The Ghost Sonata by August Strindberg

Review by: Barbara Lide

Theatre Journal, Vol. 44, No. 1 (Mar., 1992), pp. 109-111
Published by: The Johns Hopkins University Press
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 THEATREREVIEW / 109

pistoland earnestly Ei-

saying,"Butbeautifully, DirectoroftheNationalTheatre,explainedhisse-
lert,"she thoughtfully
walkedto thephonograph lectionsforthefestival
bysaying,"WhatI wantis
and played"Oh, Didn'tHe Ramble?"The audi- to playaroundwithIbsen-cut awaysomeofthe
encelaughedbecausethelyricswereappropriate reverence and performtheplaysin new spaces-
to Lovborg'scharacter but inappropriate
forthe maybein thestairway!" The IbsenStageFestival
situation.Withinthisironicapproachtheburning Norwayhas had an excitingdebut,andtheannual
ofthemanuscript cameas a shock;theaudience eventpromises moreinnovative Ibsenproductions
watchedwitha horridfascinationas sheranabout in thefuture.
the stagewitha cigarette lighterburningpages
likea derangedchildplayingwithmatches.One YVONNE SHAFER
of my colleaguesremarkedthathe was never of Coloradoat Boulder
University
movedbytheproduction, butfoundithighlyen-
tertaining.
If thishad been myonlychanceto see Hedda
Gabler,I mighthave been annoyedby the pro-
duction.UnlikeBrandorLittle however,this
Eyolf,
play is performed frequentlywitha predictable THE GHOST SONATA. By August Strind-
sameness:usuallyHedda foreshadows hersuicide berg. Park Square Theatre Company,
fromherfirstentrancebystalkingaboutthestage, Saint Paul, Minnesota. 20 January 1991.
takinglonganguishedpauses, and wringing her
hands.Thiswas a freshapproachto theroleand Not long aftercompleting TheGhostSonatain
totheplay.However,itis important toemphasize 1907,Strindberg wroteto his Germantranslator
thatmuchofthecomedyis alreadyin thescript. EmilSchering, "As faras TheGhostSonatais con-
Some of the lineswere givena surprising inter- cerned,don'task me whatitis about.Discretion,
pretationwhichwas funny.For example,when s'il vous plait!One entersa worldofintimations
thenervousmaidfirst announceda visitorwaiting whereoneexpressesoneselfinhalf-tones anduses
outside,Hedda answeredwithimpatience, "Well, the softpedal, because one is ashamedto be a
show herin." Thiswas repeatedwithincreasing humanbeing."BothStrindberg's statement and
comiceffecteachtimeBerthahesitantly appeared theenigmatic natureoftheplayitselfofferan en-
to announcethewaitingguest.Theinterpretation ticingchallengeto theatredirectors. Amongthe
was new, but the lines and the situationwere morewidelyknowndirectors who haveaccepted
Ibsen's. thechallengeareMax Reinhardt, who stagedhis
Gespenstersonate at theBerlinKammerspiele
in 1916,
Aside fromthe immediateentertainment pro- and IngmarBergman,who directedthreepro-
vided,theproduction had anothervalue. It em- ductionsof theplayin Sweden (1941,1954,and
phasizedthecomedyin thisplay(and, byimpli- 1973).
cation,in otherIbsenplays)whichis commonly
ignored.Too ofteninterpretations
ofIbsen'splays RichardCook, artisticdirectorof SaintPaul's
are reverential,
earnest,and dull. On the other ParkSquare Theatre,decidedto join thosewho
hand,thisplayis notoriousforgetting unwanted have tackledthisdifficult
play, finallybringing
inthefinalact.Ifa director
laughs,especially care- Strindbergto the Park Square,which,since its
fullyappraisedthisbaldlyfunnyapproach,and establishmentfifteen
yearsago, has stagedworks
thenplayedonlythecomedyIbsenintended,the ofShakespeare, Moliere,Chekhov,and a number
ending would be jarringand Hedda's suicide ofplaysbyIbsen.
wouldhavetheshockvalueIbsenintended.How
appropriatethe surpriseand horrorof Judge UsingEvertSprinchorn's Cookalso
translation,
Brack's"Peopledon'tdo suchthings!" wouldthen basedhisinterpretation inparton thecommentary
be! IfHedda wereplayedas a vital,wittywoman Sprinchorn providesin bothhis introduction to
thetranslation and in hisbookStrindbergas Dram-
trappedinunacceptablecircumstances, hersuicide
would have thestartling ofRichardCory's
effect atist,and, fortunatelyfortheaudience,Cook in-
in Robinson'spoem. cludessome of thiscommentary in theprogram
notes.Thustheaudienceis informed thattheplay
HeddaGabler
was one ofeleveniconoclastic and "represents a journey,signaledbythebellsat the
verypopularproductionsin thefestival.
Itis time beginning, thattransportsus totheIsleoftheDead
forAmericandirectors
to reappraiseIbsen.When and thatparallelstheemergence ofthesoul from
theydo theywillfindnota didacticsermonizer, its physicalhusk,"and also that"thismystical,
buta playwright
whoused theatricality,
eroticism, visionaryexperience constitutes
theactionofthe
and comedyto greateffect.SteinWinge,Artistic play... (which)takesplaceinKama-Loka,a kind

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Craig Johnsonas the student and David Ward Melmer as the Old Man in the Park Square Theatre
Company's productionof TheGhostSonata.Photo: Barbara Lide.

