"For the playwright, a dream can be considered as an essentially dramatic event. The dream is pure drama. In a dream, one is always in mid-situation. To be more concise, I think that the dream is a lucid thought, more lucid than anyone has when awake, a thought expressed in images, and that at the same time its form is always dramatic." - Ionesco
The quote comes from a collection of material thoughtfully provided by the director. Perhaps it is meant as a caution to critics not to take the events of an Ionesco play too literally - not to mistake his drama for Ibsen's, in other words. But Ionesco's drama makes complete sense in its own dreamlike way; he makes mystification look easy - and it isn't, as many young playwrights find when they try to tread in his footsteps.
Perhaps his secret is that he doesn't violate Aristotle's rule of logic in drama. The premise can be as absurd as you like, but the consequences from it must follow logically. A look at the modern-day world will show the absurdity of logical deductions from even sensible premises, so Ionesco's logic is conservative by comparison.
Looking Glass's production of Man with Bags went a bit beyond Ionesco in the casting, which was all-female. (An absolute non-issue, as it turned out.) A woman (Carolyn McDermott) wishing to visit her birthplace loses a bag - the one with all her documents - and goes through progressively difficult extremities with redcaps, boatmen, and petty officials while she tries to get in touch with her country's ambassador, who is, needless to say, not around. An ensemble of eight, made-up with semi-clownlike faces, played all the parts.
Many details resonate with the regular Ionesco-goer, such as the grandmother who is suddenly young because she changed her name; the mugger who asks for a password; the death sentence for hanging around the Metro; the need to call up the passport office to find out one's own name; the daughter who is really the old mother, and just as dependent. The company realized all these images, and many more, with a variety of theatrical invention that rarely flagged.
When the action did flag, it wasn't clear whether the script needed pruning (how many times do the cops have to interrogate the protagonist?) or whether the acting style, which tended toward slapstick, needed to be more grounded in the reality of the dream. Regardless, the result was an entertaining and resonant evening, full of freshness and pleasant surprises, as well as the occasional shock of recognition. Aristotle would have been proud.
The set (Jennifer Revit) was a platform covered in scraps of paper, an island in a sea of junk, which climbed the walls and threatened to engulf the audience, and included a balcony above the stage, which was also an acting area. The lighting (Joe Doran) was rich in angles and colors, though flat under the balcony (always hard to light). Sound (Arthur Shettle) was a variety of music, leaning toward the electronic, with appropriate sound effects such as water. (Also featuring Sandra Blaney, Elizabeth Elson, Katie Northlich, Rebecca Thomas, Vickie Varnuska, Kimberly VerSteeg, Duyen Washington, and Brenda Withers.)
Amnesia Wars, with the Process Studio Theatre (www.amnesiawars.com), provided a solid performance of an Ionesco one-act, The Foot of the Wall, whose nominal situation is of French tourists in postwar England, where monumental wreckage has been arranged by the tourist industry to give the place a more medieval look (translated by Donald Watson; directed by Rob Reese). While not as sharply realized as the main course, the appetizer (acted on the set of the longer play) served its purpose.
(See also Victims of Duty, Frenzy for Two Or More, and A Hell of a Mess.)
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The Foot of the Wall |
Man with Bags |
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Writing |
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Directing |
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Acting |
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Sets |
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Costumes |
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Lighting/Sound |
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Copyright 2001 John Chatterton