FRÄULEIN ELSE

en in 1924 the great Viennese writer and physician Arthur Schnitzler wrote the story from which this swift and startling play was adapted, the culture of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, whose civilized discontents he had chronicled, lay sundered by war and in decline. His unhappy story of 19-year-old Fräulein Else (electrifyingly played by Francesca Faridany) is set earlier, in 1912, during the twilight of peace before that war Europe blindly blundered into that killed so many of Else's generation. Unconscious of that or of any other looming tragedy, Else's first-person narrative begins during an end-of-summer holiday at a spa in the Dolomites, where afternoon alpenglow (lushly painted by Joan Arhelger's lighting design) fades to night while urgent communications from Else's mother (dryly acted by Mary Baird) back in Vienna adumbrate a growing family crisis. Elsa must beg a large loan from Herr Von Dorsday (Julian López-Morillas)—a fat old roué who in return asks her to disrobe for him. The affinities of Dr. Schnitzler's writing with the psychiatric studies of his colleague Sigmund Freud are always noted. A layman, then, might profitably consult psychiatry's current Diagnostic and Statistical Manual for hints about the mental confusion that Else falls into. Terms such as "psychomotor agitation," "anxiolytic intoxication," "hebephrenia," "flight of ideas," and "depersonalization" all come to hand, suggested by the text and by Faridany's feverishly dynamic and accelerated performance in her own translation and dramatic adaptation of it, directed with great sensitivity and invention by her husband, Stephen Wadsworth. Other stage versions of this work have tended to be either large-scale representational dramas or intimate monologues—the latter approach encouraged by the novella's stream-of-consciousness style. Faridany has sensibly and superbly combined those approaches. She delivers Else's interior monologue at manic speed, assisted by other actors who seldom connect with her, much dialogue delivered by both speakers face front. Consequently the cast can never play as an ensemble, despite the very good work of all the actors, including Michael Tisdale and Lauren Lovett as the adulterous Paul and Cissy, plus Garrett Neergaard as the porter. This disconnection, though, serves the psychological truth of the story, which is that Else, in her hysteria and barbiturate-induced haze, becomes more and more isolated from others and from the grim and deadly reality of her situation. Faridany's performance, in all its desperate vivacity, can often be hilarious, in jarring contrast with the stark and jolting conclusion toward which it races. Thomas Lynch's brilliant scenic design gives us simultaneous interior and exterior layers—hotel façade, Mount Cimone on a scrim, maze map of halls or garden paths underfoot. And Anna Oliver's excellent costume design also shows the discardable layers of Else's clothing, including the fettering hobble garters beneath her elegant sheath gown. "Fräulein Else," presented by La Jolla Playhouse, in association with Berkeley Repertory Theatre, at the Mandell Weiss Forum, La Jolla Village Drive and Torrey Pines Rd., La Jolla. Tues.-Fri. 8 p.m., Sat. 2 & 8 p.m., Sun. 2 & 7 p.m. June 15-July 13. $35-49. (858) 550-101