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Something or Other Always Happens
by Julie Sharbutt
Night Sings Its Songs reviewed June 7, 2004
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| (L-R) Louis Cancelmi and Anna Guttormsgaard |
| Photo Credit:Jim Baldassare |
| The stark, modernist production of Jon Fosse's Night Sings Its Songs is an eerie and beautiful look at a familiar problem: the struggle between two people who love each other but cannot communicate.
Fosse creates an environment where the slightest tender expression is swathed in awkwardness and self-consciousness, while love and fidelity are colored in shades of grey. Night Sings Its Songs shows us a poetic wasteland of human emotion and involuntary disconnect.
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| (L-R) Louis Cancelmi and Anna Guttormsgaard |
| Photo Credit:Jim Baldassare |
| Set in a middle-class suburban home, Lauren Helpern's chilly set conveys a realistic space with a surreal tinge of emptiness. Roma Flowers' cool lighting also makes abstract nods to the young couple, shining pools of light on the intense "Young Man" character when he is alone, and imposing an image of a changing clock on the wall at significant moments. The two designers create a lonely place, like an empty house you never get attached to.
The tone set by the designers is matched by the sweetly sad, incompatible lovers and their broken contemporary dialogue. Fosse's use of language is rhythmic, metered and self-conscious. Almost every line is punctuated with a sadly humorous, "...yeah?" The dialogue also has a notably deliberate pace. Even in the most dynamic scenes, the rhythm never diverges much from the one it started with, like a steady heartbeat.
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| (L-R) Anna Guttormsgaard and George Hannah |
| Photo Credit:Jim Baldassare |
| Although feeling, dilemma, and relationship are discussed and explained nothing is communicated. The words spoken between the Young Man and Young Woman evaporate before they reach each other. Every scene is a somber exercise in trying to communicate with someone who will not or cannot hear you.
The deliberateness of language extends to touch. In a scene where the Young Man's father and mother come to visit, even touch is an unnatural communication. When left alone, the Father, played with sweetly sad nervousness by Peter Davies, extends his hand to his son while simultaneously facing his body away and refusing to look at him. It is a gesture filled with both the desire to reach out and submissive apprehension, like a boy curious to pet an unfamiliar and potentially dangerous dog.
Under director Sarah Cameron Sunde, the actors do a masterful job imbuing their characters with this natural unnaturalness. As the Young Man, Louis Cancelmi reveals as much through his almost somnambulistic movement, his pained and unchanging face, and his intense dark eyes as he does with language. More, in fact, since his character is noticably reticent. Peter Davies and Diane Ciesla as the smiling parents of the Young Man are the manifestation of familial discomfort, to the point of intense passive aggression. They are wonderful to watch as they try to shine in a home that is darkened by the Young Man's deliberate isolation. George Hannah as Baste is a surprising character. His entrance, almost comic, presents an element otherwise absent from the evening: sarcasm. Baste is a glimpse of earthy realism in a vacuum of purified miscommunication. Finally, Anna Guttormsgaard sparkles as the Young Woman. While duplicitous in her actions as it turns out, she is a the only character who attempts to speak directly. She is clearly unhappy, yet even at her worst she radiates human compassion.
Night Sings Its Song teaches us nothing new about infidelity or the inability to communicate when you love someone. Yet, it reaches us with the high beauty of its aesthetics and the tremendous complexity of the characters developed through thoughtful and intelligent acting and directing. It is a minimalist marvel to see, and will leave you thinking about the value and rarity of speaking directly and being heard.
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45 Bleecker Theater
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Category: Drama
Written by: Jon Fosse; translated by Ms. Sunde
Directed by: Sarah Cameron Sunde
Produced by: Oslo Elsewhere, The Unbound Theatre and Spring Theatreworks
Opened: June 5, 2004
Closed: June 26, 2004
Running Time: 90 min
Theater: 45 Bleecker Theater
Address:
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Yahoo! Maps Directions
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Tickets: $15.00
TDF voucher accepted
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Creative Team
Written by: Jon Fosse
Directed and Translated by: Sarah Cameron Sunde
Produced by: Spring Theatreworks
Light Designer: Roma Flowers
Sound Designer: Ryan Tilke
Set Designer: Lauren Helpern
Costume Designer: Maline Casta
Composer: Christopher Tin
Prop Designer: Faye Armon
Dramaturgy: Marie-Louise Miller
Cast
Louis Cancelmi as Young Man
Anna Guttormsgaard as Young Woman
Peter Davies as Father
Diane Ciesla as Mother
George Hannah as Baste
Crew
Stage Manager: Misha Siegel-Rivers
Ass. Stage Manager: Felicity Crew
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