Presented by Resonance Ensemble at Manhattan Ensemble Theater, 55 Mercer St., NYC, June 4-27, performed in rotating repertory.
Not seen locally for a while, Maxim Gorky's "The Lower Depths" returned to New York with a vengeance. Resonance Ensemble revived Gorky's 1902 masterpiece in repertory with Charles L. Mee's "Time to Burn," a contemporary response to it. With the recent DVD releases of film versions of "The Lower Depths" by Jean Renoir and Akira Kurosawa, could we be in a Gorky revival, or could there just be a renewed interest in this play?
Gorky's play, set in czarist Russia, takes place in a lodging house in an unnamed city. To this flophouse come the dregs of society: thieves, declassed noblemen, drunks, prostitutes, and gamblers, lorded over by a greedy landlord whose wife and her sister both despise him and love the same boarder. When a philosophical traveler arrives, he stirs the pot so that none are untouched.
Resonance Ensemble's productions used overlapping casting and the same production team except for the directors. Ironically, Gorky's original proved more powerful than the modern update. Whereas Gorky's play is constructed in four acts, each leading up to a climax that shrinks the cast, Mee turned the piece into a long one-act play with all of the climaxes placed at the end. Aside from adding some contemporary drifters like Vietnam veterans, he also combined some of the characters. The old philosophical pilgrim who precipitates the action is combined with the Baron, a declassed nobleman, to create Tertius, a diminished version of both.
Although there is nothing Russian about Eric Parness' adaptation and direction of "The Lower Depths," the storytelling and pacing made this the more theatrical of the two. Both plays have many monologues, but in "Time to Burn," director Leland Patton turned them into expressionistic riffs spoken directly at the audience, which eventually became tedious. Sidney Shannon's costuming on "Time to Burn" suggested the world after a third world war, as in "The Road Warrior," which made the play rather remote.
Only James T. Ware as the thief loved by both women and Emily Laochua as the abused sister played the same roles in both plays—and they were very effective. In "The Lower Depths," Stu Richel was pleasant as the genial philosopher. Al Choy was a suitably brutal, vicious landlord. Among the memorable character performances were Kristin Stewart Chase's deluded Nastya, Aaron Lisman's alcoholic actor, and Martin Treat's darkly ominous locksmith.
Although Patton obtained fine characterizations from the cast of "Time to Burn," their roles were reduced to labels by the writing. As Mee's protagonist, Patrick Melville's Tertius was bland and ineffectual, while his sarcastic Satine in the Gorky play was incisive. Gameela Wright as the wheelchair-bound Jessie in the Mee and the dying Anna in the Gorky brought pathos to both characters.