Terry Teachout's Wall Street Journal Review of Old Times

Chicago

Time was when Harold Pinter's shorthand dialogue struck most people as impenetrably mysterious -- and times, truth to tell, haven't changed all that much. Yet his best plays continue to make a powerful impression, and "Old Times," first seen on Broadway in 1971, has even become something of a regional-theater staple in recent years, partly because it can be produced so cheaply (three actors, one simple set) and partly because it's so theatrically effective. Pinter never wrote anything more potent than the enigmatic story of Deeley and Kate, an uneasily married couple whose life is disrupted by a visit from Anna, who knew Kate 20 years ago and appears (or maybe not) to have been romantically involved with her. Remy Bumppo Theatre, one of my favorite Chicago companies, is presenting this icy sparring match in an exceptionally satisfying production that has been staged with surgical skill by James Bohnen, the company's artistic director. Nick Sandys, Jenny McKnight and Linda Gillum all give tightly coiled performances that keep the tension rising all the way from curtain to curtain.

Mr. Teachout, the Journal's drama critic, blogs about theater and the other arts at www.terryteachout.com. Write to him at tteachout@wsj.com.

Blog from Pinterland!

Week two, the reviews are coming out and are strong, the audiences, when they come, are having a fascinating time. Spread the word people. What was great on Sunday, after the matinee, was to see 75% of the audience stay for the talkback, not because they were lost , but because they seemed to want some confirmation on what they thought they understood. There were some great insights and some clear thinking and some fun questions—thank you to the gentleman who noticed all the detailed dialect work! We haven’t had that number of people stay since, oh I don’t know, maybe Hapgood, another brain teaser.

And in the midst of this we are also in the thick of Liaisons auditions, exhausting but exciting work, which I am trying not to let influence Deeley’s demeanor. David Darlow, herr Direktor, has got his work cut out because we just saw a great group of wonderful actresses, a lot of my favorite leading ladies from around Chicago theatres whose work I have admired and some beautiful young actresses new to me and to Remy Bumppo, and he has to make a choice for each role. We could probably cast the show three times over at this point. And I get paid to do this all day!—well, actually I don’t, but it’s the thought that…. counts.

Nick

A Note from Nick Sandys...

So, first weekend after opening the show and already this adventure is proving tricky, entertaining and frustrating--just like the play itself. The noise from next door's Eclipse show has been less of a distraction than we thought, mainly because their big scream scene times out perfectly for our intermission. Now if only the patrons in the lobby would keep it down. And speaking of patrons, it has already become a massive test of focus in the first five minutes, with shufflers and late-seaters and simply nervousness, all of which is hugely amplified by Pinter's silences and the stillness of the performance. Even more than usual, one wants to turn round and say, "you do know we can see and hear you too" (the apocryphal story of Richardson in the NYC production of "No Man's Land" seems to ring true). Anyway....the show itself has received generally good reviews thus far, which is always lovely. And I have to say the audiences, once they tune in, have been all ears, especially in the last silent two minutes when the veritable pin can be heard tumbling deafeningly to the floorboards. What is tricky, however, is that each audience has been completely different. Just when we thought we had a handle on the pacing and the tone, in comes another group who either laugh far more, or who don't respond at all, and those pauses and silences suddenly start expanding and contracting as we try to work out how to ride the wave. When you have no dialogue to maintain a speed with, it becomes very difficult judging how time is actually passing. Only in Pinterland.....

Nick

What is Jenny/Kate Thinking?

From Jenny McKnight:

Those damn kids better get out of my yard...

It's nice here in the desert. Nice and hot. Lots of sandys...

There he goes, talking about his work again. Orson Welles, Schmorson Schwelles...

What is Linda/Anna Thinking?

From Linda Gillum:

"Alright, I'll play your game"

"I know I can make her happy"

What is Nick/Deeley Thinking?

