by Hélène Cixous at La Mama, April 30 until
May 14, 2000
Bookings: 9347 6142
Reviewer: Kate Herbert
The directorial works of Laurence Strangio are always a
treat at La Mama. He takes complex, poetic texts, generally by French women,
and stages them in abstract, deceptively simple form.
After tackling pieces by Marguerite Duras and recently
Margaret Atwood's Alias Grace, Strangio stages Portrait of Dora. This is a
chamber piece by Hélène Cixous, a French theorist and playwright who wrote for
Ariane Mnouchkine's Companie Theatre du
Soleil.
Strangio casts carefully, employing intelligent actors who
penetrate the dense, psycho-analytical text of Cixous. This intensely
intellectual play is based on Dora, an 18 year old "hysteric" treated
by Sigmund Freud during 1899. It focuses on Dora's relationships with Freud,
(Richard Bligh) her father (Bruce Kerr ) and Mr. and Mrs. K (Peter Finlay,
Natasha Herbert), Dora's neighbours in Vienna.
Dora (Caroline Lee) reveals her dreams, fears and desires to
Freud until she announces, on the first day of the 20th century,
that she will not return.
But can we believe her stories? She accuses Mr. K of
attempting to seduce her by a lake on a family holiday. She says her father has
a long-standing affair with the glamorous Mr. K, that she herself idolises Mrs.
K but resents the affair.
Strangio avoids naturalism like the plague, as does Cixous.
He seats all five characters around a large metallic table. They slip in and
out of light and in and out of each other's realities. Episodes, dreams, and
time periods dissolve and merge. It is enhanced by wonderful lighting (Paul
Jackson) and soundscape (Roger Alsop).
There is a sense of a
mystery unfolding as Dora reveals snippets of her psyche through memories and
dreams. There is a mesmerising atmosphere that is Strangio's trademark although
the piece is peculiarly emotionally unengaging.
In a contemporary context, we must question Freud's capacity
to understand this young woman. He feels obliged to lay his patterns of psycho-analysis
over her complex and muddy neurosis.
The performances are excellent. Lee, manages to play the
complexity of Dora, who is fragile, mean-mouthed, manipulative and often
dislikeable child-woman. Bligh captures the quality of outsider/voyeur in Freud
and Kerr portrays the dignity of Dora's father. Finlay uses his haunting voice
and impeccable timing to great effect and Herbert is luminous and ethereal as
Mrs. K.
But please, stop smoking on stage. It is distressing in an
unventilated environment.
by Kate Herbert
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