Reviews 2005
Reviews 2005
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by Jason Sherman, directed by Richard Rose
Stratford Festival, Tom Patterson Theatre, Stratford
June 3-September 24, 2005
"A Dramatic Coles Notes"
For many years now the Stratford Festival has presented dramatic adaptations of classic novels--“Tempest-Tost” in 2001, “The Scarlet Pimpernel” in 2002, “The Hunchback of Notre Dame” in 2003, “The Count of Monte Cristo” in 2004 and this year “The Brothers Karamazov”. Of these “Tempest-Tost” is easily the best even though it distorted the nature of a major character. Otherwise, these adaptations have proved artistic failures, especially the ones intended as “family entertainment”. It’s hard to know why the Festival persists in presenting adaptations of novels when there are so many classic plays written as plays out there that it never touches.
Jason Sherman’s adaptation of one of the greatest novels ever written is another of these exercises in pointlessness. Who is there who supposes that a two-and-half hour play (including intermission) will do justice to Fyodor Dostoevsky’s nearly 1000-page-long philosophical novel--the Festival, the adaptor, the audience? All those who do are deceiving themselves. Unsurprisingly, all Sherman managed to do in such a short time is to dramatize a précis of the plot. The play is thus a kind of dramatic Coles Notes on the novel, except with less information.
Sherman begins with the funeral for Fyodor, the despicable father of the Karamazov brothers, Dmitry, Ivan and Alyosha. Replacing the novel’s omniscient narrator is the fourth Karamazov brother, Smerdyakov, Fyodor’s bastard son, who acts as Fyodor’s cook. Many will find this choice a major distortion to say the least, since Dostoevsky maintains a deliberate “Pro and Contra” (to quote one of the chapter titles) to balance his philosophical ideas whereas Smerdyakov is the most cynical character in the book. For those who know the plot, the choice is also odd since it requires Sherman to have a back-up narrator later on.
We discover that Dmitry is engaged to Katerina but both he and his father are enamoured of Grushenka. Alyosha, a monk in training, and Ivan, a writer and atheist, are ideological opposites but while Alyosha’s affection is directed at the crippled girl Lise, Lise is attracted to Ivan. Having presented the characters including some perfunctory philosophical exchanges on the order of “I believe in God” versus “I don’t”, the play morphs into a conventional mystery when Fyodor is murdered.
The trial scene that takes up most of Act 2 is totally absorbed in who was where when, who heard what about whom, who has the money that was under Fyodor’s mattress, was the door to Fyodor’s house locked or not, and so on, thus highlighting the petty details of the story over whatever relevance the story itself might have. By the end, Sherman has involved us in none of the characters or in the plot in which the women’s motivations in particular are totally unclear. His modern diction which includes such words as “über-bad” is often jarring.
The performances are highly variable. Ron Kennell is well suited to the role of the envious outsider Smerdyakov. The character’s cynicism and hatred drips from his every word. Scott Wentworth would be a good Fyodor Karamazov, but unfortunately he finds it necessary to put on an “old man” voice that he suddenly drops for any serious exchange. Jonathan Goad is excellent as the dissolute Dmitry Karamazov, made irresolute and ineffectual by wallowing in his own depravity. Shane Carty’s blustering as the intellectual Ivan Karamazov undercuts the crucial philosophical matters he brings up. Then director Richard Rose has him put on a funny voice as the Grand Inquisitor for the snippet given of that famous chapter thus lessening its already lessened impact. Peter van Gestel is well cast as the ardent Alyosha Karamazov, though he is given so little scope to express his disillusionment with the monastic life, his appearance out of his habit comes as a surprise.
As Katerina Vekhovtsev, Michelle Giroux seems more concerned with appearing stylish than in communicating anything about her character. Dana Green, so riveting in “Orpheus Descending”, has disconcertingly been encouraged to play the conflicted Grushenka Svetlov as if she were Marilyn Monroe complete with the star’s mannerisms and breathy delivery. What the point is remains a mystery. Dixie’s Seatle’s Mrs. Hohlakov seems like an American housewife not a rich Russian matron. Only Maggie Blake as the manipulative, wheelchair-bound Lise Hohlakov is able to suggest more than one dimension to her character.
Richard Rose has directed the play in the all-purpose, neo-Brechtian style he used at the Tarragon Theatre for David Young’s adaptation of Alastair MacLeod’s novel “No Great Mischief”. All the actors sit on chairs at the back of the stage watching the other actors perform in front of them. When the actors’ scene is finished they return to their places. This process leads to a certain self-conscious theatricality, but how this is equally relevant to Dostoevsky and MacLeod is unclear. The effect leads to boredom since we as audience are forced to watch a seated cast of 25, most of whom at any given time are not acting.
Designer Charlotte Dean claims in her programme note that she has used entirely shades of brown to “give us visual clarity and let the audience concentrate on the characters and their dilemmas”. In fact what that palette provides is an unrelievedly drab stage picture. Graeme S. Thomson’s set consists entirely of assorted tables and chairs moved about by Smerdyakov to represent the various locations. While Thomson as lighting designer conjures up a pleasant glow for the religious scenes, he generally reinforces Dean’s dreary colour-scheme by setting most scenes in dim half-light.
Some theatrical adaptations of novels make us want to go out and read the novel again or for the first time. A small handful are satisfying as theatre on their own. Sherman’s adaptation does what no play should--it leaves us in complete indifference.
©Christopher Hoile
Note: This review is a Stage Door exclusive.
Photo: Scott Wentworth as Fyodor Karamazov.
2005-07-04
The Brothers Karamazov