Cruelty In Too Many Words

FRANCISCO CENCI (a sixteenth centaurs Roman nobleman who arranged the death of two of his sons and raped his daughter has intrigued a safety of authors including Stendahl. Shelley, and in this century. Antonin Artaud Beatrice, his daughter, added by her step-mother Lucretia and her remaining brothers, avenged the Counts crimes by hiring two assassins who killed him driving nails through his eye and throat. The plot was soon discovered and Lucretia. Beatrice, and her brother Giacomo were beheaded after Pops Clement VII deed their-piers for pardon.

Artaud felt this bizarre family history was suited to has brand of theater Although he never details his conceptions about drama Artaud views theater as a visceral almost religions encounter, where the audience is emotionally drawn into the action and experiences a catharsis at the play's end.

Artaud a visionary and music, was perhaps more of a dreamer than a play right. Many of his ideas about theater seem all defined and poorly suited to the stage. His ritualistic approach fosters confusion because we're often not sure where reality ends and mysticism takes over. This is particulars evident in his characterizations. Beatrice and Lucretia are unquestionably human, but the Count is more of an mearnation of an evil force. He is a myth-like figure and like the gods of classical mythology, he feels no guilt for his malice. If anyone is to repent for his acts, he reasons at must be God, for God made him what he is.

ANOTHER TENET of Artaud's theater dictated that the mise en scene is more important than the language. And his relative indifference to words is reflected in the play; even in the original French, speeches are full of stilted, awkward phrases, heavy-handed metaphors, and non sequiturs But if Artaud meant to avoid the conventional limitations of language, he certainly picked the wrong method. Other surrealistic authors, like fonesca, have successfully given words new impact but only by exercising careful control, not be ignoring them.

Since Artaud conceived of theater as a total sensors experience, his script is something of a skeleton. It anything, this puts a heavier burden on the actors, and in this production, the cast doesn't meet the challenge. David Juda gives the best performance as the demonic Count. His facial contortions and bent posture add immeasurably to the anguished character outlined in the script.

Several of the other actors, however, mar the production because of poor voice control and modulation. Since Artaud was given to excessive use of monologue, this problem is especially glating. Elizabeth Philip, who never seems comfortable in the pivotal role of Beatrice, rarely changes her intonation or expression, and her first speech is maudible. Probably because he plays a very detached Papal representative. Philip Haas speaks at an even keel throughout the evening, but he could vary his voice more without appearing entangled in the Cencis' private war.

Seth Riemer misinterprets his part as Giacomo, the family coward the only Cenci who would cringe at the thought of committing a murder. Riemer tries to convey this with an effect accent that seems anachronistic.

Artaud also believed in exploiting fully the effects produced by lights, sounds, costumes, and the set. This production valiantly tries to remain faithful to Artaud's stage directions, and although Barbara Kirschten's costumes are very well conceived, some effects like the candies enhance the mood, but most cause more embarrassing technical difficulties than they're worth.

The play is supposed to open on a spiral gallery to give (according to Artaud) the illusion of depth and height create a rhythm of shadows that herald us into a mystical worlds, and destroy all sense of perspective. It is doubtful if any construction could fulfill all these expectations, but the side balcony used here only makes the seen hard to see.

Philip Haas has divided the acting space into several areas to reduce the separation between cast and audience, placing extra demands on the lighting. Unfortunately, Ying Wu's design is not equal to the task. Faces are often obscured in blue shadow because the lights are not properly set and balanced.

while plotting his family's ruin, Count Cenci muses: "The difference between the villainies committed in real life and the villainies acted out on the stage is that in real life we do more and say less: while in the theater we talk endlessly and accomplish very little." Cenci proposes to restore the balance, but because of Artaud's limited idea of theater and the production's failings, his promise goes unfulfilled. The Cenci is mostly talk.