Word: pelicans
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...PELICAN, not surprisingly, is one of August Strindberg's less popular works. Written by a man preparing to die, the play is an expression of an over-powering scorn for the world and a sincere pity for humanity. In this, his last of four "chamber plays," so called for their resemblance to chamber music. Strindberg emphasizes theme and development rather-than plot and character. In what he called his "last sonata," Strindberg composed a relentlessly horrifying vision of life...
...plot is simple, a domestic tragedy caused by an ego-maniacal mother who has starved and frozen her children and brought the family to bankruptcy, in order to hoard money for herself and her lover. Although the constantly compares herself to the pelican, which theoretically gives its own heart's blood to feed its young, she is in truth one of Strindberg's vampire women, a carnivore devouting its offspring. When she has driven her husband to his death, she traps her paramour by forcing him to marry her naive, love-starved daughter using a non-existant inheritance as bait...
...alcoholic, consumptive but clairvoyant son is the mouthpiece for these themes, discovering and laying bare the shamefulness of his "Pelican" mother. The role is central to the unfolding of the drama and treacherous for any actor, demanding the illusions of drunkenness, terminal illness sudden realizations and even borderline madness. Fortunately for this production as a whole. Bart Naylor's performance as the son is close to flawless. In a play that leaves much scope for crossing the line to melodrama and heavy handedness, and in a presentation in which the other actors allow themselves from time to time to slip...
...fundamental failure of Chris Healey's production of The Pelican lies in its inability to immerse the audience in the mood and theme to the point where plot would become irrelevant and melodrama less of a hazard. Unhappily, the visual and aural effects through which Strindberg intended to achieve this are unsuccessful. Admittedly, conditions in the Ex don't make things any easier. The not-so-mysterious rocking chair rocks frantically and becomes at first funny, then ridiculous; a letter leaps, rather than flutters, off a table; vitally important silences and pauses are mercilessly trampled over. Delicate changes of mood...
...Pelican is not one of Strindberg's best-known plays in fact, it is sort of obscure. The Loeb has had a tendency lately to put on bad plays by good playwrights (this is called the Wellington's Victory syndrome) and I hope The Pelican is not another example of that. Anyway, see Janny Scott's review tomorrow on page...