A Little Life

A Little Life
BAM Howard Gilman Opera House
October 29, 2022

Ramsey Nasr & Maarten Heijmans
Photo courtesy of BAM & Internationaal Theatre Amsterdam

Internationaal Theatre Amsterdam’s production of A Little Life played at BAM’s Howard Gilman Opera House from October 20 through 29.  The play is adapted by Koen Tachelet from Hanya Yanagihara’s 2015 novel.  It is a powerful piece, running four hours and ten minutes with one intermission.  It is performed in Danish with English subtitles.  Director Ivo van Hove has outdone himself on this production.  He keeps the action focused and clear.  As in the original novel, the story is character driven.  The relationships build to tell a harsh and cruel story that leaves you filled with compassion, marveling at how precious life truly is.

Maarten Heijman, Ramsey Nasr, Majd Mardo, & Edwin Jonker
Photo courtesy of BAM & Internationaal Theatre Amsterdam

The story is about four friends: Jude (played by Ramsey Nasr), Willem (played by Maarten Heijmans), JB (played by Majd Mardo), and Malcolm (played by Edwin Jonker).  Jude is a successful lawyer with a physical disability, caused by a “car accident” in his youth.  When his mentor, Harold (played by Jacob Derwig) decides he wants to adopt him, Jude’s fears rise to the surface.  His doctor, Andy (played by Bart Siegers), notices a drop in Jude’s health.  Jude is a cutter, inflicting pain on himself as a means of balancing the challenges he faces with abuses he suffered in his youth.  He keeps this a secret from Harold and his friends.  Amid flashbacks of his abuse, Jude has memories of time spent with Anna (played by Marieke Heebink), a therapist he worked with for many years.  After Jude is hospitalized because of an violent incident with Caleb, a man he is secretly seeing (played by Hans Kesting), Willem steps up to give him the care and support he needs.  Willem develops an intimate closeness with Jude, which opens a door for him to face his past and begin the slow and painful process of healing. 

Maarten Heijmans & Ramsey Nasr
Photo courtesy of BAM & Internatinaal Theatre Amsterdam

Ramsey Nasr draws the audience deeply into Jude’s story.  The details of his past are revealed one layer at a time.  As each layer peels back, we gain a clearer understanding of Jude’s inability to open up and form close, intimate, and lasting relationships.  Maarten Heijmans portrays Willem as selfless and compassionate.  He sacrifices parts of himself so Jude can build trust in him.  Their scenes are truthful and honest.  They develop a genuine relationship that is vulnerable and transformative.

A bold choice by Ivo van Hove was to cast the same actor (Hans Kesting) as the three men (Caleb, Luke, and Traylor) who inflict extreme abuse on Jude.  This allows the audience to comprehend how Jude’s’ abusive past formed continual trauma, causing Jude’s thick layer of defense and elevated need for secrecy.  As in past productions, Mr. van Hove uses the image of blood throughout the piece.  This symbolizes the pain and scars Jude perpetually carries.  It successfully illustrates the brutality of the story, without overwhelming the audience with its severity. 

This production keeps true to Hanya Yanagihara’s brilliant writing.  The characters of BJ and Malcom are not as detailed as in the novel, but it does not take away from the impact of the story.  Unfortunately, A Little Life played at BAM for a limited run.  Since it was part of BAM’s Next Wave Festival, there is no telling where it will be heading next.  If you see it scheduled in another venue, make sure to get a ticket.  Whether your read the novel or not, this production surely will have a powerful and lasting impact. 

Domenick Danza

Network

Network

Belasco Theatre

April 6, 2019

Photo courtesy of Network

When Network was first released in 1976, it struck a chord to a generation who grew complacent. We easily bought into any belief system that kept us calm and happy.  The movie aroused our anger.  We rose up crying, “I’m mad as hell and I’m not going to take it anymore!”  We all felt the freedom that comes with expressing pent-up emotion.  Today, forty years later, as the expression of anger seems common place and out of control, we can listen to and appreciate the powerful message Network imparts that is beyond the mere facing of repressed emotion.  Adapted for the stage by Lee Hall, the Broadway production of Network delivers the expected impact and offers these deeper introspective moments.  Director Ivo Van Hove creates a high tech production that combines video and sound to keep the action fast paced and in the moment.  Brian Cranston is riveting.

Brian Cranston as Howard Beale
Photos courtesy of Network

After twenty-five years as a broadcast news journalist and anchor, Howard Beale (played by Brian Cranston) gets fired.  To add insult to injury, his best friend and colleague, Max Schumacher (played by Tony Goldwyn) is the one responsible for delivering the fatal news.  Howard, in a moment of desperation, announces he will commit suicide while on the air.  This threatens an even sooner demise to his career, until Diane Christensen (played by Tatiana Maslany) decides to use it to improve ratings.  She proposes to the network to make Howard Beale a prophet to the common people.  They buy it.  It works.  Ratings soar.  Millions are made.  Then everyone realizes who really holds the power.

