Henrik Ibsen is one of the great playwrights of the modern era. "Hedda Gabler" and "The Master Builder" are masterpieces. "When we Dead Awaken" is not. While presenting it at the American Theater of Actors is an ambitious choice, the play feels very much like a victim of its time and not one that has survived the time travel to today.
In "When We Dead Awaken," we meet Rubek, a sculptor played by Sam Hardy, who fell in love with a young model (Natasha Sahs) and married another woman, played by Robin Krestul. He is bored in his marriage, bored with his wife, who is bored of him. He yearns for the model he saw naked. The wife is the virgin prototype. The model is, well, the reverse. Both, though, are more caricature then character, more archetype than actual human being.
Both are prototypes that, today, we recognize as objects of the male gaze. Relatively little, actually, happens, although there is a lot of emoting. We then meet a wild man who seems to complete the male dichotomy between artist and animal, much as the female characters do. It's caricature more than character in this world of extremes with few shades of humanity.
While "Hedda Gabler" seems to show us the slavery of monogamy from the women's point of view, it is much less interesting when told from this male perspective. The artist, not the architect, seems to lust for the young model. And at the same time, at least in this production, there are truly no sparks between him and the model and, not really much interest. There is a sense that we should be seeing passion, but not that it is there.
"When We Dead Awaken" is not entirely devoid of place, but is set in an ethereal mountainous resort region. It is possible that this play could work and, after all, it is Ibsen. But at least in this production, we can only wait for the play to end for us to waken from histrionics more than emotion. Doing the work of great playwrights can involve great risk. Kudos for taking this on, but at least I'm still waiting to wake from the sleep of a play that seems to have a very simple, and unreal, view of human nature.
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