Friday, November 21, 2008

Theater Review: The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari

By Mark-Brian Sonna of MBS Productions

Admission is free…almost. In order to get in you must “perform” for some tokens to gain admission. You can tell joke, a funny story, dance (which I did) or do something weird. Welcome to the world of “Immersion Theatre”. This form of theatre isn’t done very often. For those of you unfamiliar with this form of theatrics: the audience member becomes part of the play by either being part of the scenery, the cast, or both. No, you don’t have to perform or be an actor, being a passive participant will provide you with enough joy. Actors will move all around you, the set surrounds you, and at times so much is happening that you can choose what to look at and focus on.

UTD is presenting a most enjoyable re-interpretation of the famous silent film The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari. How does one adapt this seminal silent film classic to a three dimensional space? Thomas Riccio took the plunge and created a most pleasurable theatre experience. The play isn’t a comedy, though it has its funny moments. While the film is creepy from start to finish, the play is not as much so till the very end, and boy does it get creepy!

The action starts before you enter the theatre as each patron willingly or unwillingly “performs” for their admission. Even those who refused to do anything became performers: their desire to not do a silly act became fodder for comedy: unbeknownst to them they came across as temperamental artists to those of us who actually did something.

Once you enter the theatre, the playing space juts out into the audience, dividing the audience into two sections. This created some perceived sightline problems until the play started and you realized there were screens around and cameras projecting onto them the action you couldn’t see from your vantage point. At times, the silent film played on an over head screen while actors on stage recreated the identical visuals being shown on the screen.

At one point, the audience is fictitiously “hypnotized” and you are allowed to then walk onto the main part of the set. Most people did. And it was magic. Why? Because it fit perfectly into the story line.

The premise is that a circus has come to town and the townspeople are being either murdered of being turned in to somnambulists under Dr. Caligari’s control. When the audience is allowed to walk on stage, they crowd the stage, but because they are silent observers, they in essence become the zombies being created. If they were in the way, the actors would prompt them to move, get out of a chair, step aside, etc., and people obeyed, which added to the effect of the Dr.’s powers. Brilliant!

To say the least, the technical portion of the evening under the direction of Matthew Unkeholz dazzled. The set design of Dale Seeds was brilliantly executed as was the lighting by Jeff Stover. The costumer Jennifer Ables had to recreate the costuming of the film and succeeded beautifully. This was an eye-popping production.

The individual acting is harder to judge because the actors had to recreate the style of the film which is far from subtle. There is no realism in the film, so the dialogue needed to be delivered based on the extreme physicalization of the film. What I can say is that everyone was on the same page in their line delivery and posturing. Whether it was due to their individual talents or the direction of Thomas Riccio, it is hard to ascertain because of the heavily stylized nature of the production. One thing I can say is they were all consistent, which was a good thing.

Did I continue to participate once the play got going by joining the other audience members on the set? No. I remained passive and in the “audience” seating area, delighted in how unbeknownst to those who chose to participate by going on stage ended up creating an amazing array of visuals that remains seared into my mind as I write this.

The play itself is rather short, just over an hour, but it is so well executed and played at such a level of intensity that it need not be any longer. It is truly a feast for the senses. I left completely satisfied.

The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari runs through Saturday, November 22 with showtimes at 8:00 p.m. and 9:15 p.m.

Pegasus News content partner - MBS Productions

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• MBS Productions’ top moments of DFW theater, opera and dance in 2008 (Dec. 27, 2008)

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• Colleges & Universities > University of Texas at Dallas
• Arts > Fine Arts > Theater > Plays