Here are Nick's thoughts:

Actual line: “My mother would have a fit!”
Possible line: “ I can see right through to the other side, wow!” Thinking: “Right, then, all right, then, right, well, there you go, that is it, enough is enough, if you ask my opinion…. I know it is something to do with sex.”

Actual line: “I have my eye on a number of pulses, pulses all round the globe, deprivations and insults…”

Possible line: “ I hate these bloody loafers! Have you seen these revolting things? But at least I have two! And they’re mine!”
Thinking: “ Enough of this British reticence and subtlety. Time to do some good ol’ Chicago shouting! Maybe that’ll help.”

Actual line: “Long Silence”
Possible line: “You can hear the sea sometimes, if you listen very carefully.”
Thinking: “Come on, woman, blink, blink! All right, I suppose you aren’t even going to do that for me.”

Actual line: “Silence”
Possible line: “If I try the Vulcan mind-meld on myself, maybe I’ll be smart enough to understand this play—or at least understand this woman!”
Thinking: “Phew, we have reached the final tableau, the cage of infinity, I am a teary, nose-drippy mess, my character’s life is in tatters, his emotions are flayed, his psyche shredded—aah, it’s just one more night in the theatre… I believe I’ve earned this drink.”

A Blast from Remy Bumppo's Pinter Past

Oct. 2001 Review of No Man’s Land
Review by Mary Shen Barnidge

They met in a pub earlier that evening. Spooner is a garrulous down-at-heels poet given to soliloquizing after the style of T.S.Eliot’s “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock.” Hirst, to whose home they have repaired, is a laconic square who responds with polite deference to his guest’s vulgar speculations about their respective marital histories. After imbibing an extraordinary amount of undiluted liquor in dainty nibbles, Hirst literally crawls off to bed and Spooner proceeds to steal all the cigarettes from the humidor, only to be interrupted by two rough-trade houseboys who warn him to watch his step. The next morning, Hirst is revealed to be a prestigious Man of Letters whose literary status soon reduces the arrogant Spooner to an obsequious acolyte pleading for favor.

Or so one may interpret the dynamic in Harold Pinter’s No Man’s Land. Spooner and HIrst might also be a pair of poufs dancing around the closet door. Or a couple of impotent hets crying over the women who left them. Or maybe their claim to have been school chums is genuine and this encounter a big-chill lament for their lost youth. And what’s with those domestic guard-dogs, Briggs and Foster, and the latter’s boast of hustling—girls, of course—in the fleshpots of the Far East? Pinter, renowned for his enigmatic iconography, offers us no overt signposts, instead inviting us to impose our own contexts on the action.

Neither does Remy Bumppo director James Bohnen nudge us in one direction over another, but allows us, if we wish, to ignore context altogether and just enjoy David Darlow and Joe Van Slyke in roles originally created by (and perhaps for) John Gielgud and Ralph Richardson. Together these seasoned players generate a tag-team sensitivity—how often do actors actually LISTEN to one another?—that transforms the long and almost exclusively two-character first act into a symphony of starts, stops, silences and significant stares.

Giving them a breather from time to time are Nick Sandys and Mark L. Montgomery as the ominous caretakers. Kudos also to Tim Morrison and Allison Boland’s excruciatingly tasteful décor whose very tidiness shimmers with suppressed menace.

Pictured above: NO MANS LAND: Nick Sandys, Joe Van Slyke, Mark Montgomery, David Darlow (2001)

Nick tells us about Tech Rehearsal!

Well, we managed to tech the show pretty much like we blocked the show—IN ONE DAY! Wow, luxuries—and unheard of! But this gives us lots of time to keep tuning the show, keep shifting the balance of threat and playfulness, of mask and revelation, of history and present. It is really proving to be one of the toughest assignments I have faced, not because of the physical demand, merely the mental. The play demands absolute focus, absolute concentration, no mental relaxation for a second, because the emotional stakes are so high. The strain on listening is immense—and this means that any noise, and I mean ANY, feels like a slap in the face. And it means I am not feeling emotionally comfortable—and I have to face up to being uncomfortable for the next six weeks. This play feeds on some of our darkest emotions, but not by putting the characters through extremis. Instead, these people are just going through mid-life crises, sieved by Pinter into an existential 70 minutes of doubt.

