Two weekends ago, four plays that opened the 2007 season for the Oregon Shakespeare Festival took the audience on a journey through a wide range of human experience, from the many faces of grief, love and hope to downright silliness.
"As You Like It" turned out to be the weakest of the quartet, lacking the kind of luster usually associated with this play about love and loyalty. The production of "The Cherry Orchard" played like a familiar symphony whose tones reminded us once again how masterfully Chekhov both understands and depicts his fellow humans.
Just when we thought we would linger a bit longer in Russia, lulled by the dream of a world gone by, along came Tom Stoppard's "On the Razzle" to shake things up. Stoppard worked from a literal translation of Johann Nestroy's "Einen Jux will er sich machen" to create his script for "On the Razzle."
Director Laird Williamson describes Michael Ganio's set design as a box with windows and clouds giving the illusion of freedom but never any real freedom. The result is as claustrophobic and cluttered as the inside of a cuckoo clock designed by Rube Goldberg. Images flash by, inspired by the likes of the Marx Brothers, The Keystone Cops, "Pee Wee's Great Adventure," "The Simpsons" and "Ferris Bueller's Day Off."
And then there's Stoppard's ridiculous wordplay: "Unhand my foot, sir!" I know it is blasphemy these days to find the slightest fault with Stoppard or Sondheim, but both of these guys love the sound of their own words. And when those words work, I love them, too. But when they don't, I cringe. There are a few cringing moments in "On the Razzle." But given the context in which they appear, they become groaners, like bad puns, and slip right into the mix.
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There are at least 23 characters in this play and they're all crazy. Each of the actors knows this and has a field day. And so does the audience.
David Lindsay-Abaire's "Rabbit Hole" also takes us into a world where everything is upside down. Only in this play everything looks normal but feels strange. The solo piano music was composed by Libby's son Irwin in the vein of Carl Tjader's "Poem for a Lonely Child."
Danny, the lonely child in "Rabbit Hole," has died, struck by a car driven by an otherwise very conscientious teenager. We don't see Danny, but the force of his memory keeps him very much a daily presence for his parents, aunt, grandmother and the hapless young driver.
But this is not a maudlin exercise in tears and hopeful tomorrows. It is a momentary visit to a small human community trying steadfastly to cope with grief and bewilderment. "Rabbit Hole" is a deliberate departure from Lindsay-Abaire's more absurdist themes and writing. It delves into places in the human soul that are universal, but experienced individually in many different ways.
In this world, the familiar is suddenly transformed into an almost surreal sense of the unfamiliar. In these moments where explanations fail, some people turn to their faith in God. In "Rabbit Hole," some of the characters turn to their faith in science, which holds the prospect of a parallel world where life is lived by other, happier versions of ourselves. The doorway to this universe is as fantastical as the rabbit hole in Lewis Carol's "Alice in Wonderland."
Had this play's themes been treated with less subtlety and artistry, it could have manipulated the viewing audience into sentimental weeping and the promise of a happy ending. But life is rarely scripted so predictably. "Rabbit Hole" is great writing enhanced by James Edmondson's sensitive directing and the masterful acting of his cast. Everything worked.
Opening weekend at OSF transported us to the Forest of Arden, a village in Russia, the shops of Vienna and the suburbs of New York. All in three days and four plays. The 2007 season is off to a grand start.
