What a delicious premise. What a delightful prospect. Robert Lepage, an authentic genius of contemporary theater, conceives, directs and presents the world premiere of a production based on the life of Frank Lloyd Wright, an authentic genius of 20th Century architecture.
A tremendous idea. But anyone expecting a straight biographical drama covering Wright’s life and career will be badly disappointed. Lepage, the French-Canadian artist who bases his Ex Machina company in Quebec City, is a great theater imagist. His works–such as the two-part masterpiece of 20th Century history, “The Seven Streams of the River Ota”–do not proceed in linear fashion. They evoke, rather than demonstrate. They illustrate, rather than explain. And they often evolve over time, so that the 3 1/2-hour premiere here of “Geometry of Miracles,” as the Wright piece is called, almost certainly is not the finished version.
Wright, in fact, is not even the central figure in this drama. He is a spectral presence, his personality defined by his characteristic porkpie hat, flowing cape and cane, but usually seen with his back to the audience.
His third wife, Olgivanna, is much more the chief character. In a rainswept funeral scene, it is she who dips into her husband’s coffin, pulls out his hat, cane and coat and symbolically assumes the mantle of the great man. And it is Olgivanna, portrayed by Lepage’s longtime collaborator Marie Brassard, who forms the bridge between Wright and another major figure in the play, the Russian guru of self-knowledge, George I. Gurdjieff (1866-1949).
Olgivanna had come under Gurdjieff’s influence in Paris, and she brought his teachings, linking the wisdom of the East with the energy of the West, to Wright, creating a link between the two men.
The delicate relationship of master to disciple, of teacher to school, interests Lepage, and it makes up a great deal of “Geometry’s” content. This is understandable, since Lepage, himself, works with a tightly knit school of actors who form their works through long exploratory sessions of improvisation.
Beyond that, “Geometry” becomes a vibrant work of theater when Lepage and company develop some inspired riffs on the nature of Wright’s and Gurdjieff’s creativity.
There are letdowns, including a wobbly, play-ending scene in a gay disco that borders on self-indulgence; but there also are some stunning, absolutely brilliant moments of revelation.
For example, as Gurdjieff speaks of the quest for inner calm and knowledge, a giant eye, like a crystal ball, slowly revolves in front of him.
Other bits have little overt connection to Wright or Gurdjieff, but they’re sensational anyway. To depict the stock market crash of 1929, Lepage shows a group of men screaming numbers, as in a trading pit. Slowly, however, their voices grow softer, their frantic actions subside. They strip themselves of their business suits, and stagger naked across the finely crushed rock of the stage floor to the dark void of the back of the stage.
In at least one instance, there’s a marvelous metaphor for a specific work of Wright’s architecture. It begins with Kevin McCoy (a former Chicagoan associated with Lifeline Theatre) as Herbert Johnson, of the Johnson Wax company, tap-dancing a letter to his secretary about the new office building he plans in Racine, Wis.
The scene then shifts to a dinner at Wright’s home, where the rat-a-tat-tat businessman Johnson is confounded by the architect’s vision for the building. All of a sudden, however, Wright’s students neatly place dishes on top of the flared wine glasses, and, in an instant, there, in miniature, are the famous toadstool columns of the great work room of the Johnson Wax building.
Still unconvinced, Johnson stares at the table while the students explain to him the architectural principals of Wright’s creation. The students begin a ritualistic dance. Johnson rises from the table, and, gradually, his frenetic tap-dancing slows down to merge with their calm, serene movements. A union of minds and bodies has been reached. The Johnson Wax building is on its way.
Moments such as these more than make up for the stretches of doldrums in “Geometry of Miracles.” Having completed its run at the World Stage of Toronto’s Harbourfront Centre, the play now moves on to a long touring schedule. By the time Lepage and company have refined their work, and “Geometry” has come to the end of that road, it may indeed be another miracle.
