Stage review
Costumes, flesh make for devilishly good time
By Joseph T. Rozmiarek
Advertiser Drama Critic
Here's a project that's extraordinarily difficult to pull off.
• 2 p.m. today
It's a stage adaptation of "Master and Margarita," an early 20th-century Russian novel by Mikhail Bulgakov that juxtaposes Stalinist artistic repression against the persecution of Jesus Christ. The script is by American playwright Jean-Claude van Itallie, best known for 1960's visually shocking social commentary.
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'Master and Margarita'
• Ernst Lab Theatre
• $9, $7, $3
• 956-7655
It's produced with limited resources on the small laboratory stage at the rear of the University of Hawai'i-Manoa's Kennedy Theatre. Not all goes well with the production, which suffers from disjointed scenes and a self-indulgent, overlong first act, but the result is a remarkable mix of vision and control by director Elmira Tereshchenko.
At various times a freshly severed head rolls across the stage, a tongue is cut out and displayed still wiggling, and a toast is shared from a goblet of fresh blood. Crucifixion scenes always help an audience find focus. So do bare female breasts, a devilish costume ball and money falling from the heavens.
Tereshchenko gives the play a big enough look to deserve a crack at the main stage and a bigger budget.
But, admirably, she doesn't let the spectacle overwhelm the several nicely controlled performances that she elicits from her cast. And good control is essential for a plot line centered on the devil's mischief with an author's unfinished novel on the life of Pontius Pilate, and fantasy scenes that blur Moscow with ancient Jerusalem.
Scot Davis does good work as the devil, disguised as the mysterious Professor Woland. Eventually overcoming a vaguely Eastern European accent, this young actor brings real subtlety and shading to the part, as the devil ultimately helps the writer complete his work.
Chris Garre also finds some depth in the role of Pilate, rounding out a character that is too often portrayed in a single dimension. Even Reb. Beau Allen succeeds in playing the devil's Cat — making an essentially athletic role hiss with personality.
Christine Hauptman finds a single, but definitely strong focus for Margarita, playing her aloof and almost trancelike. Michael Mariani toughs through the dual roles of Master and Yeshua (the writer and Jesus), but without offering fresh insight into either.
Hank West similarly struggles with two difficult roles as a harassed poet and the disciple Matthew.
Director Tereshchenko also designs the costumes and has a riotous time with the devil's ball — dressing a dance floor filled with murderers in period attire and lots of bare flesh.
But while there's a lot to watch, there's not always enough to engage. The production has the tone of in-your-face presentationalism that often gets lost in its own extravagance. Some objective cutting would be welcomed.
Nevertheless, congratulations are in order for the director and cast. "Master and Margarita" obviously stretches everybody's envelope.