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All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

of ghostor dreamworldthroughwhichmortals,
orsomemortals, havetowanderbeforetheyenter
thepeace ofdeath'skingdom."
In ordertocreatetheatmosphere ofKama-Loka
thathe wantedto superimposeon the realistic
settingsuggestedby Strindberg, Cook added a
briefpreludeinspiredby theworkofNorwegian
artist Edvard Munch-more specifically,by
Munch'sdrawingsand paintings ofdeathscenes,
in whichthemourners, similarto thecharacters
in TheGhostSonata,are somehowrelatedto one
another,yetappeartobe isolatedintheirsuffering.
DressedlikeMunch'sfigures -mostlyinblackand
shades of gray,withpale facesand black-ringed
eyes-all the charactersexceptthe student,rep-
resentingthespiritsthatwaitin Kama-Loka,ap-
pearedon stagetoseta properly mood.
ghost-like
Contributing to thatmood, as well as to the
changingmoodsthroughout theplay,was thein-
cidentalmusiccomposedforthe productionby
MichaelJ. Croswell,who incorporated intothe
musicmanyof the sounds fromthe play itself,
includingthe Sundayorgan,the bells, and the
harp.Croswell'smusicsmackssomewhatofnine-
teenth-centuryromanticism, completewithocca-
sionalsoundsofa churning organ,withoutgoing
too far-thatis, aftergivinga hintor twoofsen-
timentalorganmusic,Croswellmodernizedhis
music,pullingitbackfromslippingoverthefine
linebetweenromanticism and soap operakitsch.
Also,toachieveintheParkSquare'sproscenium
archtheatretheintimacy and flexibility
desirable
forthischamberplay,a triangular platformwas
added to the stage,withone of the anglesex-
tendingconsiderablybeyondthe apronintothe
audience,enablingthemajoractionofeachscene
to be playedfardownleft,whilethespectralfig-
ureswentabouttheirbusinessupstage.
The actorsachievedsome accomplishedper-
formances. As Arkenholz theStudent, CraigJohn-
son believablycombinedthe naivete,idealism,
sensitivity, and disillusionment
brutality, thatthe
roledemands.David WardMelmer,whoseHum-
mel bore a strikingphysicalresemblance to the
HummelcreatedbyBengt-Ake Benktsson forIng-
mar Bergman's1954 production,managed to
maintain throughout theplaytheenigmatic nature
of his character,
keepingthe audienceguessing
whetherhe was purelydiabolicalor tryingsin-
cerelyin his old age to leave the worldhaving
donesomegoodinlifebyhelpingthestudentand
thegirl.Sara JaneOlson's Mummy,whosemore
youthful featurescouldstillbe perceivedthrough
thelayersofherveil,initially seemedtoo young,
especiallywhencomparedwithsomeofthetruly
mummified-looking Mummiesor old parrot-like
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THEATREREVIEW / 111
womenofpastproductions. Butintheunmasking
sceneoftheghostsupper,whenOlsonthewback
herveiland declaredthatshe couldwipe outthe
pastthroughsufferingandrepentance,
herradiant
communicated
faceeffectively thatshehadindeed
atonedforherpast sins and was experiencinga
kindofrebirthor rejuvenation.
A numberof the roles playedby the cast of
eighteeninvolvedveryfewlinesorno linesat all,
as in thecase ofthemilkmaid,yeteventheactors
insomeofthesmallersupporting rolestreatedthe
audienceto someveryfineperformances. Partic-
ularlyimpressive wereMarilyn Murrayas these-
nile Fianc6e,Rebecca Jelsemaas the troubled
Womanin Black,and DeborahHoeldtkeas the
nurturing Milkmaid.The Cook was delightfully
playedbyEdithElliott,who,reminiscent ofa Nor-
wegiankitchen witchwitha spooninherhair,lent
a grotesquely comictone to her imperiousand
particularlynastyvampirecharacter.
Thosefamiliar withTheGhost Sonatacannothelp
but wonderif any production will end the way
Strindberg wroteit-with a projection of Arnold
Bocklin's painting"Toteninsel" ("Isle of the
Dead"). Its premiere performance at Strindberg's
Intimateatern in 1908did not end thisway, and
eversincethendirectors havebeen creating their
own finalscenes.Ratherthanend withthe lib-
eratingdeathofthegirland thestudent'sprayer
to guideheron herjourneyto thepeacefulIsle of
theDead, Cook focusedon thetranscendence of
thestudentout of Kama-Lokato a higherrealm,
wherehe was welcomedandcomforted, as he was
at thebeginning oftheplay,bythenurturing fe-
malefigureofthemilkmaid-asceneveryStrind-
createdfortheplay
bergian,evenifnotspecifically
by Strindberg, and a powerfulconclusion.
BARBARA LIDE
University
MichiganTechnological
THE MISER. By Moliere. Trans. Jeremy
Sams. Royal National Theatre. Olivier
Theatre. London, United Kingdom. 28
June 1991.
DirectorStevenPimlottexploitsthe fullrange
ofresourcesofhis companyto highlight thesar-
donic,streetwise
dialogueofthisnewtranslation.
The simplebuteffectiveconcavesetdesignedby
AshleyMartin-Davis consistsmainlyof locked
doorsandemptycupboardsandincludesa curved