Theatrical Striptease

We went to Berkeley Rep this evening, "we" being Debbie and I, joined by Lori Selke and Steven Schwartz, as well as Kimberly and Shannon Appelcline. Tonight's play was Fräulein Else, "translated and adapted" by Francesca Faridany from the novella by Arthur Schnitzler, part of Berkeley Rep's more experimental and adventurous Parallel Season.

When Scott Marley commented on Suddenly Last Summer, Berkeley Rep's current Main Stage production, he described what he called the Striptease, the slow buildup of suspense in advance of some revelation or event as a means of holding the audience's interest. Early in Fräulein Else, we become aware that we are watching such a striptease. Else, a nineteen-year-old guest at a resort in the Alps, played by the playwright, is anxiously awaiting a special-delivery letter from her mother. There is a delay, and she is frustrated — and then she postpones reading it, and her reading is drawn out, and it takes a while for the truth to be told and Else's predicament to be revealed.

Scott warns that such stripteases must not be drawn out too long, lest even the most stunning revelation be reduced to anticlimax. This was not a problem here; I felt like I had recognized the dramatic device without having been abused by it.

Then, to my surprise, the process repeated itself, both as a critical metaphor and as an actual striptease! At the play's climax approaches, the audience is tormented with the question of "Will she do it? And what precisely will she do?" And then she does, in a manner surprisingly different from what we are led to fear, tear her robe off and walk naked on the stage, provoking sudden chaos among the other characters.

Schnitzler was one of the pioneers of writing the stream of consciousness, and Faridany's adaptation conveys this phenomenally well. It's a tour-de-force of writing and performing, backed by excellent direction and set design. It's the first fully satisfying performance in Berkeley Rep's 2002-03 season.

Kimberly Appelcline had her reaction to the play up on her LiveJournal before I even began my own blog entry; but Debbie and I had the oh-so-onerous task of entertaining Steve and Lori afterwards. (Don't throw me in that briar patch!)