The Sydney Theatre Company’s latest offering, Austrian playwright Thomas Bernhard’s THE HISTRIONIC, will have great appeal to theatregoers who prefer eclectic, quirky alternative theatre –set in Austria ‘somewhere on the periphery of Bohemia!’
The set design could have come from a Salvador Dali scene and includes:- an eclectic gaggle of ducks with gags of white rags, a life-size plaster spread-eagle with muzzle, a large gourd with a not so subtle phallic presence, and a huge reindeer with golden antlers. These props draw the audience into the sordid world of the Black Hart Inn, a derelict dance hall in a tiny Austrian backwater– where pigs outnumber humans!
The set-up to Austrian playwrights Thomas Bernhard’s 1984 ‘The Historionic’ sees Bruscon,- played by Billie Brown – an aging, highbrow, big city actor and his disillusioned family, who play pathetic and comical roles as his theatre troupe, in his new play “The Wheels of History.”
This performance consists of Bruscon’s abrasive, snapshot view of world history, and of his home country Austria which he describes as a ‘cultural wasteland.’ He defines himself as a ‘mensch’ who declares that ‘he can’t live without his horsehair pillow’! He espouses literary monologues attributed to Statesman Winston Churchill, delivers satirical dronings of Adolf Hitler, and presents a smorgasbord of Shakespearian characters.
Bruscon wears an askew polar-bear suit and lumbers around the stage with his wheezy asthmatic wife trailing her nebulizer and oxygen tank behind her long lank hair – Bruscon brands her a mega-hypochondriac yet the audience had sympathy for her – the victim of her spouse – the theatrical tyrant. The landlord’s wife (Kelly Butler) dons a shiny black apron shimmering with pigs blood – and spends an inordinate amount of time sharpening knives or preparing the perpetual frittata Soup – which is a local delicacy that is fed to the troupe night after night.
Bruscon is a bit of a monster…an untamed tyrant to his family – his wheezy wife and daughter with caliper and eye-patch, and son with a limp and awkwardness. Bruscon the husband, father, and actor is brutal to anyone who will get in his way…he is a complicated and unforgiving soul …everything is done for the theatrical experience – and yet, Bruscon declares that ‘theatre is for idiots’.
Bruscon’s tyranny is extended to the Landlord (played by Barry Otto) who he harasses to get permission from the Municipal Fire Authorities to extinguish the Fire Exit Signs to the dancing hall (the impromptu theatre). Bruscon’s insistence to turn off the fire exits signs sees him go off the obsessive compulsive, ‘ I am a precious artist’ Richter scale. The program notes indicate that Thomas Bernhard has based this scene on one of his own previous theatrical experiences.
The final scene where the family troupe attempts to stage the opening night performance of THE WHEEL OF HISTORY makes for great black comedy and pathos.
A joint Malthouse Theatre and Sydney Theatre Company production, Thomas Bernhard’s THE HISTRIONIC, translated by Tom Wright and directed by Daniel Schlusser, opened at Wharf 1, Sydney Theatre Company on Wednesday 20th June and plays until Saturday 28th July, 2012.
(c) David Kary
2nd July, 2012
Tags: Sydney Theatre Reviews- THE HISTRIONIC, Thomas Bernhard, Tom Wright, Wharf 1 Theatre, Sydney Theatre Company, Malthouse Theatre Company, Kelly Butler, Billie Brown, Barry Otto, Sydney Arts Guide, David Kary
