FRINGE 2019: Jesus battles Satan in convoluted adventure
THE MASTER AND MARGARITA: the remix
Stage 35 (La Cite Francophone Theatre)
Seattle’s innovative company Theatre Simple has been bringing challenging theatre to the Fringe for many years. Think Escher’s Hands and The Caucasian Chalk Circle. Not just content to present original text, their work features imaginative movement and creativity and put their own unique stamp on everything they touch.
Their latest offering, THE MASTER & MARGARITA: the remix (last seen here 22 years ago), is adapted and modernized from Russian author Mikhail Bulgakov’s novel of the same name. Written in 1928, the work was heavily censured, not surprising in that it featured in officially Atheist Russia both the Devil and Jesus Christ.
The play has elements of the supernatural, magic realism, dark comedy, Christian philosophy – not to mention vaudevillian pranks, multiple story lines, a human sized cat, copious nudity and live music. THE MASTER & MARGARITA is red meat for Theatre Simple’s gonzo style of production.
The play is set in 1930 in a Moscow that seems a bustle with culture and creativity. A writer – known as The Master (Teague M. Parker) – is writing a novel about Jesus and Pontius Pilate (played as supremely grumpy by Llysa Holland). The Devil (Monique Kleinhans) turns up with Behemoth, her giant cat (Nathan Brockett). Satan is trying to come up with a hostess for the Devil’s Ball. Just everyone is going to be at the infernal soiree – including Caligula, Lucrezia Borgia and Lizzie Borden. Satan enlists Margarita (Jennifer Faulkner), who is having an affair with The Master – before he goes mad and ends up in an asylum. Margarita devises a Fustian bargain with the Devil: she must turn invisible, get nude and fly over Moscow, leading all to the fiendish party.
The plot is much more convoluted than that but with its endless low-rent (but highly effective) technical alchemy, breathless invention and relentless drive, the show doesn’t stop long enough for you to savour its intellectual challenges. The theatrically savvy troupe features a dexterous five-actor ensemble (along with real live onstage musicians) through multiple intersecting story lines, and populates them with some 30 characters.
The cast tries to keep the human element central, but sometimes gets lost in the many characters and convoluted plot.
4 out of 5
