VanLoan

vanloan@nyconstage.org


Festen is a dramatization of the Dogme film Celebration (directed by Thomas Vinterberg). The tenets of the Dogme philosophy are that the film should be shot in real time and using as much natural light as possible. The subject matter should be of serious merit and reflect timely concerns. It is rather surprising how much of this viewpoint director Rufus Norris and designer Ian MacNeil have been able to maintain for the stage production.

Festen is the story of the 60th birthday celebration for Helge; a successful Danish restaurateur. He has surrounded himself with his family; his wife, two sons and a daughter and various friends. The festivities turn brutally ugly when past secrets are revealed (although not here). It’s deceptively simple yet provides for an explosive situation.

MacNeil’s scenic design is the most potent element of the production. The set is an empty black box stripped to the black brick stage walls with black panels shifting to designate scene changes. Hallucinatory sound effects fill the void as the stage is set with baccarat crystal and elegant china for the soon to be dysfunctional gathering. The sleekness of it all is a nice analogy for the corruption underneath.

This unfortunately cannot be said of the rest of the production. The acting is uneven at best. A feeling of general hysteria is overused to evoke the horror of the situation. The actors seem to have been directed to constantly scream accusations at each other thereby negating any of the emotional repulsion one may feel. Even the usually reliable stage veteran Larry Bryggman as Helge seems adrift amid the proceedings. Michael Hayden fares a little better as his son Christian who finds quiet variations on his dual feelings of outrage and sorrow. Ali MacGraw is a nonentity as the dutiful wife and mother (which at times works on a rather perverse level). While nothing new is presented by way of familial discord here, a tighter, cleaner acting ensemble might have produced a more gripping and dynamic evening.

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