Feb. 2, 2006

'Marat/Sade' goes beyond the limits of the stage

By JEFF COTTRELL
cottrellj@marietta.edu

I’ve got two words for “Marat/Sade.”  They are: “Revolutionary” (in all of its senses) and “Wow.” 

Go to a production of some classic musical like (for instance) “Guys and Dolls.”  Relax in your seat and enjoy the performance if you’d like; you could also chat with your neighbor or catch a nap.  When you hear applause and laughter and the curtain falls, you can get up and leave.

“Marat/Sade” is entirely different.  You don’t go there to watch.  You go there to get sucked in.  And you will get sucked in.  There is no chatting with your neighbor, no napping, no curtain, precious little applause (hint: when there’s no one left on stage, clap, then leave), and the only laughter is the nervous kind.

There is the definite sense that you’re watching a musical of a very different nature.  After all, what other production has its players seating the audience while in character?  A very charming, very paranoid young lady seated me, and cautioned me: “They’re watching us all the time, all the time, even right now.” 

How do you respond to that?  From what I heard and saw, most people laughed—very awkwardly.  It’s even more disconcerting if you know cast members; you see their physical shape, but the person you knew is gone, replaced by a lunatic.  Quite chilling. 

That’s one of the major strengths of the MC production of “Marat/Sade”: it freaks you out in a subtle (okay, maybe not-so-subtle at times) way.  That early initiation into the world of the play, a world which extends beyond the stage (the traditional realm of the play) to the very doors of Hermann, makes the audience think, “I’m a part of this thing.  I’m inside of the play; not just a spectator, really inside.”  It’s not an effect easy to convey in words; it must be experienced to be understood.

So when Charlotte Corday, a scant ten feet from your face, is repeatedly and forcefully molested and violated, it’s not like watching a similar scene in a movie, or even in a more traditional play.  You think, “Oh my God!  I can’t believe they’re letting this go on!  I’ve got to do something!”  The urge to draw a rapier and come to her rescue is surprisingly strong, even if you’re not actually in possession of a rapier at the time.

Many performers did well; one stood (for those moments when he did stand) above the rest.  Kevin Paskawych delivered an outstanding Jean-Paul Marat.  Note that nearly every actor had to portray two characters simultaneously: an insane person and the French Revolutionary figure depicted by that insane person.  No one on stage did this so well as Kevin Paskawych. Totally believable both as an inmate and as Marat, he gave one of the most memorable performances I have seen at the Marietta College theatre.

Rosignol was, for me, the most amusing character in the whole play.  As an obsessive clean freak, she interacted with the other inmates in ways that provided the play with its only innocent humor.  And, to be sure, her singing abilities were quite impressive; her voice carried the notes clearly and powerfully.

The whole cast was very strong; the only difficulty I had was the perennial acoustics issue.  When will Marietta College get a top-notch theatre facility?  Great productions like “Marat/Sade” deserve to be showcased in a much finer building.  This is a stellar show; don’t miss it.