Photo by Troy Freund
Boulevard Theatre’s production of Eugène Ionesco’s great “anti-play,” The Bald Soprano, is a triumph of pacing, musicality and scathing commentary on classism and gender politics. Set in a middle-class London suburb, the plot—such as there is—follows the visit of Mr. and Mrs. Martin (JJ Gatesman and Sasha Katharine Sigel) to the home of Mr. and Mrs. Smith (Mitch Weindorf and Zoe Schwartz). The Smiths have a feisty German maid, Mary (Hannah Klapperich-Mueller), and during the evening the local fire inspector (Hugh Blewett) calls on the couple as well.
The philosophical underpinnings of Absurdist Theater are mid-20th-century European Existentialism, which hinges on the primacy of responsibility to the present moment and the time we have on earth because, as critic Martin Esslin put in a 1960 essay titled “Theatre of the Absurd,” “ultimately man is alone in a meaningless world.” Absurdist Theater can be viewed as the artistic teeth of Existentialism. Esslin continues, stating that the style “attacks the comfortable certainties of religious or political orthodoxy. It aims to shock its audience out of complacency...”
The Bald Soprano does just that. Two supercilious, well-to-do couples bicker, backbite and vie for dominance with ever-decreasing comprehensibility. By play’s end, language has broken down and their dialogue is nearly meaningless, although its rhythms remain familiar. We’re left with a damning indictment of small talk, classism and all the petty cruelties men and women visit upon one another.
Boulevard’s ensemble is excellent. All six players hold up their roles with high energy and remarkable clarity within the repetitive, nonsensical script. Standout performances come from Weindorf as the suave, womanizing Mr. Smith and Klapperich-Mueller as Mary—the story’s single self-actualized female character. In a hard-hitting scene, Mary attempts to join the conversation, recognizes the fire inspector as a former lover, greets him with genuine fervor and then receives physical abuse from Mr. Smith. There is a moment of collective horror before Mr. Smith begins to speak true gobbledygook and all shun him. The script does an incredible job here showing the irrelevance of rationalizing cruelty; in the end it is all only so much nonsense and actions speak far louder than words.
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The production boasts many clever staging devices. Sightlines are terrible in Plymouth Church’s upper-level auditorium, but other than this the set and blocking work well throughout. Simple furnishings grace the stage and the actors find interesting ways to move about them. Easily the funniest stage picture arrives when Ionesco pits the genders temporarily against each other and Misters Martin and Smith straddle one another in a single chair and cuddle, while their wives do the same on the other side of the stage.
A play described by Mark Bucher as “about the devolution of language,” Boulevard’s Bald Soprano is an exciting and provocative romp. The performers makes sure there is never a lack of visual stimulation even when the words are hard to follow, and the play is likewise compelling for its important place in experimental theater history.
Through May 8 at Plymouth Church, 2717 E. Hampshire Ave. For tickets, call 414-744-5757 or visit brownpapertickets.com.