The set looks great—very simple and elegant, and yet floating in a void—and JR’s lighting, as always, really enhances the atmospherics, playing up the ghostly woods and the distant horizon, and, as James has commented, creating little Cornell boxes, “cages of infinity” (in Michael Billington’s phrase). The last moment is excitingly theatrical and haunting—I will say no more at this juncture. You’ll have to come and see me tortured from the inside for yourselves.

Nick

The View from My Seat - OLD TIMES Stage Manager Baleigh Isaacs

1. Couches - There are 2 couches in this show, and there they are. This is a rare glimpse into what they look like before you’ll see them onstage, all cleaned up and reupholstered.

2. Water Bottle - It’s very important for everyone to stay hydrated during rehearsal. Unfortunately, this bottle is currently empty. I should probably remedy that.

3. Calendar - Some of my paperwork. It is the schedule of all rehearsals, performances, and special events. It can be tricky business trying to work out a schedule that fits everyone’s lives, particularly when folks work on multiple shows around town. Yikes! Tech week is coming up so soon!

4. Tape Measure - Not always on my table, but we had to measure the couches to get reupholstered...and so I can accurately draw them in the script. Also useful for “taping out the floor”, when we put spike tape on the floor of the rehearsal room, indicating the set.

5. Playbill draft - We all have to review the final draft of the Playbill before it gets sent in for publishing...check for typos, etc. A lot of people put a lot of work into it.

6. Multi-tool - More helpful at the theatre...but good to have in rehearsal for making templates (see 12), putting together Ikea furniture that we don’t end up using, fixing eyeglasses, etc.

7. Eraser and Eraser Dust - A good eraser is a stage manager’s best friend. If you look very closely...go ahead, press your face against the monitor...you can make out the large quantities of eraser dust scattered everywhere. That’s a sure sign that we’ve had a productive day in rehearsal.

8. Chocolate - Another rehearsal necessity. In my rehearsals, I make sure to have good dark chocolate. I tend to keep it for emergency use only, but in this show, we’re also using it as a prop.

9. Cell Phone - The official timepiece of rehearsal. Also used for actors to call in when they’re running late. Also, instant treat evoker. If anyone’s phone goes off during rehearsal, they have to bring in treats for everyone in the room. It’s possible that I’ve called James’s cell during rehearsal intentionally for this purpose.

10. Laptop - The magic silver box, as James likes to call it. I use it to get instant answers to questions that come up in rehearsal (what character did Jeremy Northam play in Gosford Park?), to play sound cues, to communicate with designers and staff, to write rehearsal reports and schedules, and to keep all my beautiful paperwork beautiful. Definitely not for goofing off during rehearsal.

11. Post-it Notes - All kinds of uses for these! Lots of colors and sizes. I use them for notes throughout the script about props, running times, etc. They’re great for passing notes between me and my assistant. Especially great for reminders during the day.

12. Template - Sometimes I like to make a template that I can trace onto my blocking sheets in my prompt book (see 15). We use mini-diagrams of the stage to draw pictures of what’s going on. You can see that those 2 rectangles represent the couches at the top of the picture.

13. Scale Rule - Same purposes as the tape measure, but on a smaller...scale.

14. Prompt Key - The guide to my secret code used in the prompt book (see 15). Every stage manager uses different symbols and abbreviations when they write down blocking, so this key helps others read my method.

15. Prompt Book - Probably should have started with this thing. This is my script, where I write down where the actors move, keep calendars and contact sheets, and keep a complete record of the props, scenery, light and sound notes, and anything else related to the running of the show. When we get into tech, the script will also be filled with all the cues (lights, sound, actors). Maintaining the prompt book is one of my most important duties...next to keeping James in line.

