It's a tragedy written in raspy shadow with the overwhelming weight of very human characterization. Tragic beauty spills out over graceful movements and silences between music of infectious mood and exaggerated sound effects. Theatre Gigante's Woyzeck plays like Shakespeare occasionally tripping into in a vintage Warner Bros. cartoon and back again.
Tall, lean Mark Anderson plays the title character. He's a victim of nature who can't stop thinking about it. Isabelle Kralj plays the one he loves. She is the vehicle for the tragedy every bit as much as he is. Kralj and Anderson are as compelling as ever onstage. Kralj bears a high-gravity grace spinning into emotions that pair well with towering manifestation of Anderson.
Georg Buchner's classic draws beautifully animated energy with music composed by Tom Waits and Kathleen Brennan. It's music reminiscent of Swordfishtrombones breathing at the heart of a story. A soldier who is living with the mother of his child makes extra money by participating in the research and experimentation of a doctor played here by Leslie Fitzwater. Fitzwater is something of a diminutive, charmingly cartoonish character with a comical German accent. Edwin Olvera and Michael Stebbins capably round out the cast as a drum major and an army officer in a production which play has a kind of a consciously crude aesthetic brutality about it that is nonetheless very, very beautiful.
Under the power of Waits and Brennan, Frank Pahl and Christine Zufferey have a distinctive flair. Pahl plays the backbone of the musical soundscape with a few instruments grounded by an immense, ominous base drum. Zufferey's chalky velvet voice skilled, swiftly slinks and slouches around her French accent, breathing stylish flavor into the music which supports all the drama. With just a couple of musicians and a few performers gliding through a story which plays out in under 90 minutes, Theatre Gigante's Woyzeck feels like a hauntingly muted dream that echoes into the shadows of consciousness long after it is over. There are themes of nature versus nurture, aggression and control that hang about listlessly in the empty spaces onstage.
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It's hard to quantify exactly where the phantasm of the piece’s appeal lies. There is an earthbound electricity running through the carefully poised to stage presences of Anderson and Kralj in the lead roles. Things are out of joint between the two characters. Moments nearly meet between them in the cabinets and emotional distance that bears no easy definition.
There's only one weekend left for the show. Then the strangely moving puzzle of the tragedy moves back into its box. If it emerges again it will be in another place and another time as something else altogether.
Theatre Gigante’s production of Woyzeck closes this seekend with performances tonight and tomorrow night at the Kenilworth 508 Theater on 1925 E. Kenilworth Place. For more information, visit Theatre Gigante online.
