CROYDEN'S CORNER
by Margaret Croyden
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| Margaret Croyden is a theater reviewer and essayist for the New York Theatre Wire. | |
The Coast of Utopia--A Trilogy
by Tom Stoppard
Part One-Voyage
Directed by Jack O'Brien
Lincoln Center Theater at the Vivian Beaumont
Reviewed January 22, 2007 by Margaret Croyden
The most serious play of the season is without question Tom Stoppard's "The
Coast of Utopia," a trilogy now playing in repertory. Each part can be
seen separately, or in one sitting later in the month. As we know, Stoppard
is accepted by the cognoscenti as one of Britain's most important playwrights.
To be sure he has a huge body of work: dramas, comedies, TV scripts, and movies
but "Utopia" is his opus magnum. Not too many writers would have
the nerve, the temperament, or the confidence to embark on such an ambitious
enterprise. A success in London despite mixed notices, "Utopia"
was enough of an inducement for the Lincoln Center guys--Andre Bishop and
Bernie Gersten--to bring it to New York. A giant production, the play requires
more than 40 actors, elaborate scenery and costumes, original music, extravagant
lighting, and unique theatrical effects. The scheduling of the rehearsals
and repertory performances would drive any management crazy. So it is with
great expectations that one went to see this much publicized event.
Apparently Tom Stoppard has always been interested in Russian history for
he has devoted his three plays to it. In Part One we meet a group of young
Russian revolutionary intellectuals who grew out of the Decemberist movement
which aimed to overthrow the Russian Czar, only to be decimated. They gather
together at the estate of Alexander Bakunin, father of Michael, soon to be
the well known anarchist. The group consists of "thinkers" who represent
various social and political positions in Russia in the early 1800's. There
is the brazen anarchist Michael Bakunin, a youthful philanderer and sponger
(he believes his father, the aristocratic landowner, is too stingy); his three
sisters who aimlessly meander about with minor and uninteresting problems;
the young and later famous Alexander Herzen, a liberal social democrat who
will dominate the next two parts of the trilogy, although he is somewhat in
the background here; the young Turgenev, unsure of his place in the world;
the working class radical Belinsky, a brilliant literary critic, who later
tries his hand at publishing, and will eventually bring out Turgenev. Various
other friends of Bakunin wander in and out and (due to the sloppy writing)
are hard to properly identify.
And that one of the problems. The story is difficult to follow. In fact the
management must have realized that; they handed out background notes detailing
the story. One of the problems is that characters enter, give their view point
as if running for election and exit, so that most of the characters are indistinguishable.
The talk is heavy: they discuss the miserable life of the peasants, the nastiness
of the governing classes, the vacuity of Russian writing, the ignorance of
the population, and their chagrin at being considered Russian barbarians.
Which what the West thought of Russians in those days. Though the conversations
are peppered with noble ideas and opinions of how to ameliorate the miserable
conditions of the Russians, nothing is actually dramatized on stage. The action
is static. We never see the life of the abused serfs. Instead in the background
is a lineup of veiled mannequins, covered by a flimsy scrim. They stand there,
perpetually planted in the ground as it were, never moving: here are the serfs--an
obvious symbol. And a clever device (but a cheesy one) that brings them into
the picture, a bit, without having to dramatize their lives.
Though I admire Tom Stoppard for trying to write an epic drama about an important
era in Russian history--though most people are unfamiliar with the names that
came across the footlights--I feel sorry that the effort did not result in
a stunning theatrical experience. Most of his characters are talking heads,
scholars lecturing us--for three hours.
The chief difficulty is Stoppard's desire to telegraph his ideas to the audience
instead of incorporating them into flesh and blood characters. Granted, that
is easier said than done--particularly if you are Tom Stoppard who loves to
show off his facility with the English language. That the program listed all
the books he consulted when writing his play does in fact indicate the thesis
quality of his work. Less scholarship and more heart would have been better.
About the production. Which was stunning to be sure. Because there was so
much talk, the director Jack O'Brien cleverly moved the actors around to pep
up the work. And the excellent designer Bob Crowley went all out to give us
something to look at, which was a relief. Still the total effect seemed slightly
overblown and very Broadwayish in contradiction to the subject, although O'Brien
tried hard to attain a Chekhov quality to the family scenes.
About the cast: Eric Hawkins, the star of Part One, playing Michael Bakunin,
has a good deal of energy, but his loud shouting and his dashing about the
stage with little purpose made him seem inconsequential. Bakunin was actually
a serious radical anarchist who influenced all of Europe. That he was also
a sponger may be true. But Stoppard chose to emphasize that side of him, and
Hawkins played him like a vacuous American hippie. Richard Easton in the role
of Alexander Bakunin , the aristocratic head of the household and part of
the prevailing order, was the most convincing. Billy Crudup playing Belinsky,
the critic, had the longest speeches in the play, but he is a fine actor and
was indeed equal to his task. The least interesting were the women who all
looked alike, spoke in squeaky voices, and wore nice costumes.
Although Stoppard didn't produce a flawless work, the ideas of these long
forgotten intellectuals did encourage thought. It would be wonderful if Stoppard,
when writing a serious play, could combine his love of English and his overwrought
verbiage with more human feeling to create a genuine theatrical experience.
More after I see Part Two and Three.
Margaret Croyden's is the author of "Conversations with Peter Brook,
1970-2000" (Farrar, Straus and Giroux)
Margaret Croyden's most recent book is "Conversations With Peter
Brook, 1970-2000" published by Farrar, Straus & Giroux.
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