By Catherine Siggins
Call me crazy, but I think it’s more then just coincidence that four days after Odyssey Theatre opens their production of Eugene O’Neill’s expressionist play “The Hairy Ape”, Pope Francis goes all High Sparrow at his morning mass, condemning the “theology of prosperity”, saying employers who use the poor for their enrichment are “bloodsuckers”.
One can most definitely say that this 1922 play, about man’s dehumanization by modern industry and the privileged classes, seems very contemporary and relevant in our current economic and political times, which resembles a slow slide back to the financial and social inequality of the early 20th century.
“The Hairy Ape” tells the story of Robert “Yank” Smith, an uncouth coal-stoker, a runaway raised on brutality, who finds belonging in the bowels of a streamliner, where he is king, the strongest of his co-workers, made up of immigrants, including an English socialist, intent on defending workers rights. However, he is made to question his value as a human being by the arrival of an “angel” in the form of Mildred, the ship-owners privileged daughter, who calls him a “filthy beast”. Becoming conscious to the reality of his existence, he embarks on a quest in the streets of Manhattan to seek revenge, and to reaffirm his place in the world. Sadly, all he finds is exclusion, suffering, and ultimately an ironic death.
It makes perfect sense that this production should be directed by award-winning British writer/actor/director, Steven Berkoff, returning for the third time to direct at the Odyssey. In an interview with The Irish Times in 2014, he said in the past that he has been kept outside of the RSC and National for years, and no doubt this exclusion from these national institutions, and constant feelings of being an outsider forging his own path, is echoed by O’Neill’s protagonist, Yank.
In this production, Berkoff does what he does best, adhering to his artistic philosophy that “everything in [his] art must be created from the body onwards”. The focus remains on his ensemble of actors, so there is minimal set and lighting design, and it is up to the cast to physically communicate the location and emotion of the play. A lot is asked physically and vocally of the cast; from the sheer athleticism of the brawling coal-stokers, recreating the physical behavior of primates, to the stylized movement of the 5th avenue swells; which the whole cast does with great success. They are rhythmically accompanied by percussionist Will Mahood, to emphasize moments of action and tension, much like a hayashi in Japanese Kabuki.
Yank, played with gut busting energy by Hailé D’Alan, resembles every inch a brawler, though at times I found O’Neill’s vivid language and ideas were getting lost as the focus is so strongly on the physical. Dennis Gersten gives a funny and affecting performance as Paddy, the eldest of the coal-stokers. The scene where he remembers his youth on the sailboats of old was one of the most moving in the play, aided by Berkoff’s mesmerizing staging. Katy Davis and Jennifer Taub achieve stratospherically refined airs in their uber-heightened delivery as Mildred and her Aunt. In short, the whole ensemble cast certainly proves that in this production they are “de ting in gold dat makes it money!”
THE HAIRY APE performances through July 17, 2016. Running time: 1 hour 40 minutes, with 15-minute intermission.
The Odyssey Theatre is located at 2055 South Sepulveda Blvd. Box office 310 477-2055 ext. 2. Or email boxoffice@odysseytheatre.com
Caption: Hailé D’Alan and Jeremiah O’Brian in The Hairy Ape at the Odyssey
