The fall Chicago theater season is in full swing–and it’s kicking out an unusually high number of shows really worth seeing. But one very bizarre quirk has emerged. If you want to see edgy, dangerous, progressive, R-rated material right now, head to the big theaters. And if you want to see hoary but repressed American classics from the 1940s or 1950s? Head to the off-Loop world.
Consider the evidence. The Goodman Theatre is producing Robert Falls’ wildly controversial “King Lear,” a dark, sardonic take on the play that is entrancing and infuriating theater-goers in what seems to be roughly equal numbers. And the Steppenwolf is doing Martin McDonagh’s “The Pillowman,” a brilliant but tough play with elliptical themes ranging from torture to artistic freedom to government oppression.
Meanwhile, the off-Loop is engaged in a veritable William Inge festival. Stellar revivals of the classic midcentury dramas “Come Back Little Sheba” (from the Shattered Globe Theatre) and “The Dark at the Top of the Stairs” (at American Theater Company) are in production. And the Griffin Theatre is exceeding expectations with its version of Sidney Kingsley’s “Dead End,” a classic social-problem drama from the 1930s.
This is all backward. The smaller theaters are supposed to be throwing rocks at the big guys–who are supposed to be in thrall to their well-heeled subscribers and inclined toward stolid productions of a conservative repertoire. Meanwhile, the off-Loop crowd is supposed to be risking its little institutions on edgy, experimental works, not emptying the library of works by the likes of Lillian Hellman or Jerome Lawrence and Robert E. Lee.
So what gives?
Steppenwolf and Goodman are currently run by people who like to take risks and tweak the establishment. And those people seem supported by those who raise the money to do so. You might expect this from Steppenwolf–given its history. But the Goodman? That’s more striking–and more out of sync with the national pattern of big regional theaters, which are growing more conservative in many other cities, not presenting a post-punk “Lear” replete with a naked Stacy Keach.
“I dug the show,” says Martha Lavey of Fall’s “King Lear.” “Bob has not lost his nerve.”
Indeed. Whatever other charges one may lob in Falls’ direction, lack of nerve is not one that could ever stick.
Meanwhile, the smaller troupes feel that they don’t have the money to take those kinds of risks–and the desire to bring in decent size audiences is making them look again at classic American dramas.
“Frankly, the likes of Goodman and Steppenwolf can do those shows because they can afford them,” says Damon Keily, the artistic director of the American Theater Company. “We don’t have that luxury.”
There are exceptions to this phenomena, of course. Next Theatre currently is taking a risk on the post-modern play “Helen” and Steppenwolf is readying “The Dairy of Anne Frank,” a familiar classic if ever there was such a thing. But the slate this fall remains contrary to conventional theatrical wisdom.
Weird as it may seen, I’d argue that the current state of play this fall indicates the remarkable health of Chicago theater.
I’d rather see Inge done by earnest, hard-working actors in intimate settings, rather than revised and pumped up beyond all recognition to fill some high-profile slot at the Goodman Theatre. David Cromer’s stellar “Little Sheba” from Shattered Globe works because it cuts away any and all excess, and gets to the bones of the play. Keily’s superb “Dark at the Top of the Stairs” soars because the show feels genuine, kind and wholly unpretentious.
And that Falls’ “Lear?” It is a jaw-dropper because its conceptual world is so fully realized and all enveloping. Had there been insufficient resources at Falls’ disposal, the whole idea would have crashed and burned.
Anyway, you could make a very good case that the theaters taking the big risks in a city should be the ones that can most afford to fail.
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cjones5@tribune.com