Tony Goldwyn & Brian Carnston
Photos courtesy of Network

In our present day of reality TV and presidents winning election on their celebrity, the use of personal hardships and biased information to boost rating seem unfortunately normal.  It is, however, heartbreaking to watch Brian Cranston’s portrayal of the downfall of Howard Beale.  His character has lost all sense of reality, and is pushed further down the dark path for other people’s gain.  Mr. Cranston creates genuine and powerful moments of panic and despair.  He is able to pull himself up, but we know it is based on falsehood, and therefore only temporary.  The ending is shocking.  Mr. Van Hove knows how to build a moment and explode it unexpectedly.

The Broadway production of Network has been extended through June 8.  Go on line and get your ticket.  If you liked the move, you must experience this production.  Do not leave during the curtain call.  Mr. Van Hove leaves the audience with a few very timely images that drive the theme home after the cast leaves the stage.

Domenick Danza

The Damned

The Damned

Comedie-Francaise

Park Avenue Armory

July 19, 2018

Photo courtesy of Comedie-Francaise
& Park Avenue Armory

The North American premier of the Comedie-Francaise production of The Damned is being presented at the Park Avenue Armory this month.  Director Ivo van Hove interprets Luchino Visconti’s film for the Armory’s vast, expansive space with a cast of twenty-three, archival film sequences, and a highly skilled crew of video and sound technicians.  The piece is spoken in French with English subtitles, and runs two hours and ten minutes without an intermission.  It is full of powerful an alarming images that dramatize the political manipulation of complicit behavior to gain control.

Shortly after Adolph Hitler became chancellor of Germany, the Reichstag, which housed the German parliament, was burned by a Dutchman with strong communist connections.  On the same night, the Aschenbach family, who owns and runs the largest steel mill in Germany, is celebrating the birthday of their patriarch (played by Didier Sandre).  The steel mill is a vital need of the Nazi party.  Following the death of the patriarch, the deciding votes on the running of the mill falls to his nephew, Martin (played by Christophe Montenez).  To gain power over these decisions the family pits themselves against one another, turning Jewish member over to the party and reporting disloyalty.  The final fight for power is between Martin and his mother (played by Elsa Lepoivre).  Total destruction of the family is inevitable.

Photo courtesy of Comedie-Francaise
& Park Avenue Armory

The strengthening of the Nazi party through the public’s fear and anger is clear and riveting in this story.  The mistrust between the characters is visceral.  It is stated in the play how the political movement is counting on this family for two things.  One is the steel for making weapons.  The other is their complicity in the party’s beliefs and actions.  This theme is historically understood, and rings with truth and relevance today.

The Damned is playing at the Park Avenue Armory through July 28.  A production of this magnitude and importance must be experienced.  The ending will shock and stay with you.  Get your tickets today! 

Domenick Danza

The Crucible

The Crucible

Walter Kerr Theatre

March 12, 2016

Photo courtesy of The Crucible

Director Ivo Van Hove exceeds all expectations with the Broadway production of Arthur Miller’s classic The Crucible.  His concept transcends all time periods and illuminates Mr. Miller’s intention by transferring its relevance to our present day struggles.  The structure of the script and majesty of the words are magnified under his direction.  The cast is superb.  They are viscerally connected to the material and one another.  They draw the audience in for the totality of the experience.

Saoirse Ronan & Ben Whishaw
Photo courtesy of The Crucible

Ben Whishaw’s portrayal of John Proctor is honest, bold, and stark.  His chemistry with Saoirse Ronan’s Abigail Williams is electric.  Ms. Ronan’s character manipulates the events of the play with a captivating confidence and composure.  This makes tangible what Elizabeth Proctor declares to her husband, that there exists an unspoken “promise” made during intimate acts between a man and a woman.  Sophie Okonedo brings a new dimension to Elizabeth Proctor that rings true.  Her performance reverberates with a deeper level of Arthur Miller’s subtext.  Bill Camp is remarkable as Reverend Hale.  There is a gradual peeling away of his understanding of the events, which causes a clearly motivated transition in his conviction.  The devastating effect this has on his ego and belief system is blatantly expressed.  Jason Butler Harner authentically reveals a vulnerable, petty, and insecure side of Reverend Paris that clearly illustrates the kind of unrest that exists within a community in order to justify the extreme reaction the events generate.  Tavi Gevinson is wildly constrained as Mary Warren.  Ciaran Hinds commands the stage as Deputy Governor Danford.  

