Reviews 2010
Reviews 2010
✭✭✭✩✩
written and directed by Michael Sturminger
MusikkonzeptVienna, Massey Hall, Toronto
June 11-12, 2010
The Infernal Comedy is a peculiar hybrid of theatre and opera recital that deliberately provides only limited enjoyment. The mere fact that it stars John Malkovich in a role that is ideal for him will be enough to draw in his fans. They should know, however, that the goal of the show is not pleasure.
The conceit of Austrian playwright and director Michael Sturminger is that we are the audience for a lecture touting the autobiography of the title presented by the Austrian serial killer Jack Unterweger (1950-94), convicted of murdering at least eleven prostitutes in Europe and the US before he committed suicide. It is supposedly the publisher’s idea that the lecture be interwoven with music played by a baroque orchestra and sung by two sopranos. Unterweger’s story is unusual because he became a writer and celebrity during a previous stint in prison and was acclaimed as a model of the notion that prisons can reform character--until more bodies appeared. When Malkovich walks on stage the audience bursts into applause not realizing that Malkovich is already playing Unterweger. This slowly becomes clear when we notice his Schwarzeneggerian accent. Yet, everyone still laughs at his jokes even when he pinches the bum of a soprano or clinches an unwilling woman and pushes her to the floor. Obviously, Sturminger’s ploy is to have this Unterweger seduce us with his charm and humour just as the real Unterweger seduced Austrian public and his victims. It’s appalling how readily we side with the seemingly relaxed Malkovich/Unterweger, simply because he’s famous, as opposed to the two unknown sopranos (Marie Arnet and Bernarda Bobro) who look so absurdly formal in their recital gowns. Even when his violence towards them escalates, the audience still laughs, most apparently unaware that this makes them complicit in his inhumanity.
Unterweger says he hates classical music, and Sturminger uses it to reflect everything that is beautiful, noble and humane. Unterweger views the sopranos as objects to toy with and discard, while the arias they sing from Vivaldi, Mozart, Haydn and Beethoven give voice to the voiceless via the outrage of the many abused heroines of early opera. The problem is that once you understand what Sturminger is doing, Unterweger’s comic act is no longer funny and the arias, though sung with great finesse and beauty, seem polluted by the repugnant context Sturminger has given them. It’s true that Malkovich is a master at playing evil with a smile, but after Sturminger has him belabour the same point for almost two hours, I was glad to get away.
©Christopher Hoile
Note: A version of this review appeared in Eye Weekly 2010-06-11.
Photo: John Malkovich. ©Nathalie Bauer.
2010-06-11
The Infernal Comedy: Confessions of a Serial Killer