Reviewed
by Jerry Kraft
Talk
about an ambitious production. In taking on Isabel Allende's magnificent novel, "The
House of the Spirits" Book-It Rep faced the problems of adapting a multi-generational family story
into a producible length, making its complex stagecraft theatrically manageable,
and maintaining the intimacy of the narrative voice, the variety of characters,
and the fantastic qualities of its "magical realism." Myra Platt succeeds both from a literary
and from a dramatic perspective (she did the adaptation and directed the
production) and a talented and well-focused cast create an evening that thrills
in the sheer joy of storytelling.
The
production balances the most intimate of family sagas with a broad political
and social history and deftly astonishing touches of the supernatural and
spiritual. Although expansive, it never feels over-extended: it moves quickly
and purposefully along its trajectory, and brings us to a satisfying
resolution. Most surprisingly, the play is convincingly, organically theatrical
while never straying far from its purely literary origin.
The
scenic design, by Etta Lilienthal, is beautiful and highly functional, featuring a mobile
which suspends ordinary household objects in space, beyond the control of such
things as gravity and the laws of physical reality. A tall, slim pedestal
elevates the voice of the Church, and the teetering authority of the ruling
classes. Various other scenic elements move in and out on wagons. It's an
elegant setting for the "big house on the corner" as well as the
humble peasant homes, and public places of this Latin American milieu.
The
cast has to be as transformative and mercurial as the magical events of the
story, with most of the actors playing multiple roles. The fine child actor Olivia
Spokoiny plays
the child, Clara, whose powers of clairvoyance initiate the narrative that will
sustain through her own grandchild fifty years later. She also plays the young
Blanca, Clara and Esteban's first child, and later Blanca's child, Little Alba.
She smartly portrays each of the characters, delivering her lines with clarity
and assuming the stage with confidence and great focus. That preparation allows
the adult Clara, played by Jennifer Sue Johnson, to assume the stature and depth
the character requires. Similarly, Todd Licea plays the autocratic Esteban
Trueba with just the right blend of pride, egotism and petty tyranny combining
brutal chauvinism with genuine affection for his granddaughter, Little Alba. I
also especially enjoyed Marissa Price as Rosa the Beautiful, Transito and a Mora Sister, Leticia
Jaramillo as
Nana and a Mora Sister, and Paul Bergman as Pedro Tercero Garcia, a revolutionary son of
the peasant foreman, Pedro Segundo (well-played by Wesley Rice).
The
strength of all these widely diverse and well-designed characters was in the
way they gave individuality, urgency and consequence to the events of the
story. We had clear, distinctive individuals with complex relationships that
became the history of a time and place, and who created a continuous line of
narrative. In the end, the beauty and the power of this tale is that the
history of a family not only echoes the history of a society, but in an almost
mystical way, becomes that history. Myra Platt's incredibly capable adaptation
of the novel gave these fine actors a world in which to live their lives so
that we could see both the obvious, superficial social and political
machineries, but could also sense and apprehend the greater forces of private
lives on public events. It was an exciting and boldly ambitious undertaking,
and to my mind, a remarkable and moving achievement.