THOMAS BERNHARD ON STAGE

Thomas Bernhard is a pleasure to read because of his unique authorial voice, which is comical in its wailing, repetitive misanthropy (something I've considered before). Watching his play, "Ritter, Dene, Voss", in a production by the One Little Goat Theatre Company at La Mama in New York, is like turning up the volume on Bernhard's droning speech.

Named for the three actors who originated the parts, "Ritter, Dene, Voss" takes its inspiration from the story of Ludwig Wittgenstein's family. The play begins with Ludwig's older sister removing him from a mental institution and bringing him back to the family manse. His older sister worships him and his younger sister pretends like she loathes him—but all three are inextricably bound by a mutual loathing of and only occasional fondness for themselves and one another.

Bernhard wrote his plays without punctuation, except for line breaks where he intended a pause. Adam Seelig, who directed this production, has made great use of interpreting these cadences for dramatic effect. For instance, Ludwig tells his sister "Not bad food—" as she stands smiling over the meal she has prepared for him, "in the institution," he finishes.

The play is propelled by Ludwig into a frenzy of dark truths from which these siblings cannot recover. All the while their elders gaze down from looming portraits on the wall. "Family is death," huffs Ludvig to his sisters, and their chosen profession as actors is "odious". He is disgusted by the way his older sister indulges him, so he mangles the cream puffs she has baked in his honour and leaves the detritus strewn over the stage.

This Ludwig has gone mad, but his main frustration is that he hasn't accomplished enough. "Write this line down," he rages, "complete the chapter." When his older sister tells him she no longer plays the viola, he responds, "We give up everything when we give up the instrument we have learned to play." One Little Goat may be a small theatre company, but their grasp of the timbre of Bernhard's work, his humour in the face of futility, is impressive. As the audience left, his bombast echoed out of the theatre and into the streets.

"Ritter, Dene, Voss" by the One Little Goat Theatre Company is at La Mama in New York through October 10th

~ JESSICA FERRI