Spring's Awakening

With AP testing over on Monday, I have been absent the rest of week unfortunately due to a fever I have seemed to have contracted from my mother. Oh, but I still made it out tonight to catch Cal Poly's production of Spring's Awakening. Written by Frank Wedekind, this play tells the story of German teenagers continually pressured to grow up in ignorance of their sexuality. So of course the characters turn the other way to satisfy their curiosities. Considering that I have heard shocking reviews by friends who have seen the musical version of this production, I thought I was prepared for the worst. With such a delicate subject matter, the play quickly set itself apart from any other production that I have ever attended. Characters were often seen masturbating throughout the performance in order to attain knowledge as to what the big whoop was about. There are points when gay and lesbian couples are seen kissing and groping each other while one girl is even raped onstage. The latter was cleverly blocked as the girl was sporting a longer dress, which the rapist used to cover the supposed act. This was all done with the girls back to us as she was balanced on the back of a park bench. Almost as if the boy was carrying her, the rape was carried out relatively realistically. 

I particularly enjoyed the entire blocking of the production, though the acting wasn't exactly as on par as the writing demanded. The stage was split up into five or so different staging areas, and each surface consisted of a different textile. A park scene had faux grass while the reformatory/meeting room was made out of this cold metal. On one average-sized stage, the director was able to convey a variety of locations. It was quite similar to what the class had imagined when we were coming up with alternative staging for Heads & Tales with the treehouse idea. As focus changed from one of these stages to the other, however, I felt that blocking became problematic because it wasn't as smooth as one would imagine. The lights were simply lowered and music was sometimes played if the actors needed a longer time getting off stage with all their props. This choppy style was prevalent throughout the performance and eventually drew away from the audience's attentions to what the actors were saying. Considering that this play was quite long-winded, I found many of the actor's diction and projection an abomination. Was this really a college-level production? With no mikes on stage or even on the actors, the audience had to depend on the strength of the actors' voices, which were at times incomprehensibly weak. I felt that there was so much to say that the words just flew by the audience most of the time. Even at this moment, I don't really understand what the entire play was about. The actor that played Moritz Stiefel was the worst, which is quite ironic considering how he is the focus of much of the play. It was not until the end of the second act that he suddenly became animated when he rose from his grave to settle his beef with Melchior. Another ingenuity of the director was covering Moritz's face with a white cloth that covered somewhat tightly just the front of his face. This way, his voice was still audible and the shape of his face could be seen, but it was exactly as though he had risen from the dead. On top of that, Moritz was left shirtless so that his emaciation could be emphasized with make-up, upon which a load of white powder was dusted. This way his erratic motions were all the more dramatic with the cloud of dust that fell from his hair with each movement and contributed to his ghostly demeanor.

The backdrop to the stage consisted of a simple cyclorama that would change colors with the mood or time of day. It was most useful for projections that came to be connected with particular locations. Like rows of crosses for the graveyard and so on. A small inserted projection screen was located on top of the stage left portion of the cyclorama which pictures were projected in correlation to the speaking of the immediate characters. At times the pictures seemed completely distracting and unrelated. The only point I found this projection helpful was when Hanschen Rilow was talking about the many women he has fantasized about in famous paintings. With each description, each painting was projected onto the screen so the audience could get a sense of what he was talking about. Hanschen's character does this entire scene in a pre-recorded monologue as well, which is played from different parts of the theater ever few phrases. It is in this way that it seems as though Hanschen's mind is surrounding the audience, as if we were a part of it. Though immediately effective, I felt that the repeated echoing of his voice from all corners of the theatre to be monotonous and ultimately useless.

This production was definitely innovative, with its integration of modern day music and special effects that blended seamlessly with the writing. Ultimately, I felt this performance fell flat with poor choices in casting. It could have been really amazing otherwise.