Foundry’s ‘Carnivale’ challenging, flawed
Among the remarkable things about Troy Foundry Theatre is how the company, which has been performing work for less than a year, exploded into existence with its aesthetic fully formed. You wouldn’t mistake a Foundry production for any other, and that’s not just because it uses many of the same core group of actors and directors. As was evident right from its first show last fall, an evening of six Harold Pinter plays organized thematically to explore the abuses of totalitarian regimes, the Foundry company is the product of like-minded creative contributors who bring diverse talents and viewpoints to a unified vision.
The first production of Foundry’s 2018-19 season continues its practice of using nontraditional theater spaces, in this case the historic Troy Gasholder Building. A round brick structure with a dirt floor and voluminous interior that echoes with the slightest sound, the building is home this weekend and next to Foundry’s “Catastrophe Carnivale: An Evening of Beckett Shorts.”
As with the Pinter plays, Foundry uses creative editing to organize the material. At the center of “Catastrophe,” structurally and literally, is “Krapp’s Last Tape,” the longest of the six pieces that comprise the production. Broken into four sections, it takes place in the middle of the Gasholder floor, with the other five works performed in separate, small, plastic-tarped areas around the perimeter of the room that evoke sideshow attractions. Each of the smaller pieces, fronted by characters including a strongman and a bearded lady, is performed three times, with the audience returning to watch another segment of “Krapp’s Last Tape” before choosing another tent to visit.
Once again, as it did with its production of “La Ronde” in spring, Foundry makes it impossible for the audience to see every individual piece. Besides “Krapp’s,” there are five others but only three performance opportunities, so while you will overhear parts from each of the pieces, you’ll won’t see all. This is an artistic choice on Foundry’s part, and I suppose it could be interpreted as a way of putting the responsibility on the audience for the experience they have, but, much like “La Ronde,” you still leave feeling like you’ve missed out on something.
The fragmented, movearound nature of “Catastrophe” also has the presumably unintended effect diminishing what is usually the accumulating
power of “Krapp’s Last Tape,” with estimable area actor John Romeo assaying a role that has drawn raves for the likes of Patrick Magee, for whom it was written, Michael Gambon and John Hurt. (Pinter even gave it a whirl.) The title character is also the sole character, a 69-year-old man reflecting on his life by listening to diary-like recordings he made 30 years earlier. By breaking up “Krapp’s Last Tape,” director David Girard, also a co-founder of Troy Foundry Theatre, weakens the work, which, when seen straight through, as in Hurt’s performance in the 2001 DVD box set “Beckett on Film,” normally has much stronger impact than it does here.
The other works in “Catastrophe Carnivale,” performed by a cast totaling 18, are “Act Without Words II,” directed by Brenna Geffers; “Come and Go,” directed by Liz Carlson-guerin; “Play,” directed by Katie Pedro; “Catastrophe,” by David Baecker; and “Act Without Words I.” Individually, at least for the three I saw, each impresses for the commitment of the actors, the director’s particular contribution to the evening as a whole and the mounting sense of dread that comes from seeing a bunch of Beckett plays in quick succession.
Troy Foundry Theatre has quickly established that it’s good at this sort of thing — hitting us hard with bleak, pessimistic, even nihilistic glimpses of an unpleasant world. So far, though, the company also feels like a writing prodigy who keeps turning out similar, and similarly powerful, short stories. At some point soon, you want to see what they can do with a big fat novel.