Nick Sandys continues...

Now that we have got through the script a couple of times, have blocked it in one and a half days (unheard of for a Bohnen-meister production!), and tried to work it through, there comes the dreaded memorisation moment, and oh is this going to be fun--Not! Pinter's precision is so poetic, so rhythmic, that any word out of place, or the wrong word, just makes you hiccough in the line anyway. And what with the repetitions and the non-linear leaps, the next few days will feel like an inner circle of hell! Other than that elephant in the room, things are going well, I feel. If only I could actually have a night off to work on the lines and get some sleep, I would be smiling "fit to bust"! We are currently working on bringing the lightness to the menace, finding the places when a character feels in control enough to back off, to ease off the pointed digs and competition because he/she feels like they know something "dead." And of course, they are then undermined within a couple of pages. But this lightness seems really necessary for the play's humor to surface--and will counterpoint with the savage humor when people behave badly. And it is also time for us to dig deeper, to find the sub-basement to use James' words, so that the heavy emotions are accessible and rise up to haunt us. Always uncomfortable but exciting work.

We also are blessed by having a very smart young assistant director in the room, Sean, who not only gives James someone to tell stories to, but who also has a keen eye and has made several great suggestions already. He also gave me an essay on "sats," a Norwegian term for the potential energy that precedes kinetic action, a vital part of the threat bubbling under the surface of any Pinter play. The essay connects the writings of many theatre theorists and practitioners, who all agree on the necessity of this power to generate meaning for the audience and transmit intentions even when nothing is actually acted out--like watching a cat focus before it chases: you know what it is going to do, what it wants to chase and destroy. Now that is Pinter--none of that "weasel under the sideboard" rubbish!

Nick Sandys on Pinter's Old Times

Saturday April 4th--first week of rehearsal!

Okay, okay, okay, here we are, deep in the Pinterlands and I had forgotten how mind-bending it can be. I feel pretty confident nowadays about delving into a script and finding through-lines and clues to the characters inner-life, and analyzing a character's specific use of language. But then here comes Mr. Pinter and makes you realise how pathetic your toolbox really is. It is like returning to Acting 101 and finding yourself without mooring, floating along in the profoundly disturbing cesspool of his characters' inner monologues--and the waters never clear. In fact, though I usually love tablework, I found that, on this one, I was massively relieved to get up on my feet--or, in this case, slump in an armchair in the corner of the stage and watch like a hawk. Suddenly, what had appeared to be an Escher-like maelstrom of dark emotions disappearing into primeval depths became more playable, more playful, and the opportunity to drive along the surface of his brilliantly bare language provided a wonderfully simple map--once you tune in. There are still multiple hidden turnings to negotiate, but it was not as frightening, or as mentally tiring, as digging into the text and debating the multivalency of his simplest images and relationships. I begin to see sunlight through the clouds--or is that the horizon through the trees--and can appreciate the amazing skill of the writing. Now I just have to brave enough to hurl myself on board this speedboat and set course for this particular Scylla and Charybdis. But hey, I get to act opposite two gorgeous women--I need to stop complaining and smell the coffee. Ahhhh, nothing like bad rehearsal coffee to get the juices flowing!

NS

Harold Pinter...Some links to serve as a precursor to our production of Old Times

The World That Harold Pinter Unlocked by Ariel Dorfman, published in the Washington Post

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/12/26/AR2008122601359.html?wpisrc=newsletter

Harold Pinter, Playwright of the Pause, Dies at 78 by Mel Gussow and Ben Brantley, published in The New York Times

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/26/theater/26pinter.html?_r=1

An Appreciation of Harold Pinter by Charlie Rose

http://www.charlierose.com/view/interview/9889

Harold Pinter: an Appreciation by Chris Jones, published in the Chicago Tribune

http://leisureblogs.chicagotribune.com/the_theater_loop/2008/12/harold-pinter-a.html#more