By Joe Straw
One can almost rest assured that Ibsen was not really
thinking about ghosts as the floating paranormal images that frolic in front of the
weary eyes of a half conscience person. Maybe he thought of ghosts as images
that haunt the memories of someone’s reflective recollections.
The Edgemar Center for The Arts presents Henrik Ibsen’s
Ghosts directed and adapted by Doug Kaback and produced by Alexndra Guarnieri. This is a fascinating production with
outstanding production values. And I'll have some reflections that haunt me about this fine productioon which I will address later.
Upon entering the theater, one notices the beautiful set by
Set Designer Travis Tuyen Thi. It is a stunning
recreation of the images Ibsen had in mind and resembles the imageries written
in Ibsen’s play. It is splendid work on this small stage and nicely sets the
mood of this very dark and moody drama.
As the play opens, the maid Regina (Lucy Honigman) is sprucing
up the downstairs when her father, Jacob Engstrand (James Giordano), lame from
a bar altercation, hobbles in from the pouring rain. From the moment he enters, one notices their
relationship is tenuous at best. Still there is a purpose for his visit today.
“I want you to come home with me, I say.” – Engstrand
“Never in this world shall you get me home with you.” – Regina
Regina says that Mrs. Alving treats her like a lady and she
would never leave her current position to live and work with him. Also, she doesn’t like the way he treats her,
calls her names, and she is not fond of his excessive drinking.
Lately Engstrand has been towing the line and building the
orphanage. With the money he has saved he
wants to open a sailor’s tavern. He
believes Regina, the nice pretty thing that she is, and particularly with a
petticoat on, would do nicely around the sailors who will come from extended
stays at sea to rest their weary bones.
But Regina thinks she has a good thing with Mrs. Alving. She
is studying French on her own in the hopes that Osvald will take her to Paris
soon. Her mind is set on going to Paris and
she is very ambitious maid. Still, she
has questions.
“How much money have you saved?” – Regina
“What with one thing and another, a matter of seven or eight hundred
crowns.” – Engstrand.
So now Regina is slightly intrigued about getting a new
dress out of the bargain but Engstrand has got his mind set on using his daughter
for nefarious purposes. This doesn’t sit
well with Regina and she hustles him on his merry way out the door.
When they hear another noise, Regina tells her father not to
wake Osvald who is taking a nap upstairs. But the rustling noise is Pastor Manders
shaking the rain from his umbrella and coat.
And as he comes in through the French doors Engstrand hustles himself
out of another door.
Pastor Manders (Paul Stroili) hands his wet coat to
Regina. He has traveled a great distance
to dedicate the opening of the orphanage and to have those papers reviewed by Mrs.
Alving. He is a self-righteous religious
meddler whose order of business appears to be arranging the lives of his
parishioners rather than putting his religious house in order.
“Your father is not a man of strong character, Miss Engstand. He stands terribly in need of a guiding hand.
“ - Manders
Pastor Manders says he has spoken with Engstrand about Regina
leaving Mrs. Alving and going back home to him. But Regina will have none of this. She feels she’s better than that, in fact she
asks Manders to find her a nice place. He cuts her off and asks for the
mistress of the house.
When Mrs. Alving (Michelle Danner) enters she is taken aback
by the lack of Manders’ luggage.
“But where is your portmanteau?” – Mrs. Alving
“I left it down at the inn. I
shall sleep there to-night.” – Manders.
Pastor Manders is all business when it comes to their past
relationship and Mrs. Alving is slightly disappointed that he is not going to
be staying the night with her and Osvald.
But Manders is a headstrong clerical businessman. His religious views often get him
sidetracked. Seeing provocative books on
the kitchen table, he scolds Mrs. Alvings’ literary readings, before he takes out
“Captain Alving’s Foundations” and has her examine various papers.
The orphanage will be run on the interest produced by the Foundation. (So it must be a sizeable amount.) Then Manders
surprises her.
“Shall the Orphanage buildings be insured or not?” – Manders
“Of course they must be insured.” – Mrs. Alvings
Manders convinces her that the building need not be insured
because it will be consecrated and insured by a higher source. And again Manders suggests to Mrs. Alving that
Regina should go with her father.
Moments later, Mrs. Alving’s son, Osvald (Nate Golon) who has
recently returned from Paris, enters carrying a hat and holding a large
meerschaum. The prodigal son has returned
from France and together they all get reacquainted. Manders believes Osvald is
there for the dedication ceremony. But later we learn Osvald has returned for another
reason.
And this provides Manders with the opportunity to bring
Osvald’s wicked ways in Paris to light and set him on the straight and narrow
path. Osvald wants none of his lectures and leaves for a walk.
This gives Manders the occasion to turn his sights on Mrs.
Alving and the complications between her and her husband in the first year of their
marriage. He accuses her of trying to
desert her husband and being unwilling to bear the cross of that unhappy
marriage. Back then, Mrs. Alving ran to
the arms of Pastor Manders.
“… and – nearly succeed in ruining other people’s reputation into the
bargain.” - Manders
“Other people’s? One other
person’s you mean.” – Mrs. Alving
“It was incredibly reckless of you to seek refuge with me.” – Manders
Manders then lets her have it by accusing her of being a
terrible wife and mother.
