KASPAR. To 23 July.
London
KASPAR
by Peter Handke translated by Michael Roloff
Rosemary Branch Theatre To 23 July 2005
Tue-Fri 7.30pm Sat & Sun 6pm
Runs 1hr 30min One interval
TICKETS: 020 7704 6665 (24 hr)
Review: Timothy Ramsden 10 July
Human experience in a little room.Peter Handke's plays are the opposite of chummy English realism, presenting images for interpretation and language that provokes implications rather than stating situations. Yet Kaspar is based in real-life. In 1828 16-year old Kaspar Hauser was found wandering Nuremburg's Streets. He had been brought up in isolation, having no awareness of other people and uttering only one sentence, something like, I want to be a rider like my father.
Handke generalises this to, I want to be someone like somebody else once was. In a room deprived of historical context Handke's Kaspar explores how a young adult brain could explore the onset of language and how this influences the sense of self and surrounds. At first, prompted by voices of which Kaspar can make little, his generalisations are childlike. When a wardrobe-door swings open and hits him, a wardrobe-door' becomes the name for anything that hurts.
Then Kaspar applies such generalisations to abstract qualities such as Freedom. Language develops the sense of self, and order as Kaspar sets table and chairs aright. Acquisition overcomes danger: what I possess I need not fear.
James Perkins' set repeats 3D furniture as chaotic 2D wall drawings; meanwhile this sense of social and moral being form new dimensions in Kaspar's experience. Including the 4th dimension, time - awareness of the past and a sense of purpose arriving with the past's extension into the future.
Meanwhile being alive is never simple shadow Kaspars who have supported or obstructed him join to become a chorus with the previously unseen vocal Prompters, a line-up of couch-potatoes cacophonously mocking or counterpointing his mental journey. A puppet Kaspar is set on a sofa, or stood behind the bars of a chair, as if imprisoned, liberation and confinement being twin perceptions of life.
Will Strange offers a range of expression: childhood wonder, fear, moments of aggression. There's some vocal variety though the voice edges towards higher pitches, leaving aural room for more overall sense of growth in perception of the world. Still, Gillian Foley's production for Blank Designs theatre company is a sympathetic exploration of Handke's rarely seen, satisfyingly complex piece.
Kaspar: Will Strange
Prompter I: Zena Birch
Prompter II: Phillipa Leon
Duplicate Kaspar I: Louisa-Tarnia Smith
Duplicate Kaspar II: Dani Machancoses
Director: Gillian Foley
Designer: James Perkins
Lighting: Sally Ferguson
Sound: Orson Bromley
Composers: Dani Machancoses, Phillipa Leon
2005-07-13 07:56:14