November 20, 1997
at City Garage
It's disorienting to see what we may think of as a ÒBrechtianÓ
style of theatreÑthat in-your-face, seam-showing, presentational, cynically
didactic Verfremdungseffekt about which the German
poet/playwright expounded altogether too muchÑexecuted as coolly and
dispassionately as it is in Frederique Michel's new production of Brecht's Jungle
of Cities. Perhaps because similar material is so often given a
high-energy, commedia dell'artŽ-inflected treatment, it's strange to see it
taken, and played, so seriously.
The effect of Michel's considered staging is that the
extraordinary, pungent music of Brecht's poetry, in Anselm Holo's admirably
gritty translation, registers with rare and stunning clarity. It also means,
however, that it's rough goingÑtwo and a half hours of pointed indirection and
abstraction in place of a plot, and several redundant if pleasingly witty
scene-change interludes with a bevy of game chorines (Ruthie Grossley, Aura
Wright, and Victoria Coulson) and a leering, sing-songy emcee in whiteface
(Paradorn Thiel).
The text is a prototypical Brecht fable a la Mahagonny, set in an
imagined backlot version of pre-WWI Chicago, in which an inscrutable Asian
lumber dealer, Shlink (a mesmerizing Richard Grove), challenges a meek young
librarian from the sticks, Garga (a slick Justin Davanzo), to an inexplicable
and unmotivated battle of wits involving, natch, bald-faced fraud, both literal
and metaphorical whoring, and criss-crossing betrayals and counterattacks.
Implicated in the proceedings are a glib pimp (a sporty Carlos Alvarado), a
boisterous businessman (Joel Drazner, over-doing the Chicahhgoe accent and
seeming ill at ease onstage), Garga's miserable parents (a raving Peter Lucas
and a stiff Louise Barlow), his innocent sister (Anna Pond, who makes plainness
of looks and speech into striking assets), as well as a wizened floozy and a
dumb sailor (Kimberly Murphy and Ted Wycech).
The action, such as it is, plays out on Charles A. Duncombe Jr.'s
breathtaking bar set and in front of a canvas scrim. But despite its
presentational touches, the production's even tone makes it feel more like
kitchen-sink than epic theatre. It is perhaps best appreciated as a finely
staged evening of poetryÑwhich, more than his convoluted performance theory,
remains Brecht's real contribution to theatrical art, after all.
'Jungle of Cities,' presented by and at City Garage, 1340
1/2 4th St. (alley), Santa Monica. Oct. 31-Dec. 7. (310) 319-9939.