”The Triumph of the Spider Monkey” is writer Joyce Carol Oates` creepy tale of a musician, maniac and murderer named Bobbie Gotteson. First produced in 1979, Oates` stark script calls for Bobbie to sing as well as kill. That`s where the Different Drummer Music Theatre comes in.
Directed by Peter Forster, this free-form adaptation of Oates` puzzle play boasts original music by William Underwood. In highly varied songs (jazz, country and rock-flavored), Underwood seeks to capture the free-association frenzy of this very disturbed Gotteson and tries to find a musical equivalent for murder.
Beyond investigating the murderer`s psychology through gruesome flashbacks, Oates` treatment also examines society`s presumed insanity. Its two halves pit two arguments against each other: The first act, set in Bobbie`s mind, portrays the murderer as an essentially innocent victim of a crazed society-but in the second act murder trial, we`re back in the real world, finally glimpsing Bobbie`s (true?) killer mentality.
Underwood`s score signals the division. The composer provides no music in the second act until its end. The first act, however, is where, according to Underwood, ”anything can happen in Gotteson`s mind. To depict the people around Bobbie I tried to capitalize on as many musical styles as possible and then contrast those with what I thought was Bobbie`s style of song.” If it works, the tension will be as profoundly unsettling as if you suddenly found yourself stuck in the brain of Bobbie Gotteson.
(Pictured here, with his accusers, is Mitchell Lester as Gotteson.)
”Triumph” plays through Nov. 29 at the Theatre Building, 1225 W. Belmont Ave.; 327-5252.