Photo Courtesy of The Crucible
at the Walter Kerr Theatre

The design of the production is powerful.  The play preaches black and white issues, good vs. evil, God and the devil.  There are no grey areas in these debates, yet the design is all shades of grey.  The scenic design, by Jan Versweyveld, is a unit set that evokes a classroom from the 1950s with hints and accents from earlier decades as well as the present.  The costume design, by Wojciech Dziedzic, also transcends time period with disheveled catholic school girl uniforms, conventional overcoats, and unrestricted trousers.  The lighting, also designed by Mr. Versweyveld, allows the space to change as the sun rises through the windows, birds swarm and disperse, and the devil blows in from the outside.  The original score by Philip Glass enhances every moment, whether it be intimate or jarring.

Ivo Van Hove’s work needs to be experienced first-hand.  You need to sit in the theatre and hear how words suddenly have a different meaning when heard within his context.  He has an uncanny ability to strip down distraction so that every word of the playwright has a strong and clear purpose.  In this production there are a few jaw-dropping images that encapsulate bold thematic messages: a homogenous classroom, a young girl floating in midair, a wolf crossing the stage and staring out at the audience.  You must see it yourself to feel the powerful impact of his work. 

Domenick Danza

A View from the Bridge

A View from the Bridge

The Young Vic Production

The Lyceum Theatre

October 24, 2015

Photo courtesy of
A View from the Bridge

This past spring my colleague and fellow blogger, Deirdre DeLoatch, wrote about her theatre trip to England.  “Experiencing the Heart and Culture of London” was posted on this blog on March 20, 2015.  She raved to me about the Young Vic’s production of Arthur Miller’s A View from the Bridge and how it was destined for a Broadway run.  That production is presently in previews at the Lyceum Theatre with and opening date scheduled for November 12.  It far exceeds the high expectation that Deirdre setup for me.  Director Ivo Van Hove’s bare bones production revels in the richness of Arthur Miller’s text and makes relevant this impassioned story of family, love, and hubris.

The play takes place in the 1950s in Red Hook, Brooklyn.  Eddie Carbone, a longshoreman and son of an Italian immigrant, opens his home to two of his wife’s cousins, Marco and Rodolpho, who are illegally entering the country to work and send money home to their impoverished family.  At the same time, Eddie’s niece Catherine, who he and his wife Bea raised since childhood after the death of her parents, is coming of age and ready to move forward with her adult life.  When Rodolpho begins romancing Catherine, Eddie is forced to face his true feelings for his niece and Bea faces her biggest fear.

Photo courtesy of A View from the Bridge

The starkness of the production makes clear the skillful structure of Arthur Miller’s play.  Just when he brings the conflict to a high point and you think resolution is ahead, he delves deeper into what is driving each character so we questions what is right and what is truth.  No playwright writes the tragic fall of the American hero like Arthur Miller.  When Eddie Carbone screams, “He took my name… I want my name back,” he echoes John Proctor in The Crucible and Peter Stockman from his adaptation of Ibsen’s An Enemy of the People.  Once the truth is told, there is no going back.  When Eddie lunges at Marco in the final scene after his wife Bea finally confronts the truth of his desire, it is similar to the tragic ending of All My Sons.

Phoebe Fox, Mark Strong, & Nicola Walker
Photo courtesy of A View from the Bridge

Although physically not cast to type, the actors make Miller’s dialogue ring with vitality and inspired dramatic action.  Mark Strong is audaciously authentic as Eddie Carbone. His is equally matched by Nicola Walker as his wife Bea.  She has honest moments that reveal her true feelings and realistic fears that propel the action of the play forward.  Michael Gould is a grounding force as Alfieri, who carefully and deliberately steps into the action of the play and accepts his role in the outcome.  Phoebe Fox and Russel Tovey, as Catherine and Rodolpho, change and grow as they face their obstacles in order to achieve their dreams.

Russel Tovey, Phoebe Fox, and Mark Strong
Photo courtesy of A View from the Bridge

The set, by Jan Versweyveld, is a designated square box with a single entrance up stage center.  There are no props and no interior or exterior settings.   The playing area is like a boxing ring with audience seating stage right and left, creating a three quarter stage setting.  Other powerful director/designer choices are the fact that all the characters, except for Alfieri before he steps into the playing area, are barefoot.  Also, the shower in the opening and closing make a strong, effective, awe-inspiring statement.  I will not go into detail about these images so you can feel the full impact when you see it… and you MUST.

This production sheds a new light on this American classic by stripping it down and engaging the audience in the beauty, rhythm, and directness of Arthur Miller’s words.  The play runs under two hours without an intermission, and is scheduled for a limited run of seventeen weeks.  It is an impactful work.  Be sure to see it. 

Domenick Danza