside Lambert-wild\u2019s Lucky, which may have been the point. A nation can never completely suppress the violence in its history, and perhaps in Comedie de Caen\u2019s\u00a0Godot<\/i>, Didi and Gogo\u2019s wait\u2013for the old France to concede defeat and accept the new\u2013is nearing its end.<\/p>\n

By contrast, Sandrine Anglade\u2019s direction of Le Cid<\/i> dressed up Corneille\u2019s classic French text with Claude Chestier\u2019s contemporary design\u2013a stage floor covered with grey and black gravel, thick black halyards hanging from the ceiling, creating a thicket surrounding the actors. Behind the action, a sole drummer, Nicolas Larmignat, accented moments of battle or emotional turmoil with a freeform clatter.<\/p>\n

\"Lucky
Lucky (Jean Lambert-wild) passes by Vladimir (Michel Bohiri) and Estragon (Fargas Assand\u00e9). Photo by Tristan Jeanne-Val\u00e8s<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

It\u2019s difficult for an English-speaking theatregoer to avoid comparing Le Cid<\/i> to Shakespeare\u2019s Romeo and Juliet<\/i>, not only for its thematic similarities (young lovers from warring families), but also because both texts are ubiquitous in schools. And much as directors in my native United States modernize productions of Romeo and Juliet<\/i> in order to appeal to audiences well-familiar with the work, Anglade\u2019s effort attempts to make of it something both darker and more immediate.<\/p>\n

Unfortunately, the production ultimately ends up distracting from Corneille\u2019s text (Remember those halyards? They separate, line up and swing circles around the cast whenever an emotion shifts.), and contradicts Anglade\u2019s own intentions. Directing the actors to perform in an antiquated, presentational style that begins at full-volume and remains there throughout, she undermines the connections it might have with the present, and subsequently dampens much of the play\u2019s humor.<\/p>\n

\"The
The Stockmanns entertain their guests of the press: from left Moritz Gottwald as Billing, Stefan Stern as Dr. Stockmann, Eva Meckbach as Mrs. Stockmann and Christoph Gawenda as Hovstad in “The Enemy of the People” directed by Thomas Ostermeier.
Photo by Arno Declair<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

However, there was no mistaking Ostermaier\u2019s version of Ein Volksfeind<\/i> (An Enemy of the People<\/i>, adapted by Florian Borchmeyer, original premiere in Berlin September 2012) for a classic stuck between worlds, belonging to none. Ostermeier\u2019s production is artisanal Ibsen, populated by yuppie aspirants costumed as hipsters in flannel and skinny jeans, and January Pappelbaum\u2019s design, with line drawings of imported status symbols\u2013Eames chair, IPhone, Bugaboo Stroller\u2013bedecking the set\u2019s chalkboard walls like sugarplums. Even the tunes (chosen by Malte Beckenbach) played by Dr. Stockmann and his merry band of journalist\/musician pals implied imported, self-consciously curated taste: Gnarls Barkley, Bon Iver, David Bowie.<\/p>\n

During a post-show Q&A, Ostermaier admitted his disdain for the play, noting that it was Hitler\u2019s favorite. To this end, his direction of Stockmann\u2019s grand speech, a plea for the people to stand with him against government and business interests seeking to suppress evidence of pollution in the city\u2019s hot springs\u2014mimicked Hitler\u2019s speech in Leni Riefenstahl\u2019s Triumph of the Will<\/i>. The white podium, its rhythms, actor Stefan Stern\u2019s floppy side part, all implied that if you\u2019re not with Stockmann, you\u2019re against him.<\/p>\n

\"Eva
Eva Meckbach as Mrs. Stockmann and Stefan Stern as Dr. Stockmann in “The Enemy of the People” directed by Thomas Ostermeier. Photo by Arno Declair<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

But the audience was implicated from every angle. We were asked to raise our hands if we agreed with Stockmann\u2019s plea to defy the town leaders\u2019 deception. We were asked to grab a microphone and air our grievances; Ostermaier claimed that his perfect production of Ein Volksfeind<\/i> would devolve into anarchy. It hasn\u2019t happened yet, and when it didn\u2019t happen, the cast, after a while, directed the action back to the stage, where Stockmann was pelted with paint balloons that splattered everywhere and, once Stockmann returned to his apartment, required all those pretty trinkets on the chalkboard to be wiped away.<\/p>\n

\"Christoph
Christoph Gawenda as the journalist Hovstad and Eva Meckbach as Mrs. Stockmann in “The Enemy of the People” directed by Thomas Ostermeier. Photo by Arno Declair<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

There\u2019s a bit of Ostermaier wanting it both ways here. The production is perhaps too genial, its actors too young and likeable, its wink and a nod ending\u2013Stockmann and his wife realize with a gasp that their unwilling interest in the baths will mete out a handy profit\u2013too clean. Or is that the point? By enjoying our time with these ethically challenged and blandly bourgeois millenials, by agreeing with and subsequently turning on Stockmann, are we also enacting the banality of evil? By not speaking up when it\u2019s our turn, or by speaking up, is Ostermaier offering us all the rope we need to hang ourselves? I\u2019m still undecided on all of it, but entirely appreciative of Ostemaier\u2019s provocative take on Ibsen. It\u2019s a wolf in sheep\u2019s clothing, and it left me with the suspicion that I, like many audience members and citizens before me, was indeed easy prey.<\/p>\n

\n

\"aWendy-Rosenfield-8x6\"
\n<\/a>[1] Wendy Rosenfield<\/strong> (Twitter @WendyRosenfield<\/a>) writes freelance features and theatre reviews for online and print publications including The Philadelphia Inquirer. She was theatre critic for the Philadelphia Weekly from 1995 to 2001, after which she enjoyed a five-year baby-raising sabbatical. She serves on the executive committee of the American Theatre Critics Association, was a participant in the Bennington Writer\u2019s Workshop, a 2008 NEA\/USC Fellow in Theater and Musical Theater, and often serves as guest critic for the Kennedy Center American College Theater Festival\u2019s Region II National Critics Institute. She received her B.A. from Bennington College in Bennington, Vermont, and her M.L.A. from the University of Pennsylvania, in Philadelphia. She is a fiction writer, was proofreader to a swami, and publications editor for the Women\u2019s International League for Peace and Freedom.<\/p>\n

Copyright \u00a9<\/strong> 2014 Wendy Rosenfield
\nCritical Stages\/Sc\u00e8nes critiques<\/em> e-ISSN: 2409-7411<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

This work is licensed under the
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Wendy Rosenfield[1] Samuel Beckett\u2019s Waiting for Godot at Comedie de Caen, directed by Jean Lambert-wild, Lorenzo Malaguerra and Marcel Bozonnet. \u2013 Pierre Corneille\u2019s Le Cid at Cherbourg\u2019s Le Trindet, directed by Sandrine Anglade. \u2013 Henrik Ibsen\u2019s Ein Volksfeindof the Berlin<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-315","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-performance-reviews","","tg-column-two"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p7qGU1-55","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.critical-stages.org\/10\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/315","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.critical-stages.org\/10\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.critical-stages.org\/10\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.critical-stages.org\/10\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.critical-stages.org\/10\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=315"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.critical-stages.org\/10\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/315\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":710,"href":"https:\/\/www.critical-stages.org\/10\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/315\/revisions\/710"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.critical-stages.org\/10\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=315"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.critical-stages.org\/10\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=315"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.critical-stages.org\/10\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=315"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}