On the basis of In the Penal Colony, a world premiere of a new opera theatre work by composer Phillip Glass and librettist Rudolph Wurlitzer, there's a slim chance there will be a great demand for any future musical adaptations of the works of Franz Kafka, who wrote the original story upon which this short but sluggish and oddly unmoving piece is based. Director Joanne Akalaitis and a talented design team have staged and mounted the piece with technical accomplishment, and the world-class opera singers who perform it cannot be praised too highly, but it is distinctly a case of no effort and expense being spared on a probably unadaptable property.
In 1907, a European visitor comes to witness a soldier's execution at an African penal colony, on the invitation of its (unseen) new commander, who questions the prior regime's method of punishment. The officer in charge of the execution describes with pleasure the workings of the torture machine that will slowly kill the accused. The prisoner has been given no chance to defend himself, as the old regime believed guilt was beyond doubt. When the machine breaks down just before the needles are to descend into the prisoner, the officer in charge launches into a lengthy plea to justify to the visitor why he should advise the new regime not to abandon this form of punishment.
Wurlitzer's libretto is mostly turgid and chilly, and director Akalaitis' adding the onstage character of Kafka, commenting and observing this darkly disturbing tale, doesn't help. Though actor José J. Gonzales is energetic and capable of injecting some needed humor into the proceedings, his presence is unnecessary and intrusive. Add to this the decision to have Matt Seidman play the condemned man as virtually mute, and any real possibility for us to empathize with him is removed. Glass' typically minimalist musical score drones on and on, redeemed only by the vocal prowess of John Duykers, who brings proper glimmers of compassion and doubt to the role of the visitor, and Herbert Perry, who delivers a wrenchingly powerful performance as the officer in charge, who is fighting for the life of his long-held principles.
Akalaitis and movement choreographer Pat Graney have created stylized, ritualistic staging in scenes which might have otherwise been static, but they grow repetitive fairly quickly. John Conklin's set is an eerily successful visualization of hell on earth, particularly in the depiction of the torture machine itself, and Jennifer Tipton's dazzling lighting makes the moments when the machine is at work especially believable. Conductor/music director Alan Johnston and his onstage quintet of string musicians are certainly adroit at performing the Glass score, though the composer's choice to orchestrate for an all-string sound makes his music sound even more monotonal. From the muted opening night audience response, which included an exiting patron's comment, "Well, we survived," I can't imagine In the Penal Colony becoming a frequently performed piece of opera theatre.
"In the Penal Colony," at A Contemporary Theatre, 700 Union St., Seattle. Sun., Tues.-Wed. 7:30 p.m., Thurs.-Sat. 8 p.m., Sat.-Sun. 2 p.m. Aug. 30-Oct. 1. $10-42. (206) 292-7676.