June 2010 Theatre Review by Joe Stead
Ghosts
Norwegian playwright Henrik Ibsen is considered the father of modern drama. His work, once thought lewd and obscene, challenged the status quo of the Victorian age with ribald questions about family, morality, duty and guilt. What is remarkable is how much dramatic weight these themes still carry. Take Ibsen's "Ghosts" for example. First written in 1881, it was deemed "one of the filthiest things ever written in Scandinavia" as it threw propriety and "family values" out the window. And it is still a blistering and provocative think piece as served so potently by the Bohemian Theatre Ensemble.
A work that excoriates both depravity and puritanical hypocrisy could easily be the target of parody or artistic tampering. Thankfully that is not what is happening in Director P. Marston Sullivan's crackling storefront production. Sullivan respects the text and the author's intent, and he is working with a new translation by no less than Lanford Wilson that brings the vernacular into the here and now. Some purists may gripe with the occasional contemporary slang employed, but this is as intelligent and thought-provoking an approach to a classic as I have seen in some time. Everything about the BoHo production exudes class, from the well chosen props and furnishings that complete Anders Jacobson and Judy Radovsky's beautifully moody and stately setting to Sarah Putnam's exquisite period costuming. And the thoroughly honest acting Sullivan has culled from his five-member cast can only be described as masterful.
Mrs. Helen Alving is the manager and executor of an orphanage she plans to have renamed in memoriam to her late husband. As she meets and talks with her longtime friend, business advisor and pastor Reverend Manders, a number of revelations come out that challenge the very notion of family and responsibility. Perhaps the respected Captain Alving wasn't the pillar of virtue to which he is memorialized. Was his wife governed by "irresponsible willfulness" or the victim of a degenerate spouse and the shackles of "acceptable" morality that chained her to him? The Reverend Manders assets that "There is no guarantee of happiness in this life and we have no right to expect it". Helen is haunted not only by the ghosts of the past, but the ghost she finds herself becoming.
What of their 21-year-old son Oswald , the "Prodigal son" who has returned home after years of a depraved but happy artistic upbringing in Paris? Oswald hungers for the joy of life but finds nothing but boundaries. Are the sins of the father destined to follow the offspring? Oswald has been diagnosed by a Paris physician as carrying some sexual scourge (read Syphilis) that results in migraines and inability to work or sustain a single thought. Was this self-inflicted or genetic? Helen lavishes Oswald with support and love as he is the only thing in the world left that she cares about. "I gave you life," she tells him. "I don't want it," he retorts. "What kind of life is this?" he wonders as his diseased mind becomes swallowed up in unbearable fear and self loathing. Could this all be "God's fiery judgment on a sinful house," as the good Reverend declares?
Saren Nofs-Snyder turns in a luminous portrayal of Helen Alving. She is never less than commanding in a juicy tour de force role. We see the nearly overpowering love and affection she harbors on her only child and the paralyzing misery she feels as the sins of the past continue to haunt her. This is one actress to keep an eye on. The Reverend Manders is a challenging one in that everything out of his mouth brands him a sanctimonious prig, and yet Steve O'Connell imbues him with surprising humanity and even vulnerability. His epiphany that "It goes to show how careful you have to be when you go about judging your fellow man" is brilliantly handled.
Top-notch work is also turned in by Charles Riffenburg as Oswald, Sean Thomas as a scheming carpenter, and Florence Ann Romano as an ambitious young housekeeper. As BoHo Theatre begins a new chapter in its artistic life, it is primed to be a major player in the Chicago theatre scene. With powerful work such as "Ghosts" to its credit and an exciting new space to inhabit come fall, BoHo has an exciting past, present and future to celebrate.
Bohemian Theatre Ensemble presents "Ghosts" through July 18, 2010 at the Heartland Studio Theatre, located at 7016 N. Glenwood in Rogers Park. The play runs 95 minutes with no intermission. Performances are Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays at 8:00 p.m., Sundays at 2:00 p.m. (Final Sunday at 1:00 p.m.). Tickets are $17-$20. Construction and parking problems in this area are a nightmare, so use public transportation if possible. Call 866-811-4111 or visit www.BoHoTheatre.com.
About Joe Stead
Joe
Stead has enjoyed a lifelong passion for the theatre, which has
involved acting, directing, producing, designing and reviewing for
the past twenty-five years. He served as founder, producer and
Artistic Director of Curtain Up Productions in Baltimore, Maryland
and Four Star Players in Tampa, Florida. Favorite productions
have included "Life With Father," "Deathtrap,"
"The Odd Couple," "The Miracle Worker,"
"Brighton Beach Memoirs," "You're A Good Man, Charlie
Brown" and "Godspell". He has also performed
leading roles in "Fiddler on the Roof," "Pippin,"
"The Phantom of the Opera," "The Front Page," and
most recently as Hucklebee in "The Fantasticks" for
Waukegan Community Players. Joe holds a degree in Commercial
Art from Tampa Technical Institute. As a critic, he has
reviewed everything from Broadway to community theatre and major
regional theatres throughout the United States including the Kennedy
Center in Washington, D.C., Paper Mill Playhouse in New Jersey,
Goodspeed Opera House in Connecticut, and the Asolo Theatre in
Sarasota, Florida.
Since 1998, he has been a proud resident of Chicago, the greatest theatre city in America. He served for two years as Theatre Editor for College News and Central Newspapers. He created the website Steadstyle Chicago in 2000 to showcase the city's outstanding and diverse theatre scene. Joe was proud to serve alongside a distinguished panel of theatre professionals as a judge for two seasons of Speaking Ring Theatre's "Vitality" Festival of original short plays. His most fulfilling role, in addition to reviewer and all-around theatre fanatic, was as director of the 2007 production of Peter Shaffer's "Equus" at Actors Workshop (now Redtwist) Theatre, which was nominated for five Joseph Jefferson Award Citations and won for Best Actor (Peter Oyloe).