The Wild Duck
The consequences of unbridled truth-telling come to rock the world of one family in Henrik Ibsen’s classic morality play The Wild Duck, which is currently being presented in a savvy new translation by Hyde Park’s Court Theatre at the Museum of Contemporary Art.
Gregers Werle (Jay Whitaker) is the frustrated son of wealth and privilege, taking it upon himself to lead his old friend, the naïvely happy inventor of nothing Hialmar Ekdal (deeply portrayed by Kevin Gudahl), towards a double-sucker-punch of tragic, emasculating truths. Gregers’ assumption is that the most honest of lives must surely be the most worthwhile, no matter how deep certain delusions have come to structure one’s personal foundation.
When Gregers takes up residence in the basement of the Ekdal home - where Hialmar lives with his practical wife Gina (the fantastic Mary Beth Fisher), starry-eyed teenage daughter Hedvig (Laura Scheinbaum) and disgraced lieutenant father (Maury Cooper) - his truth-above-all philosophy quickly unearths multiple crises of members of the Ekdal household.
Meanwhile, a fanciful, unseen world of game lives literally over the family’s heads; numerous animals (including the allusive wild duck) reside in the attic, providing them plenty of whimsical distraction and a fitting terrain for the projection of stifled dreams.
"The Wild Duck" deals with how ideals eclipse delusions, and how lies underscore entire lives; and director Charles Newell’s staging of the work (with the assistance of scenic designer Leigh Breslau) ingeniously mirrors the concept.
Richard Nelson’s contemporary, subtly hilarious translation provides the actors with rich material, and their collective performances do not disappoint. As the inaugural project for the Court Theatre’s Barbara E Franke Commissioning Program for New Classics, "which seeks to create new adaptations and translations of classic texts for the stage," "The Wild Duck" is a terrific success.
Court Theatre’s production of The Wild Duck, is now at the MCA Stage (located at 220 E. Chicago Avenue), with performances weekly performances Wednesday-Sunday now until February 15, 2009. For more information visit the Court Theatre website.
