In its current production of Clifford Odets' "Paradise Lost," the American Repertory Theater creates a new genre of entertainment that is a mixture of cinematic and theatrical media. Directed by Daniel Fish, the production toys with avant−garde techniques to gain at once a more detached and intimate perspective of one family's dissolution during the Depression.
Despite having a plot that is steeped with traditional American themes and values, Fish's interpretation is continuously experimental and risky in its attempt to reinvent and capture a glimpse of 1930s America. Before the show even starts, a western−style film is playing on the set's gigantic movie screen. The dialogue starts just as the film is ending and the credits are rolling across the screen. The beginning of the show occurs at the end of something else, but like many elements of the play, it is a little unclear how the two connect.
The Gordon family is the center of the play. The show begins at the family's kitchen table; it is also the place of arguments and the older son Ben's (Hale Appleman) marriage announcement. Things quickly begin to fall apart as the characters are forced to leave the table and face responsibility, the failing economy and death. Problems escalate far beyond what the parents, Clara (Sally Wingert) and Leo (David Chandler), can handle. It's not long before Clara's easy answer to everything — to eat a piece of fruit — becomes trivial and nostalgic.
While the stage is always visually appealing, it also threatens to distract too much from the characters and plot. A gigantic movie screen acts as the backdrop and a window of intimacy as a camera follows the actors off stage and into corners obscured from the audience's view. While the movie screen might allow for the actors to feel hidden and private, it also exposes them in gigantic terms at odd angles to outside viewers. The definition of theater is challenged here as technology is used to reveal the characters in new and different ways.
Microphones are another innovative adaptation to the production. Occasionally, a microphone is used for emphasis, such as when the younger Gordon son Julie (T. Ryder Smith) addresses his family and the audience as both an actor and a radio announcer. A microphone can also act as an element of feigned privacy when the characters are off stage and appear on the movie screen.
The blending of media from film to radio to theater is an interesting concept, but in "Paradise Lost," the effect fails to stun and inspire. At times, it's simply disjointing and distracting. But there are moments when the vision is almost there, such as the short movie that is played of Ben and Libby's (Merritt Janson) wedding. The wedding video might succeed because it is separate from the play itself, filmed and put together previously, unlike the live film moments, which tend to be dark, awkward visuals of critical moments and conversations. But while the wedding video is excellent in itself, exposing moments of family tension and the first signs of Ben's weakness, its incision in the performance is jarring and surreal. Questions remain about when the movie took place and whether or not it is imagined.
The acting in the performance is what holds the work together. It's unfortunate that the set and tech sometimes get in the way of the performances. In his portrayal, Chandler captures the breaking of an idealistic man. Odets does not spare good and honest people — everyone is subject to tragedy. But even after so much loss and despair, Leo remains steadfast in grappling for a sense of fairness and morality in the world.
Smith is another standout in the performance. Experiencing a slow decay of a different sort — physically instead of idealistically — Julie is simultaneously the tearjerker and clown of the family. Smith, with his aimless wandering and quirky behavior, creates a Julie that is sometimes child−like in behavior, but infinitely wiser than many of the other characters in the show.
"Paradise Lost" is onstage until March 20th at the Loeb Drama Center in Cambridge. Student tickets are available.
