Culture MONDAY, MARCH 15, 2010

[ THE WEEKENDER ] A gothic horror tale of love and madness

By Diane Baker STAFF REPORTER Tanztheater des Staatstheaters Darmstadt more than lived up to the dance theater portion of their name on Friday night with artistic director Lin Mei- Above: New Yorker theater critic Hilton Als has compared hong’s (林美虹) the lone black role in the hit Broadway play A Behanding Schwanengesang in Spokane, played by Anthony Mackie, right, to the racist (Swan Song) at the caricatures of black Americans that populated American National Theater. photo courtesy of Tanztheater des Staatstheaters Darmstadt cinema in the 1920s and 1930s. It was a brilliant Left: Christopher Walken has received rave reviews for his piece of theater, even though the number of strangulations portrayal of an openly racist character in A Behanding in was exceedingly high for a dance production, and some of the Spokane. Photos: Bloomberg scenes will surely give viewers nightmares for months to come. Forget Giselle, with its “mad” scene and vengeful Willis, Lin has conjured up a gothic horror tale of love, obsession, madness and death that will be hard to beat — all the more amazing for being performed by a cast of just 15 dancers. George Rodenbach’s novel Bruges-la-Morte may have been published in 1892, but at its heart is a tale for the ages, and Lin’s choreography gave it a very modern edge. Most of the dancers played multiple roles, beginning as doppelgangers to the protagonist Hugo (danced by Simone Broadway rocked by Deriu) and his wife Marie (danced by Andressa Miyazato), dressed in identical suits for the men and a platinum, 1930s permed wig and a spaghetti-strap, long slip dress for the women. It was hard to tell who was who, and that was the point. The story of Hugo’s obsessive love for his dead wife could have been about any one of them, or all of us. The 10 dancers who were racism claims not the leads also performed as a flock of nuns, then swans and then demons — some of them must have been changing costumes right in the wings. A prominent New York critic has divided US theatergoers with a furious The other three leads were also exceptional: Tatiana assault on Irish writer Martin McDonagh’s hit new play Marchini as Hugo’s housekeeper Barbe, whose devotion turns to unrequited passion; the long-limbed Eszter Kozar as Mariette — the Marie look-alike who Hugo becomes besotted with — and By Paul Harris and Vanessa Thorpe The Observer, New York and London especially Laszlo Kocisis as the specter of the dead Marie. Each time Kocisis appeared in his Kabuki-white body paint and slip dress, with a long grayish clump of hair trailing down one side ontroversial playwright Martin busy, open country of the United States,” Toby, the young black male, as a shucking, a black writer. I think it is extraordinary. I of his head, he would tiptoe on, arms upraised as if posing for McDonagh is used to creating wrote Ben Brantley in the New York Times. jiving thief can’t be excused,” he wrote, know people who have written to the New a Grecian urn drawing, looking somewhat lost. Then his torso C headlines in Britain and Ireland with USA Today called it: “... hardly McDonagh’s before lamenting that he believed that Yorker about it already. It is completely out would contract, the arms would tilt awkwardly and his face his dark tales laced with black humor and most fully realized effort.” Mackie and other black actors have to take of order,” Fox said. contort — you could see Marie’s body decaying with every move flowing with stage blood. Then there was the New Yorker. In an such roles in order to get higher-profile Als did not reply to e-mails or an he took. The black-robed and hooded Bengt Ekerot may have So his attempt to crack the American extraordinary and withering review, the work. “The sad fact is that, in order to interview request from the Observer. Nor created an indelible impression as Death in Ingmar Bergman’s market with his first play set in the US has magazine’s theater critic, Hilton Als, laid cross over, most black actors of Mackie’s did the theater or Mackie have an official The Seventh Seal, but Kocsis has created an image that will be caused an understandable stir on Broadway, into the play for being overtly racist. “I generation must act black before they’re reaction. “We have no comment, nor does hard for anyone who sees him to forget. where Christopher Walken has been don’t know a single self-respecting black allowed to act human,” Als wrote. Anthony Mackie,” said a spokeswoman for Thomas Gruber, who did the staging and costumes, designed persuaded to play the lead role. But trying actor who wouldn’t feel shame and fury Als appears to be the only major critic the production. a deceptively simple set that was little more than a large black out an American setting as opposed to an while sitting through Martin McDonagh’s who reacted to the play’s racial themes Some Broadway experts, however, platform that took up most of the stage, with a narrow strip of a Irish one is proving a challenging exercise. new play,” began Als’ review, which is so viscerally. Few other reviews paid its agreed that, while the work does contain canal in front of it, a large wardrobe that doubled as a door front The play, A Behanding in Spokane, has probably one of the most negative pieces of use of racist language much attention, racially provocative material, it is unlikely and a bench for the judge from hell, noose-like bell pulls and a a typically bleak and violent McDonagh theater criticism produced by the magazine instead focusing on Walken’s performance, to cause widespread offense, especially panel of lilies that hugged one side of the proscenium. premise: An aging killer, played by Walken, in recent years. which has been widely praised amid early with audiences there to see Walken. “I can The edgy, jazz score was by Michael Erhad. is looking for a severed hand that he lost Als, who is black, took umbrage at the whispers of Tony awards. But Als’ remarks understand why an African American may As a choreographer, Lin appears to be at the height of her many years ago, then he meets a couple of play’s use of racist insults by Walken’s certainly hit home with the play’s British approach the play with a little reticence, powers. She has created a very dark work, but the darkness con artists in a dingy hotel room who tell character, who is openly and proudly producer, Robert Fox. “It was absolutely but I don’t think that is McDonagh’s never overwhelms the audience, and at Schwanengesang’s core him they have the precious appendage. prejudiced. “A Behanding ... isn’t in the vindictive. Although Hilton Als’ comments intent,” said Dan Bacalzo, managing editor are some amazingly beautiful duets and solos. Some reviewers have judged that least palatable; it’s vile, particularly in its are meaningless in the scheme of things, of Theatermania, a top New York theater Lin has been artistic director of the Tanztheater des McDonagh — whose other plays include repeated use of the word ‘nigger,’” Als because the show is doing very well, I think Web site. Staatstheaters Darmstadt since 2004 — and at the Dortmund The Lieutenant of Inishmore and The wrote. He then went on to compare the his remarks were entirely inappropriate Bacalzo defended McDonagh’s right to theater for five years before that — and it’s hard to believe it has Pillowman and who also directed and play’s lone black role, Toby — played by and irresponsible,” Fox told the Observer. put racist language in the mouths of one taken so long to bring this terrific Taiwanese choreographer and wrote the hit film In Bruges, starring Colin Anthony Mackie, the star of The Hurt Fox said he thought Als’ criticism was of his characters as he tries to take on her company to Taiwan. Given the economics and scheduling of Farrell — fails to understand the American Locker, to the racist caricatures of black in itself an injection of racism where none American themes. “For Americans race is dance companies and Darmstadt’s commitments at home, it may psyche as well as he does that of his Americans that populated American was merited. “It was racist in that it was more important than class, so the material be too much to hope that the company could make an annual trip fellow Irishmen. “He seems to have lost his cinema in the 1920s and 1930s. “The racially intolerant to write those things. He is appropriate for him to tackle when to Taipei. But there should be a law that Lin and crew have to hitherto unerring sense of direction in the caricature he [McDonagh] presents in doesn’t identify himself [in the review] as dealing with America,” he added. come back at least every two years.

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