Edgy adolescent themes drive 1891 drama
BU singers sweep Met Regionals
Edgy adolescent themes drive 1891 drama
By Judith Sandler
Spring Awakening is a strangely contemporary play. "It's short, episodic dialogue," says director Scott Edmiston, "is almost like Pinter or Beckett," and its treatment of ignorance, violence, and miscommunication between teenagers and adults is decidedly topical.
But this powerful, prescient Frank Wedekind play was written more than a century ago. Set in Wedekind's native Germany and subtitled "A children's tragedy," it portrays a repressive society through the eyes of a group of 14-year-olds.
"This is a social tragedy of adolescence in which
the emotional volatility of sex is a trip wire," says Edmiston, a literary
and artistic associate at the Huntington Theatre Company and an SFA faculty
member. "For me, a lot of the play -- the conflicts between parents and
children, between truth and lies, nature and society, sex and violence,
education and imagination, sexuality and morality -- is about trying to
define morality."
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Mike Hyland (SFA'00) and Linda Park (SFA'00)
rehearse Frank Wedekind's Spring Awakening, which will run Wednesday,
February 23, through Sunday, February 27, at the Boston University
Theatre. Photo by Kalman Zabarsky |
Spring Awakening will be presented by SFA's theatre arts division at the BU Theatre from February 23 through 27.
"The play is about sexual awakening and breaking free to become your own person," says Fay Wolf (SFA'00), who plays Wendla Bergman. "The parents deceive their children because they're afraid to tell them the truth. And it tragically backfires. I think the message is not that adults are wrong or bad, but that they're following society's rules. My character's ignorance, which is involuntary, destroys her."
Playwright, actor, and cabaret performer Frank Wedekind (1864-1918) was in the vanguard of German expressionism and was a founder of modern drama. "I think there's a perception in America that German dramatic literature leaps from Goethe's Faust to Brecht's The Threepenny Opera," says Edmiston. "But we couldn't have had Brecht if it hadn't been for Wedekind."
Wedekind was scorned and harassed for his outspoken criticism of repressive 19th-century European society. Spring Awakening, his first play, was greeted with such critical hostility that it was censored and was not produced until 1906. The play's depiction of authority figures was apparently one of the reasons for this reception. Translated into English only 30 years ago, the play is not well known in this country.
"It's very critical," Edmiston explains. "Seen from the children's point of view, authority figures are distorted, grotesque, and oppressive."
Although today Spring Awakening is not the inflammatory play it was during the Victorian era, it looks at issues that are still controversial: abortion, rape, suicide, abuse, and homosexuality.
"There's something exciting about the play because it is somewhat dangerous," Edmiston says. "It's a little subversive. It's exciting artistically to feel that we're taking a risk. Art should be risky."
"Scott is so sensitive and open to the issues of the play," says Daria Polatin (SFA'00), who plays Frau Gabor. "Because he puts them in context, he creates an environment where we can feel comfortable with the play and the subject matter. He's built a sense of community and trust within the cast so we can do this difficult work."
"When we started rehearsals, I felt the play was controversial," says Matthew Wilkas (SFA'00), whose character is Moritz Steifel. "But now that I'm inside it, I feel that everything is valid and there for a reason."
"There's nothing in the play that's offensive," explains Wolf. "It's very human. It's bare and really beautiful. There's no pretense. The messages are pretty heavy, but it's also very funny -- it has a light side."
Edmiston wanted to direct Spring Awakening in a university setting principally because he feels that students have a familiarity, an empathy, with the theme of the play. "It gives the students an opportunity to draw on their own experience," he says, "and express who they are. They have enough perspective on that time period that they often see it more clearly. And the emotional memory is still vivid."
Mike Hyland (SFA'00) is Melchoir Gabor in Spring Awakening. "I remember when I was 14," he says. "Your whole body is starting to change. And you don't know how to deal with the feelings of frustration, powerlessness, and injustice. It was a very difficult time, trying to make the transition into adulthood without losing the innocence you have as a child."
"Spring Awakening is the most astonishingly insightful work about adolescence," says Edmiston. "There are very few plays that deal with the creation of an identity in adolescence with this kind of intensity and honesty."
"The play says to me that you have to take the risk of following this difficult path," Hyland says. "That's what it means to be alive. It's going to be hard, but it's so precious to be alive."
The Boston University Theatre Arts Division will present Frank Wedekind's Spring Awakening, directed by Scott Edmiston, February 23 through 26 at 8 p.m. and February 27 at 2 p.m., at the Boston University Theatre Mainstage, 264 Huntington Ave. Admission is $8 for the general public and $5 for students and seniors and free with a BU ID. For tickets and further information, call the box office at 266-0800.
