My overall impression
Tony Frankel, theatre critic for Stage and Cinema here.
About thirty minutes into Spring Awakening, it seemed a possibility that this would be THE show to talk about at the Fringe. Directors Dana Murphy and Patrick Riley used every inch of The Complex Hollywood’s Ruby Theatre, including the aisles and backstage; the staging simply blazed with imagination and wonder. There was a palpable sense of excitement in the theatre as we watched the troubled teens of Frank Wedekind’s 1906 play deal with their burgeoning sexuality in a repressed society. Patrick Riley and Jennifer Allcott lead an enthusiastic, unbridled and passionate cast. It seemed like a fascinating idea to have the actors who portrayed the adults wear masks, signifying the profound disconnection between generations. Jonathon Franzen’s translation is fluid, poetic and accessible.
However, the performances and the staging had a manic quality to them which slowly began to drown out the excitement: some performances verged on presentational or forced (some actors simply yelled and screeched) when nuance was called for. The masks, which had made a bold statement at first, soon separated the audience from the emotional impact of the story – especially in a scene where one of the students is put on “trial” for teaching another student about sex.
As is sometimes the case with youthful companies, mania replaces subtlety; fresh exhuberance is exciting at first, but too much high energy or creative choices can be lulling to our senses. We, the audience, have to shut down a little to take in so much. Hence, the creators of Spring Awakening are urged to abandon the masks and focus on the internal psychology of the piece. Wunderkind’s story is chockablock with layers of character development that were left largely unexplored in this production. The actors must INTERNALIZE their emotions and do what they can to hide the characters’ struggles from us. There was a sense that this crew may have been raised in an era of such permissiveness that the concept of a truely harsh and repressive society seemed foreign to them.
Those who have reviewed this show are clearly excited by the same things that excited me. But for the show to resonate, clever staging and fresh talent can not replace what we need most: a heightened emotional truth that still feels authentic. The directors are encouraged to keep up the wonderful staging; now they must dig into their work internally as much as they do externally.
