NOSFERATU
a black and white silent play
Adapted by Brendan Balfe
Silent Theatre Company
at
Prop Theater
3502 N. Elston
Chicago
October 19 - November 23, 2014
Fridays & Saturdays at 8 pm
Sundays at 5 pm
for tickets: http://www.silenttheatre.com/#!main-stage/c1cvq
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| some of the brilliant design work by Rodolfo Polanco Casasola |
Silent Theatre Company was formed in 2005 and started with a
one-off interpretation of the 1929 silent film, “Lulu”. They went on from there and have specialized in
physical, non-verbal storytelling, by way of silent film re-inventions, dance,
mime, fantasy and vaudeville stagings.
The stage area at Prop Theater is very small but the
imaginative multi-level design, lighting, projected images and direction manage to bring us into a world
moving from Germany, through the Carpathians to Transylvania, to aboard the
ship Epusa, and return to Wisborg Germany.
No dialogue is spoken; the text is communicated through movement and
facial expressions as well as projected narrative intertitles, as in silent
film (even using the same Gothic font).
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| NOT from the stage production,but very similar. This is an image from Murnau's film. But you can get the idea. |
The story of Nosferatu follows very closely
the plot of F. W. Murnau’s extraordinary 1922 film of the same name, which was
an unauthorized version of Stoker’s novel Dracula. The characters are: Hutter, a real estate agent who is sent to
Transylvania to complete the contract of a house sale for Count Orlock- our
vampire. Hutter’s wife Ellen has a
foreboding of her husband’s journey and a psychic link with Count Orlock. Knock
is the agent who sends Hutter on the assignment and has already had some
communication with the vampire and is well aware of the horrors Hutter will
encounter.
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| (L) Evan Sierminski as Hutter and Manya Niman as Ellen |
Knock also serves, in a way, as a sort-of master
of ceremonies/stage magician as he interacts with and moves the set as
needed. He has a very nice, funny moment
in the prologue when he starts to laugh out loud, stops suddenly, looks at the
audience with his finger to his lips to remind us that silence should reign. (Maybe it also meant, “Turn off your cell
phones” ?? This performance was the only
one I can remember anywhere that did not have that particular request prior to
the curtain rising. Luckily, it wasn’t
needed.) His character is one of only
two who make any verbalizations. Knock goes
mad (madder I should say) and does
have some maniacal laughing/shrieking near the end. It makes sense dramatically – he is insane
and in his own world.
Count Orlock, played brilliantly by Nick
Leininger, is the fetid centerpiece of the show of course. He menaces his victims with animal instinct and yet with a strange tenderness as if he needs to get at that blood
but wants to savor the foreplay.
Leininger shows us the bleak desolation and longing for human warmth and
love the vampire must feel as he is trapped in his cold, eternal night. His final attack on Ellen is violent, gruesome
and perversely erotic.
That final scene of sacrifice, seduction and
death between Ellen and Orlock is done without any of the musical accompaniment
we have heard throughout the play. The
only sound we hear is Orlock’s ragged, rasping breathing as he approaches Ellen
and his fierce growls as he feeds. The lack
of music in this scene is a great choice as it forces us to focus more directly and intimately
on the savage and (let’s face it) sexual pas de deux in front of us.
All of the actors are terrific. Evan Sierminski as Hutter, the loving
protector of Ellen and the terrified victim of Orlock: Diane McNulty (subbing
for Manya Niman the night I attended) as Ellen projected strength and
vulnerability.
The design palette is black, white and gray even to white
makeup for the actors to create the silent film look. Orlock’s makeup seemed (to me) to have a very
slight green tint, or maybe that’s just how it looked from my seat. At any rate, it is properly
grotesque. His fingers were lengthened
into inches long claws.
The movements on stage are graceful and fluid. Actor Joseph Vonderhaar who plays Knock moves
with a nimble agility big men often have (bet he’s a great dancer) whether he
is running from the townsfolk or struggling in a straightjacket.
Unlike the musical score to many silent films, the music
here is truly another character in the drama, not just an accompaniment. It is performed on upright piano by John
Urban with delicacy and depth of feeling.
Several classical pieces are used.
I was proud of myself for identifying a few of them: Chopin’s Tristesse;
Bach’s Goldberg Variations used with
an overlay of bizarre cello solo during the dinner scene in Orlock’s castle; and
the second movement of Beethoven’s Symphony No. 7 used extensively and
dramatically in the last acts, both by the solo piano and a recorded orchestral
arrangement.
Even though the production is an homage to Murnau’s version of
the story, there are a few variations from it.
Mostly the changes reference Werner Herzog’s 1979 film of “Nosferatu the
Vampyre” and fit in nicely. This Count
Orlock is more like Klaus Kinski’s tragic Dracula than Max Schreck’s rodent-like
nightmare. There is one tiny nod to
Coppola’s 1992 “Bram Stoker’s Dracula”.
See if you can spot it when you attend.
I’ll give you a hint: it is a
cross between Keanu Reeve’s shaving scene and the bread cutting scene.
In case I haven't gotten my point across yet, I loved the show. Whatever you do, don’t miss Nosferatu. You have until November 23, 2014.
CAST
Ensemble/Ship's Captain Cooper Wise
Knock Joseph Wonderhaar
Dr. Bulwer Wesley Schilling
Ellen Manya Niman
Hutter Evan Sierminski
Ensemble/Constable Jeremy Campbell
Ensemble/Inn Keeper Liz Krane
Ensemble/Ship Crewman Diane McNulty
Count Orlock Nick Leininger
Piano John Urban
PRODUCTION
Director Brendan Balfe
Asst.Director/Projections Designer Victor Holstein
Stage Manager Mary Patchell
Asst. Stage Manager Jermaine Thomas
Stage Crew Jennifer Howe
Set Design Jeremy Campbell & Eli Grove
Lighting Design Chloe Honeyman-Blaede
Costume Design Diane Hamm
Make Up Designer Glenese Hand
Props Tonika Todorova &
Joseph Vonderhaar
Artwork Rodolfo Polanco Casasola
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