Dong Hyeok Lee - Woyzeck revision

§ December 15th, 2008 § Filed under Assignments, Capsule Reviews, Woyzeck

A Rock Concert at the BAM Opera House

Loud music, water everywhere, people running, and blinding lights. The first thing that pops up into people’s minds when they hear these words is probably a rock concert. However, I am describing Georg Büchner’s 1837 play Woyzeck that was created by the Vesturport Theater of Iceland and the Reykjavik City Theater. This new adaptation of Woyzeck was directed by Gísli Örn Gardarsson, a two-time Edda Award for Best Film and Screenplay of the Year. Woyzeck was presented at the Brooklyn Academy of Art: Howard Gilman Opera House on October 15, 17, and 18. This classic play by Büchner, was his unfinished work due to his early death in 1837 at the young age of 23. No certainty can be made of what kind of ending Büchner led toward and that is the reason why there are so many variations of this play in several different countries.

Gísli Örn Gardarsson translated this play into English and produced it with the help of Ruth Little and Jón Atli Jónasson. Gardarsson, who graduated from the Icelandic Academy of the Arts in 2001, not only is a director but an actor as well. His debut as a director was with Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet, in the Reykjavik City Theater in Iceland where he played Romeo in 2002. Like Woyzeck, he also directed this play as if it was an acrobatic show. He received great reviews for this production of Romeo and Juliet, said to be one of the most exciting theatrical event for years. Other works of his was co-directing Metamorphosis and directing Lucas Moodyson’s film Together. He is widely known throughout European countries through his new adaptations of different kinds of plays and films. Ingvar E. Sigurdsson, also a big name in the European acting industry, played the main character, Franz Woyzeck. Sigurdsson was honored by the European Film Promotion, naming him one of European film’s Shooting Stars in 1999. Since then, he has worked in many films and plays including Peer Gynt, Romeo and Juliet, Three Sisters, and more.

Although it is understandable that this is Gardarsson’s style and he has been doing this for years, this “circus” performance of this classical play Woyzeck left me confused. All of the actors and actresses seemed to be very athletic and was whether flying around acrobatically in ropes or swimming in the water tank that circled the stage. And especially unseen in a 19th century play, the loud rock music was as if it was the song genre of the times. Even though it seemed to fit the drum major as a sexual attraction to some women, the rock music did not seem necessary to the play as a whole. Gardarsson clearly tried to alter the play into a more modernized version, but in doing that, he also changed the dramatic tragedy into a dramatic comedy. There were scenes that drove the whole audience into laughter, but I didn’t think those parts should have been there, especially since Büchner did not write it that way. This play was not enjoyable for the most part and very confusing at times because of the way it was produced. It did not go back to the original play by Büchner in any way and it was probably not the way he wanted this play to be performed.