Word: osius
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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...EVER said staging a play by Bertolt Brecht would be anything but demanding. Perhaps it's the lure of this challenge that's led to so many Brechtian productions at Harvard lately. Some of these have been successful like Peter Sellars' elegant and effective "das Kleine Mahagonny." Director Ted Osius leads his players in a valiant effort to stage Mother Courage. Brecht's anti-war masterpiece Clearly, he works with a devoted cast. However, staging a play by Brecht is a bit like walking a tightrope--it requires that a cast be teetering at all times, almost off-balance...
...intelligence, his steadfastness to his principles, and his dedication to his family and to his nation. Yet creating this man is no easy task, for an actor has to capture the total essence of a driven man as Paul Scofield did in his Academy Award Winning performance. But Ted Osius' More lacks that one quality of inner conviction which enables More to transcend his mortality...
That is not to say that Osius gives a weak performance: rather it is fine, even strong. He has the facial expressions, the physical prowess, and even all the proper voice modulations. But he just doesn't exude that kinetic force which should make More float on the stage...
Higgins and Montgomery act well with Osius. At one point towards the end of the play, when More is in jail condemned to death, the wife and daughter come to say their last farewell. In their final moments together, the three embrace. They almost freeze, creating a virtual tableau. We feel the women's sorrow and pain at their distance from More yet we don't feel he is all there...
...Osius delivers the lines with fine pacing and emotions. He carries himself as befits a nobleman. We see his mental deliberations during transitions on the stage where he remains frozen. We see his character led away to death. But he just isn't the complete More. He has all the individual makings of More but inner fire doesn't consume him. Sometimes he appears as though part of his pysche is detached and looking down...