Born to be Wilder
A critique of religious fanaticism is the object of a series of plays by Thornton Wilder and a dramatization by Stephen Berkoff of Franz Kafka's landmark short story In the Penal Colony, being performed next week at the Burton Taylor theatre. The ambitious thematically linked program, directed by Johannes Leistner and Julia Skorupska, features three quite short works by Wilder, Nascuntur Poetae, Brother Fire and And the Servant's Name Was Malchus, as well as the longer Kafka work. A small cast manages multiple roles, as all act in several of the plays. This allows the players to showcase their versatility; Elizabeth Chen as Jesus' perky secretary in Wilder's Malchus and as the foreign explorer in the Kafka work in particular shows her willingness to tackle both a light and comical role in the former and a much darker and plaintive role in the latter work.
The three Wilder works are more overtly religious than the Kafka piece, all featuring supernatural religious elements. Nascuntur Poetae tells the story of an unborn writer's soul that receives the curse of life and death. Brother Fire imparts the story of a holy man who immolates himself in order to nourish 'Brother Fire.' Malchus is an interesting extension of the Gospel story of Jesus' arrest. The play opens with Jesus, played by Nick Gill, at his desk deciding the post-mortem fates of humanity. His secretary (Chen) announces a visitor, Malchus, played by Will Tosh. Those familiar with the Gospels will remember Malchus as the servant of the high priest who loses his ear to the swords of Jesus' disciples. Jesus subsequently reattaches the ear. Malchus asks Jesus to remove his name from the Gospels, as Malchus feels the story makes him ridiculous. Jesus convinces Malchus to remain in the story by saying that he himself is ridiculous, in that he claims that belief in himself as the son of god will bring salvation. The performances of Gill and Tosh make what is a rather obvious message about the nature of Christianity a self-consciously humourous and uplifting scene. Gill in particular effectively portrays Jesus as both a benevolent deity fettered by ritual formality and a rather ordinary and human figure.
The popularity and acclaim lauded upon Kafka's classic In the Penal Colony makes any adaptation both involving and controversial. The basic story, in which an unemotionally brutal officer demonstrates a machine for inflicting a grotesque punishment upon prisoners to a foreign explorer, explores humanity's ability to allow religious dogmatism to justify the most inhumane actions. While many of the basic elements of the story remain, Berkoff and subsequently the directors of the play have made significant alterations in the focus of the story, empathizing certain elements to a greater degree than in Kafka's work. The most notable change is the greater emphasis on the relationship between the officer and the explorer, rather than focusing mainly on the officer and the machine. Part of this derives from the change of narratorial perspective, as the explorer becomes an independent character; the explorer is largely a framing device in the original. Director Leistner explains the emphasis as an attempt to create dramatic tension as well, by complicating the relationship between the officer and the explorer. The directors offered as an example the ambiguity with which the explorer attempts to avoid serving as a spokesman for the officer. Unfortunately, much of this ambiguity is lost in the terror that Chen exudes at being confronted by Tosh's clearly insane officer. While casting Chen in the confident and traditionally male role of the explore is provocative, her character often seems too frightened to balance Tosh's powerful and sinister officer. This is not necessarily less effective than Kafka's portrayal of the explorer but the difference is quite noticeable. That aside, Chen effectively conveys a feeling of terror when confronted by madness and Tosh gives a fine performance as the officer haphazardly traversing the line between outright insanity and apparent normality. Taking on the formidable task of reworking one of the most important short stories of the modernist era, this performance of In the Penal Colony presents a message that, though not as well executed as the original, rather successfully transforms its source material.
Eli Lassman
3rd May 2001