Eric
Uhlfelder
| SPIES
FOR THE POPE
I thoroughly enjoyed Douglas Lackey’s restoration
of the forgotten Italian philosopher Giulio Cesare Vanini. In both, we have a protagonist trying to navigate through conflict and politics. They both paid dearly for holding fast to their principles. Both had libertine tendencies. Both were driven by aesthetics. But where the Norman (né Saxon) Thomas Becket stood alone defending the honor of God, the Italian Giulio Vanini held fast to his belief in omniscience of nature in shaping all earthly things, including religion.
The authorities knew Vanini wasn’t guilty of blasphemy, as Henry II knew Thomas Becket was incapable of malfeasance. Still, at the turn of the 17th century, some things could not stand. So the authorities relied on a backroom claim of sexual impropriety to seal his fate. Like Becket, Vanini was martyred. But where Becket was canonized, Vanini barely ranks as a historical footnote, save in obscure philosophical studies. The play’s name owes to the belief that the Pope had sent Vanini, and his companion Brother Markus, across the continent in 1618 in attempt to stave off what was to become one of the longest and most destructive wars in Europe--the Thiry Years War. Vanini sought to reconcile the increasingly volatile divide between Catholics and Protestants.
How much of the action is true? The playwright has researched the philosopher’s life and translated some of his writings. He admits in the play notes that the entire script is of his imagination, animated by various historical characters, including, Pope Paul V, King James I, Princess Elizabeth and French philosophers Rene Descartes and Pierre Gassendi. So whether shaped by academic precision or literary license, let that go. For like historical novels, such creation is what theater is for—to give life to the forgotten and thought to ideas . . . that resonate today.
When asked by friends how a play about the Thirty Years War might be at all relevant, Lackey reasoned: the futility of religious wars has again been brought to the fore in Gaza and Israel. The simple staging is comprised of an elevated platform accessed by stairs on either side that allows for plenty of movement. And the scenery is dynamic. Designed by Jennifer Varbalow, it’s a constant flow of projected emblems and symbols, stained glass, imagery, and clever backlighting that transforms scenes into shadows. Sharp dialogue and action are rapidly paced, tracking the two lead players (who are Capuchin Friars by the way) from Italy to Prague, off to England, again crossing the Channel to Calais, then to the Netherlands, down to Paris and then south to Toulouse.
An early scene with the Pope reveals Vanini’s wit and diplomacy that’s on display throughout the play:
Michael Sirotta’s creative musical direction surrounds the play with period recordings of the likes of Handel, Byrd, Dowland, and Monteverdi. Given the financial constraints of off-off Broadway productions, Anthony Paul-Cavaretta has done a marvelous job with period costumes. And the half dozen actors, nearly all part of Actors’ Equity, deliver splendid performances, many playing multiple characters. Eric Loscheider embodies Vanini. My only concern is that the end is too clearly foreshadowed and it resolves too quickly. More subtlety and transition may have enhanced matters. That aside, what we have is a rarity in contemporary theater: a clever well-conceived and beautifully produced slice of history that reminds us that despite the passage of time and enlightenment, there are some things that don’t change. |
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