Through a Glass Darkly

Atlantic Theater Company New York 13 May 2011

3 min read

Through a Glass Darkly

Carey Mulligan received rave reviews for her role as Karin; otherwise
the response was, well, hesitant.

 Collaborators

(9)

'The Criterion DVD has excellent subtitles.'

Village Voice

he New York Times' Ben Brantley wrote that Mulligan more than confirms her
promise as one of the finest actresses of her generation. Her performance
'convinces us that we are seeing through Karin's very skin'. He concludes: 'Such
vision is a rare and frightening privilege afforded only by acting of the highest order.'
Marilyn Stasio in Variety hails the actress as the performance's saving grace, citing the
'power and passion' of her performance.

Even Elisabeth Vincentelli of the New York Post, who literally hates the performance and
means that Bergman is 'lucky to be dead and safe from this fiasco,' is seduced by Mulligan
and her 'incisive stage smarts'. Vincentelli further declares that Mulligan 'has the uncanny
ability to be simultaneously brooding and radiant, and here she shades Karin's descent into
madness with an almost painful sympathy'.
David Rooney of the Hollywood Reporter certifies that 'the play belongs to Mulligan's
Karin,' and refers to her performance as 'volatile yet restrained'. Rooney disapproves
however of Jenny Wortons adaptation and remarks that it 'stumbles in the climactic
scene'. He continues: 'Bergman's film was part of a trilogy about loss of faith, but in this
context, Karin's religious hysteria remains merely a vestige of her madness, stripped of
metaphysical meaning. The attempt to explain away her illness as a hereditary condition
fed by the family's history of denial and withheld affection seems banal.' He concludes: 'But
even when the writing lets her down, Mulligan's haunting performance is riveting.'
The Associated Press' Mark Kennedy writes that all the performances are superb, but
thinks that Mulligan is 'riveting' and that she 'pours herself into the role.' In Back StageNY
Andy Propst adds: 'Mulligan delivers a performance that is by turns warmly endearing and
frighteningly volcanic'. Most impressed is Propst by the 'elegant simplicity and utter lack of
artifice' in her work.
Newsday's Linda Winer is no less convinced. 'What a performance this is,' she states and

continues: 'Mulligan has such an apparent sweetness, such an unforced girlishness about
her that, when the demons start calling, she magnetically pulls us down the abyss with her.
Have dimples ever looked so sad?'
The stage design by Takeshi Kata design received mixed reviews. David Rooney in
Hollywood Reporter found the set an: 'austerely beautiful canvas on which to plot the
descent into madness of Karin.' The lighting of David Weiner he described as 'soft and
shadowy, acquiring harder edges as the drama darkens'.
Variety's Marilyn Stasio calls Kata's split-focus set 'stunning' and presents a descriptive
exposition of it: 'On stage left, the boxed-in interior of the claustrophobic cottage. On stage
right, an expressionistic expanse of lonely beach. And against it all, a bleached blue "sky" of
painted planks. But the spot that draws the eye [] is the attic where Karin retreats to
commune with the god she hears calling to her from behind the faded wallpaper.'
Associated Press' Mark Kennedy on the other hand found parts of the design 'unnecessary'
and 'clumsy'.
When it came to the production as a whole few were really convinced. Ben Brantely in New
York Times meant that it: 'never builds as strongly as it needs to its shattering climaxes'.
Most critical was undoubtedly Elisabeth Vincentelli in New York Post who called Wortons
adaptation: 'clueless about Bergman's aesthetics and themes'. Worton, she continues,
'spells everything out. She replaces Bergman's silences with constant, shallow poppsychological yakking'. It is telling, Vincentelli states sternly, that the name of Karin's
younger brother has been changed from Minus to Max. Her review ends with the merciless
conclusion: 'What a colossal missed opportunity'.
Michael Feingold in The Village Voice unfavourably compares the theatre production with
Bergmans film: 'Beyond Bergmans stunning sense of visual fields, theres his fascination
with faces: Even the best actors alive, at a moderate distance from a theater audience,
couldnt rival the close-ups that have etched Harriet Andersson, Gunnar Bjrnstrand, and
Max von Sydow onto the worlds memory banks. Given the impossibility, Leveauxs cast
does well. It's just that they seem to be waving at the event from a distance rather than
living through it. The Criterion DVD has excellent subtitles.'
by Jan Holmberg23 May 2012

Sources

Ben Brantley, New York Times, 6 June 2011

Michael Feingold, The Village Voice, 8 June 2011
Mark Kennedy, AP, 7 June 2011
Andy Propst, Back Stage NY, 6 June 2011
David Rooney, The Hollywood Reporter, 7 June 2011
Marilyn Stasio, Variety, 7 JUne 2011
Elisabeth Vincentelli, New York Post, 6 June 2011
Linda Winer, Newsday, 6 June 2011

Collaborators

Ingmar Bergman , Text

Jenny Worton , Adaptation
David Leveaux , Director
Jenna Woods , Master carpenter
Joanne E. McInerney , Stage technician
Universe

Family Values

The family plays a central part in most Bergman films, but happy
families are rare.

Under an empty, cruel sky

Bergman was, to quote a phrase, the son of a preacher man.

More stagings of Through a Glass Darkly

Stiftelsen Ingmar Bergman