After he has finished, Mrs. Alving, in a controlled manner,
lowers the truth on Manders; the truth about her husband, the truth about Engstrand
and the truth about Regina. She confesses to the many ghosts that have haunted
her life.
After Manders leaves, we find out that something is wrong
with Osvald, which is why he has come home.
“Where has the pastor gone to?” - Osvald
“I have just told you, he went down to the Orphanage.” - Mrs. Alving
“Oh, yes, so you did.” – Osvald
Overall the acting was superb. There are just some haunting moments I would
like to address.
Michelle Danner
as Mrs. Alving gives a convincing performance.
But lost on this opening night was the strong relationship she has with
her counterpart, the Pastor. They fight and
tussle but only hint at the strong emotional commitment that I believe this
production needed. This commitment strengthens
the characters’ objective and provides reasons for the conflict that erupt as
they stand in the same room together without being able to escape. Also, this characterization is of a kinder,
gentler woman who I believe has a little more conniving tricks up her sleeve. Also,
she needs to be more inquisitive. Push
at getting the truth before it’s too late for all concerned. But these are
minor glitches that will be corrected as the production rolls along. Overall,
this is a job well done.
Lucy Honigman has
a lot of delightful moments but as the actor she needs a stronger more
imaginative objective. As the character
she studies French because Osvald has suggested taking her there. But her
relationship with Osvald should have more meaning and more levels. She is a character that strives to better
herself. She tries to take control of
her life, but she is stuck as a maid (of all things) unable to come to grips
that she is never getting out of this predicament unless she forces the
issue. Also, she finds out her true identity
in the end and takes it with a reserved modest emotion that it is inexplicable. This is a revelation that must have her head
spinning. How could these people have treated
her like a common maid! As delightful as
she was, the actor should be more precise in her movements on stage and her
objective.
James Giordano was
outstanding as Jacob Engstrand. In fact
his performance is worth the price of admission. As the character, his hands are the
instruments of his profession. And as
part of the developed character, his hands are used to extend his expressions
of the moment. His hands work in a very artistic way to get what he needs while
his legs plays upon the sympathies from those to which he seeks help. He garners support and uses his limited but
persuasive knowledge to reason with people who think he is unreasonable. He is crude in his manner but that is the
only way he knows how to get what he wants. Run to see his performance of this
very fine actor. One will only marvel at
his technique.
Nate Golon as
Osvald did a fine job. The opening
moment he appeared on stage, he came out as the painting on the wall and it was
this moment I noticed the hat was in the wrong hand and the pipe was as well,
but was it a mirror image or a difference of the father and son characters?
Golen gave us a lot of nice moments and some terrific silent emotional outburst
that were fascinating to watch. His
character needs a big hidden secret. It
is there in the writing. For example, he
tells his mother he can’t work but lies about the reasons he can’t. He needs to
hide the secret until he is ready to release the information. But, as the
character, he is back for a reason and that reason is to convince someone give
him the pills no matter what it takes.
That objective is not quite realized and once that is realized that should
help in an already fine performance.
Paul Stroili as
Pastor Manders was quite incredible. As
the character, he had a lot of pastoral issues in his way of thinking. Pastors
cannot “always” be right. Still Manders fights for what he believes in and turns
a blind eye to the obvious wrongs of the world.
His relationship with Mrs. Alving could have given us insights into his
motives (whether they are sinister or not) because of what he has learned about
the orphanage. Several things we know
for sure, he has had a long and tenuous relationship with Mrs. Alving, he knows
about the dirty deeds of Mr. Alving, and he knows that Mrs. Alving really
doesn’t care about the orphanage. After
that information is passed on to him, the orphanage burns to the ground. One is not sure if it is coincidence or he acted
out of love or self-preservation. Stroili goes after the character with
vigor. It is an unrelenting, fanatical
display of spiritual coercion, and a job well done.
Dough Kuback did
a fine job directing this truly fine production. There were moments in the
beginning that need strengthening.
Actors were sent to various places on the set without purpose. But, after the first the few moments, the
play seemed to glide along as it should. Relationships are critical in this play. There
are deeper levels in the relationships that need to be explored, mother and son,
mother and pastor (possible former lover), son and maid, brother and sister,
etc. Also, some of the actors need to take those moments to the extreme, and
settle on a choice that makes sense for the good of the play.
Kulback did a
fine job with the adaptation.
Nate Golon,
another producer, should also be commended for the very fine production values. Alexandra
Guarnieri should be commended as well. This production will only get better with each performance
once things have settled down.
The Light Designer was Rob Fritz and the wonderful costumes
were by Maro Parian.
The wonderful photographs were provided by Seony Keo.
Press Representatives were Phil Sokoloff & Lori DeWaal.
One can't help but to cock the head slightly to the right and sadly ingeminate the words, "The sun.... The sun..." on the way out.
Go! Through May 27th 2012
One can't help but to cock the head slightly to the right and sadly ingeminate the words, "The sun.... The sun..." on the way out.
Go! Through May 27th 2012
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