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AN EVENING OF SLOW THEATRE

Rapturous applause recently greeted a nine-hour marathon of Dostoyevsky on stage. James C. Taylor wonders: why not just read the book?

Special to MORE INTELLIGENT LIFE

The slow-food movement began in the 1980s as a rejection of fast food and corporate agribusiness and a celebration of small-scale production and locally grown ingredients. If a slow-theatre movement ever emerges here in America, a key moment in its history will no doubt be Peter Stein’s German-Italian co-production of “The Demons,” which had its North American premiere in June as part of the Lincoln Center Festival.

Though he rarely works on this side of the Atlantic, Stein has long been creating epic theatre for European audiences: a nine-hour version of "The Oresteia", a ten-hour production of Schiller’s Wallenstein trilogy—and in 2000 he staged a complete, 21-hour version of Goethe’s "Faust".

Yet those earlier, epic-theatre works were staged at large, state-funded theatres, complete with plush seats and lavish sets. This production, Stein’s adaptation of Dostoyevsky’s 1872, 950-page novel, was something Stein funded largely on his own. The result is a play that has the intimacy and DIY sensibility of a meal served in someone’s home. (The show in fact premiered in a rehearsal space inside Stein’s home in Umbria, where it went on to earn an important Italian distinction: the Ubu award for best production of 2009, despite being staged for only four performances.)

Clocking in at about nine hours, "The Demons" was staged twice over a weekend in a converted warehouse on Governor’s Island. The sets were modest and a lone piano provided musical accompaniment. Stein himself appeared in person before every act, like a doting host, introducing the scenes and insisting that if anyone had questions they could speak with him at intermission.

This, along with the ferry ride to the island and the family-style Italian meals (served at two meal breaks), created a quaint, holistic theatrical experience. Like foodies who visit the farm that sources a meal's ingredients, Stein’s sold-out audience (about 450 at each performance) was made to feel as if this spectacle was handpicked and slowly braised just for them.

Stein has said in interviews that creating a shorter version of “The Demons” would make the piece “too declamatory and descriptive”. It wouldn’t “allow for the development of the soul of the characters.” Having tossed aside Albert Camus’s 1959 adaptation of the “The Demons” and written this script himself (in Italian, grazie), Stein reinforced his point especially well in the Second Chapter of Part 1, when we first met the play's two most engaging characters: Shatov, a rogue nihilist, and Kirillov, a suicidal engineer. These scenes bristled with a rough magic, the kind that comes from creating the maximum theatrical effect from minimal stagecraft.

Unfortunately, too few of the nine-plus hours of “The Demons” held you in this kind of wonder. This is hardly the fault of the performers, who left little doubt of their conviction and devotion to the lengthy cause. But Stein and his troupe never really succeeded in translating the author’s prose into a unique theatrical idiom. Partly owing to its length and fidelity to the text, the play told us too much and showed too little. The result was a tribute to Dostoyevsky that was too declamatory and descriptive, too ponderous and untheatrical. The staging was almost anti-spectacle (the biggest effect comes when two stage-hands dump dried leaves on the concrete floor to create a woodsy atmosphere for a duel). So why spend all that time experiencing “The Demons” on stage instead of on the page?

One is tempted not to complain, since ultimately this slow-theatre banquet was full of admirable ambition and impressive performances (especially Andrea Nicolini's compelling narrator, Grigoreiev, and Maddalena Crippa’s imposing Varvara—not to mention Stein himself, who appeared in one scene as a party guest). Certainly those who made the pilgrimage to Governor’s Island for the two weekend performances seemed gratified. Most stayed till the end to shower Stein and his cast with a rapturous ovation. (Though when it comes to any such theatrical marathon, one fears the audience is applauding their own intellectual stamina as much as the artistry of the performance.)

But for this theatregoer, the play's length didn't feel justified. Sure, everything was meticulously crafted and presented with sincerity, but after nine hours, there was precious little to look back on and savour. One hopes that if a Slow Theatre Movement does evolve, it transcends Stein’s “The Demons”, which for all its very fine ingredients, felt like a tasteful, bland buffet.

(James C. Taylor is the host of "Theatre Talk", a radio programme on KCRW. He writes about theatre and opera for the Los Angeles Times and Opera Magazine. His last piece for More Intelligent Life was about a day spent at BookExpo America.)

Picture credit: Tommaso Le Pera, Andrea Boccalini