“Family Drama: Two Norwegian Plays” with Akvavit Theatre

Akvavit Theatre has launched its 2019-20 season with a double bill production. Called FAMILY DRAMA: TWO NORWEGIAN PLAYS, the first half of the evening was The Returning directed by Lee Peters and and the second was Goliath directed by Kirstin Franklin. Both scripts have been translated into English, but unfortunately the different acts tackled the heightened syntax, dark humor, and hidden secrets differently. Merely from listening to the words, one could tell that English wasn’t the original language that it was written in; sometimes it was because of literal translations of sentences that should have been adapted to a phrase that is common to the socioeconomic class of the characters saying it, and other times it was unintended double-entendres. This re-interpretation of the oddly formal language was not handled well in the first act The Returning, but was used in an inventive and successful way in the second act, Goliath.

The evening began with The Returning, written by Fredrik Brattberg, which told the story of an aging couple played by Christpher Donaldson and Karla A. Rennhofer, who kept on having to start their lives over again when their son Gustav, played by Daniel Stewart, would disappear for months on end, only to return. The script analyzed how many times a family tragedy can happen until the flesh becomes too scarred and calloused to bleed again. However, the translation was too formal for the setting of a middle-class family, with actors having to call out lines like “Oh, how we cried for you,” and repeated pleas of “Yes, do that. Do that, do that now.” Peters tried to direct style, switching from drama to dark comedy as the first act unfolded. The problem with that is that material can be written in a style, but a style cannot be performed. The material must be performed honestly for the style to come through, and style cannot be laid on top of material that is made of another cloth. 

The three actors were tentative of ramping up to the emotional explosions, and allowed for too much space in between the dialogue, which made all of the emotional upheavals seem like failures to launch. Lastly, we never learned what the son’s secret was, which is unneeded. But it wasn’t clear that the production had decided what the secret was. Characters can be lost onstage, but the actors themselves cannot be. 

The second half of the evening was drastically more focused and confident, with Goliath, written by Maria Tryti Vennerød. This retelling of the story followed the biblical family as the matriarch, Borgny (Kelly Levander), approached her birthday as well as the birth of a new daughter, Anette (Madelyn Loehr). The reunion of her two sons, David (Samuel Pate) and Goliath (Jordan McGinnis) and the reawakening of all of the festering bitterness and unease made her doubt if she wanted to bring another human being into a world where families can go from loving one another to murdering one another. Even though Anette was yet to be born, Loehr pranced about the stage as a representation of a being yet to be, spouting out cryptic poetry eloquently and yet with a skilled sense of grounding. 

Levander as the mother gave logic and self-awareness to a befuddling character (for who among us actually make sense to ourselves?) Truly, it was delightful to watch Levander’s intelligent eyes sparkle as she tried to fit the puzzle pieces of the family dynamic together. Pate and McGinnis complimented each other beautifully, with Pate’s deadpan comedy aiding David’s subtly manipulation as well as masking his greatest fears, and McGinnis’ raw energy endearing his plight to the audience as the son that was cast aside but also spurring him to teeter on the edge of destruction. The two actors performed a sequence of violence stunningly choreographed by R&D Choreography. 

Director Franklin used the heightened language of the translated words to the aid of the actors and the story, creating a high class family that used the stilted sentences and odd interjections to mask their insecurities. Added lighting and music shifts supplied by Tony Adams and Timothy McNulty, respectively, highlighted the fourth walls that were broken. These moments were pristinely and finely chosen by Franklin in Goliath, but seemed muddied in The Returning. 

It is difficult to say whether you should attend this production. The translated language of one production aided the performance, and it detracted from the other. If Goliath were playing by itself, I would implore you to go see it. If The Returning could be edited again with an eye and ear for natural English cadences, I would say go see it too. But as these two acts are in the same evening and on the same bill for the ticket price, audience members need to ask themselves if they would be willing to sit through the halting and jerking The Returning to get to see the curiously whimsical and delightfully bizarre Goliath. 

FAMILY DRAMA: TWO NORWEGIAN PLAYS performs at Rivendell Theatre, 5779 N. Ridge Ave, Chicago, IL. The two one-acts presented in partnership with the International Voices Project Tickets are currently available at www.chicagonordic.org. WARNING: both acts contain physical presentations of violence. The performance is two hours and fifteen minutes long, including a fifteen minute intermission. Performances are on Thursdays, Fridays, and Saturdays at 8 pm, and Sundays at 3 pm. Tickets are $25 with students/seniors/industry tickets available for $15. FAMILY DRAMA: TWO NORWEGIAN PLAYS is currently running and closes on October 13th. 

Somewhat Recommended 

Sophie Vitello