All the World's a Magical Stage

In a small Latin American village by the ocean, sea-crabs haunt a poor man in his sleep. The man, named Tobias, perceives the odor of roses rising from the sea. The villagers soon become aware of the scent, the village becomes a carnival and a mythically rich American named Mr. Herbert arrives to solve everyone's problems. Such is the core of Gabriel Garcia Marquez's short story, "The Sea of Lost Time," now a dramatic production appearing at Adolphus Busch Hall.

Directed by Andrea Thome, The Sea of Lost Time is more an exploration of Garcia Marquez's story than an adaptation of it. The production uses the story as a point of departure for a rumination on themes like American imperialism in Latin America, the nature of dreams and reality, cooking shows and flower children.

The choice of Adolphus Busch Hall as the venue for the play is a significant and felicitous one. The hall itself supports the director's take on the story. Busch Hall's cavernous stone interior contains the entrance to a cathedral and a lofty balcony from which two putti gaze impishly on the audience below. The cathedral door appears to have been taken from a church in Europe and brought whole to the United States, like the Parthenon friezes taken to England by Lord Elgin. This fact supports the play's and the story's vision of imperialistic thievery, where a powerful country despoils a weaker one of its riches.

Garcia Marquez's famous magical realism is difficult to capture on the stage, but a great deal of this production does a splendid job of suggesting the atmosphere that would generate such a style. In the first scene, where Tobias (Billy Hulkower) is haunted by the crabs, the actors swirl in an eerie and effective dance. The scene where Petra (Neela Pania), who interprets the smell of roses as a sign from God, dies and is buried, is a knockout, probably the most powerful moment in the production. Petra's death and interment take place against a back-ground of the villagers' overlapping voices, repeating phrases in an incantatory fashion. The effect recalls a scene in Juan Rulfo's classic novel Pedro Paramo, where the narrator is killed by voices. In this production, the scene has a hypnotic effect on the audience which is difficult to shake, and here the play seems to bear a closer affinity with the work of Rulfo than with that of Garcia Marquez.

Another memorable scene parodies an American cooking show featuring Cheffy (Hulkower) and his assistants (Jessie Cohen and Daniela Bleichmar). The scene is a biting and devastatingly hilarious satire of both cooking shows and American attitudes to things south of the border. Cohen and Bleichmar are a pleasure to watch, exhibiting a flair for ribaldry and broad comedy. Cohen has a marvelous protean quality which is ideal for a production like this, where the actors have to play multiple roles. Bleichmar revels in the characters she plays, from Mr. Herbert the gringo philanthropist to Tobias' wife Clotilde, and she can incite giggles just by the way she pronounces the word "rabbits."

This production of The Sea of Lost Time has many other notable touches. The witty and effective music ranges from tropical so flamenco to a guitar rendition of "La Vie en Rose." The use of textile props, from a net hammock to a trailing length of purple cloth, is splendidly handled.

The Sea of Lost Time is not a finished product; Thome calls it a "workshop production and exploration." There are some kinks to be ironed out; the scene involving flower children is weak, and some of the characterizations fall a bit flat. But this work-in-progress still stands out for its topicality and creativity. Harvard audiences should lose no time in seeing this intriguing and worthwhile production.