ON JOHN BURGESS' stage set of scaffolding, reminiscent of cages meant to keep some out and some in, more than 20 UA theatre arts students reenact Romania's revolution and the fall of Nicolae Ceausescu.
Director Douglas Finlayson and cast try to pull together Caryl Churchill's fragmented play, Mad Forest, to reflect the despair and suffering leading to the Romanian revolution of the late 1980s. They almost succeed.
In spite of good acting, the short, shallow scenes of the first act never capture the desolation and devastation endured by the Romanian people under the repressive regime of Ceausescu.
We see snatches of dreadful conditions through scenes where a wife speaks freely only if the radio is loud enough to cover her voice, and a family rejoices over fresh eggs; but for an audience of Americans, most of whom take freedom of speech and full bellies for granted, the scenes are too few and too trivial. Instead of a heavy, somber mood, the first act almost has a feeling of frivolity, filled with smiling faces and quick, happy movement from the characters.
We are introduced to the pre-revolution Romanian condition through two families, the Vladus, a blue-collar family in which the father works as an electrician, and the mother as a tram driver; and the Antonescus, an upper-class family, one spouse an architect, the other a teacher. Each family offers a fascinating perspective of the political events of the time, but instead of representing real people with real convictions and emotions, each character seems to symbolize a political viewpoint.
At the end of Act I, the anti-Ceausescu demonstrators give us a chronology of the short, violent revolution in a past-tense series of short monologues. There is little stage-action, with the exception of some symbolic gestures of red scarves spread on cobblestones where blood supposedly flowed freely, and the removal of Ceausescu's statue from the square. Without more psychological buildup during the first half, however, the scene lacks the intensity it should create.
In the middle of Churchill's largely realistic play, she hits us with a surrealistic scene that takes place in the square immediately following the bloodshed--a conversation between a stray, hungry dog and a vampire, who says, "I came for the revolution. I could smell it a long way off." The episode is strong and strangely appropriate. Much of the strength can be attributed to the two actors involved, M.G. Seliga (dog) and Scott Silbor (vampire). In this one scene, scrounging for food and affection, Seliga conveys what none of the other characters had thus far been able to convey--destitution and sadness.
Several scenes in the second half reflect the haunting memory of the violent clash between the revolutionaries and the government, but because we didn't feel the intensity of the brutality, the scenes seem somewhat mawkish. The members of the two families finally begin to emerge, but by the time we begin to care about them, the play is about over.
Finlayson moves slowly through the second half, giving us plenty of time for contemplation of the events--more time than we really need. In addition, a pretty good prior knowledge of the events that took place in Romania in the late 1980s is helpful, if not essential.
The UA Department of Theatre Arts' production of Mad Forest continues with performances at 2 and 8 p.m. through February 12, at the UA Marroney Theatre. Tickets range from $8 to $14. Call 6211162 for information.
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