Word: woyzeck
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Dates: during 1970-1979
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...Quincy House production succeeds best as an unresolved confrontation between a tortured man and a hostile world. Judith Swan's lighting is a simple contrast of brights and blackouts. The triptych designed by Roger Bardwell to represent the army barracks, doctor's office, and Woyzeck's home is appropriately pared down to a few wooden chairs and tables. The director's blocking is often awkward, but the physical, and frequently brutal, interactions of the characters on a practically bare stage produce powerful moments...
Glenn Turner's Woyzeck mirrors the strengths and weaknesses of the production, succeeding at isolated emotions but never really commanding his character. Turner is good as the victimized soldier, quietly bowing to his captain's abuse while even more quietly considering twisting the blade of the razor with which he shaves him. And Turner is equally good in the scene of the jealous lover, spitting out rage and a disgust of the flesh worthy of an Othello. But he does not convey Woyzeck's slow emotional deterioration and the enlightenment that should come with the consciousness of his own fall...
...Landrum as Marie evades the problem of motivations entirely. Landrum, seducing the drum major and frightening her child to sleep, would like to be the emotional center of the play. But she remains a spoiled little girl fingering the earrings the major gives her throughout, succeeding in making even Woyzeck's love for her almost unconvincing...
...Strassner is especially good as Katey, the accomodating barmaid, trying to keep everyone happy while having a good time herself. But paradoxically it is Bonnie Ann DeLorme as the victimizing doctor who offers the most fully developed characterization. DeLorme's visible self-hatred as she forces Woyzeck to live on peas for the sake of her experiment is her private realization that society is cruel to give Woyzeck's growing delusions names instead of cures. DeLorme's sensitivity to Woyzeck's plight is her acceptance of her own guilt for Woyzeck's crime as well as the emotional crux...
...Woyzeck, the first experiment in modern tragedy, remains primitive in form, failing to satisfy the emotions with which it struggles. And the hesitant quality of the Quincy House production offers little to resolve the unpolished ambiguities of the text. But the stark direction releases the force of the conflicts involved, and sometimes that's enough...