Upstream Theater is pretty much a sure bet for theater-goers who want something different. Their current offering, Wittenberg, described as “a tragical-comical-historical play”, is full of the high-verbal work that often graces their shows.
It would have to be high verbal, given that the main characters are Martin Luther, Faustus and Hamlet, all converging on a college campus in the town of Wittenberg - which must have been quite a happening spot - in the fall semester of 1517. Intellectual Fencing R Us, yes? Hamlet, a returning senior who has yet to declare a major, is being wooed into philosophy, mayhap a nice graduate program, by Dr. Faustus, since the kid seems to be the sort of person who ponders and ponders his options, just the right temperament for a budding philosopher. But a professor of theology, the Augustinian priest Martin Luther has his eye on the lad, and the lad’s eternal soul.
The fact is that Luther and Faustus have been colleagues, intellectual jousting partners and, indeed, drinking buddies for years. Faustus is brought to us in the person of Steve Isom. He’s an ebullient charmer, a long-time bachelor who, as a side note, has decided to propose to his lady love. Luther, courtesy of Alan Knoll, lapses into irascibility at any excuse, and frets at fruitless length about the spiritual health of Faustus, just one of a long list of his complaints and concerns. Those range from the sale of indulgences in the Catholic Church to the state of his own peristalsis. Knoll less than two months ago was playing God at another theater in town; is there a pattern emerging here?
Hamlet is Casey Boland, just coming back to school after a summer term in Poland studying astronomy with Copernicus. Copernicus has just posited that the earth actually revolves around the sun, which has the young scholar all a-twitch. Both these learned men are fond of him, and he’s got plenty of options ahead of him – he thinks.
It’s all about wit, both mental agility and humor, and we get plenty of both here. Some of the speeches, particularly of Hamlet, run a tad long, coming perilously close to what would in the 21st Century be called a rant, but mostly it’s good fun and a pleasure to try to keep up with.
Isom and Knoll are both romping through this, showcasing their abilities with timing and delivery. Boland plays wide-eyed enthusiastic idealism with verve. The fourth member of the cast, Caitlin Mickey, quadruples in brass as the Virgin Mary, a bierhall server, an ambassador and the object of Faustus’ affection, an ex-nun who is not quite so honored by the great man’s attention as one might expect. (This is not, we hasten to add, the ex-nun whom Luther married after the time period of the play.)
Phillip Boehm, Upstream’s artistic director and the director here, keeps things moving at a fine clip. Michael Heil’s imaginative set is charming, and Laura Hanson’s costumes, especially the wondrous headgear of Luther and the swellegant coat of Faustus are enthralling. Boehm did his own sound design, and Steve Carmichael is responsible for the lighting.
Who needs sword fights when the brains are the sharpest around?
Wittenberg
through February 10
Upstream Theater
The Kranzberg Arts Center
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