‘La Ronde’ an edgy exploration of sexuality
TROY, N.Y. » It is said that the shortest distance between two points is a straight line. That might be true for mathematicians, but for artists it is often the circle that offers more insight and provides the most fun.
That is what Brenna Geffers believes. Geffers is working with Troy Foundry Theatre to present a unique and edgy production of “La Ronde,” at the Frear House at 2nd Street, on the campus of Russell Sage College in Troy. It opens Thursday and plays through Saturday, this week and next.
“La Ronde” was controversial when written by Arthur Schnitzer in 1897. In fact, the story about 10 individuals having sexual encounters that links and connects each character over 10 scenes, was banned by the Vienna censors. It did not get a fully mounted production until 1920.
It probably will still be disturbing at Troy. Geffers hopes that if audiences are disturbed, it is for the right reasons. She says when she was first approached to direct the play she saw it as “a bodice ripper in which women were being pressured into having sex with men.” When she discovered it was legal to adapt and transform the work, she approached the material as a play about “gender, economic and sexual politics”. She explains: “I wanted to show the hypocrisy of sex and class.”
The interpretation being offered at the Frear House has the females being more in control of their lives and at times, even the aggressor in an encounter. It also includes a same sex relationship.
Ironically, the company that originally commissioned the piece declined to produce it because it included homosexuality. “It surprised, shocked and saddened me,” she says. But karma intervened. She self-produced the work and it was a major success in Philadelphia. “People loved it. It was amazing the way audiences bought into the concept,” she says.
The concept she speaks of is offering the play in a non-linear manner and in a non-theatrical environment. Geffers not only pushes boundaries with content, she is passionate about producing theater in alternative spaces. “La Ronde” is offered within rooms and stairways of the Frear House.
Scenes from the play (running in length from 8-10 minutes) will be performed simultaneously in different parts of the house. The play is structured to be linked by sexual encounters - like a whore who has an encounter with a soldier is followed by the soldier having an encounter with parlor maid and the parlor maid …. and so on. It continues in a circular manner with the chain going full circle having each charac- ter connected through sex partners.
Because of the plays circular design there is no true starting point. Therefore, in this Troy Foundry production the audience is free to start wherever they want and move next to whatever scene they might be curious about.
Indeed, in a statement sounding unusual coming from a director, she says, “You can stay in a scene as long as you want or leave and enter another scene while in progress. The experience is completely dictated by the audience. They are curators of their own experience.” However, guides and maps are available to help identify scenes and rooms in which they are available.
Geffers makes the point that ten scenes seen in a close environment not only makes for a unique and intimate theater experience, it also makes theater a more communal experience. “There is a sense of voyeurism in every theatre experience,” she says. “But take away the proscenium and you get the feeling that you are seeing stuff you’re not supposed to be seeing.” It is her sense that this sharing of the forbidden heightens the individual’s experi- ence and bonds those sharing the moment.
On a more subtle level, Geffers insists that beyond the specific pleasures experienced by seeing bold material presented in an unusual setting there are bigger themes offered. “Because the play defies linear story-telling, it allows us to see the rotations and loops that affect the characters. I hope the audience will recognize that it resembles the same loops and patterns that we get caught up with in our own lives. Life is not always a straight line.”
Geffers sees the unconventional journey of the characters as being typical of the human experience. She implies that though sex is the theme that connect the characters in “La Ronde,” the philosophical essence of the play is that though life might seem linear, it is a series of random episodes that somehow connects us all.