"THE MASTER BUILDER," Keyhole Players at the Josephinum
BY LUCIA MAURO
As its name suggests, intimacy and the idea of gazing into the essence of a story guide Keyhole Players’ aesthetic. And adapter/director Frank Merle can be commended for his small-scale version of Henrik Ibsen’s towering drama, "The Master Builder" – now playing at a keyhole of a space in a classroom at the Josephinum School in Wicker Park. The running time is surprisingly under 90 minutes, and it’s clear that Merle set out to condense the story to its core of career ambition at the expense of inner peace.
But, my love of crisp editing aside, I found this adaptation to chop away too many crucial layers and nuances. The supporting characters become metaphoric beams upon which the central architect erects his egomaniacal empire – and, therefore, they quickly slip into types or devices.
"The Master Builder," among Ibsen’s late 19th-century canon of dramas exploring the rigidity of Norwegian social mores and the bars people place around their obligation-sagging lives, centers on the title aging builder Harvald Solness (Americanized here to Harold). He is terrified of relinquishing his successful career to more youthful creative minds, which represent the next generation.
A womanizer and paranoid schemer, Harold turns a blind and cruel eye to his responsibility-laden wife Arlene, still distraught and deadened over the loss of their twin sons in a fire 12 years earlier. It was the fire, which destroyed an entire side of town and led to Harold’s rise to prominence as an architect. Consumed by guilt and an odd lack of remorse, he goes on to slow the career of his talented apprentice Roger by offering him no encouragement, even as the young man’s father, Ken Brovik, lay dying in wait of a sign that his son is a success. Harold also engages in an affair with his secretary and Roger’s fiancee, Kara, just to keep Roger within his reach.
When an attractive woman, Heidi, from Harold’s past reappears to claim "the kingdom" he once insincerely promised her, he begins to discover the worth of his life – at the same time she brings on his destruction. The master builder, a man at the top of his professional game, suffers from a debilitating fear of heights: his downfall (and, strangely, his spiritual salvation).
In his efforts to pare down the play, Merle also re-sets it in 1920s Chicago – hence the characters’ Anglicized names. But there’s little in the script or staging to suggest that it is indeed Jazz Age Chicago. Moreover, the adapter never establishes why this time period or place would add any new dimensions to Ibsen’s timeless yet geographically specific drama. There could be a connection to the Great Chicago Fire, but that parallel is not evident.
Plus all the action takes place in Harold’s home-studio, with its drafting tables and blue prints – the location could be Norway or New York. And the costumes only vaguely suggest that era.
As much as Keyhole Players aims to shave classic works down to their essential themes, they fall into the uneasy trap of having these familiar characters tell their plights more than show them. Harold’s wife hammers home the idea of responsibility so much that she could easily have the word scrawled across her forehead. Harold’s ties to Heidi consist of long, tension-robbing conversational scenes that lack a believable arc. Roger and Kara recede into the background, as do other supporting roles. When Harold insists on participating in the doomed wreath-hanging ceremony, the predictable conclusion has an anticlimactic ring to it.
While condensing the story, Merle must remain attuned to preserving the subtle complexities and dimensions of the characters. Otherwise, we’re left with a shell, rather than the emotional core, of the drama. I believe that Keyhole Players could have tackled the "The Master Builder" in its original form without updating or relocating the story. Its themes -- personal choice and responsibility -- resonate eternally.
Considering the stage, which looks as small as a train’s sleeper compartment, the actors move with grace and conviction. Ed Keller as Harold – a man who even believes he can will his own destiny – delivers the most confident performance. In fact, his Harold (appropriately) seems to be in his own contemporary play, and he is relentless in his anguished drive and befuddlement. We can somehow sympathize with his misguided megalomania. Mary Bliss Mather as Harold’s embittered wife Arlene remains a measured presence with intermittent flashes of fire and tenderness.
The rest of the cast turns in capable but tentative performances – creating an imbalance of stiff detachment and deeply human and messy vulnerability (as conveyed by Keller). As the opportunistic Heidi, Dominica Wasilewska vacillates between an admirer who’s off her rocker to Harold’s mature confidante – never once varying her tone. Marie Hamel makes Kara more perky and snippy than smitten and confused.
The space certainly poses its share of challenges – including industrial-volume door slams that echo through the small classroom setting. And the tragedy diminishes to microscopic proportions instead of reverberating with quiet, epic truths. With Ibsen, we need to experience the elegant unraveling of these neat, tidy lives that cling to what they believe to be self-preserving obligation. Here they merely flail about in ennui and regret.•
Keyhole Players’ production of "The Master Builder" runs through March 23 at the Josephinum, 1501 N. Oakley Blvd. Tickets: $5-$10. Call 773-525-3683 or log onto www.keyholeplayers.homestead.com.
