So far this season, DalTheatre’s graduating class has brought us a chilling tale of nuptials gone Tarantino (Blood Wedding) and a patriotic montage of romance since Canada’s founding (While We’re Young). Now it’s the third-year class’ chance to shine as they perform Arthur Schnitzler’s erotic carousel, La Ronde.
I knew that La Ronde wasn’t going to be your average DalTheatre show when my editor told me that he was being careful in choosing which photos to post with this story, “since they’re all students in their underwear.” That’s one I don’t hear often.
My interview with director (and Dal grad) Richie Wilcox confirmed La Ronde as an exercise in symmetrical salaciousness.
“The first scene has Person A and Person B,” says Mr. Wilcox, describing the play’s structure and content. “They talk, they have sex, they talk. The second scene has Person B and Person C. They talk, they have sex, they have sex, they talk…” The pattern continues until the circle is completed and closed (lending La Ronde its title).
The complexities of desire
This is rather titillating stuff for DalTheatre.
“I wouldn’t take my kids,” admits Hugh Cape, a third-year student who plays The Poet in the production. “It’s going to be something for my parents to see this.” However, the cast are adamant that Schnitzler’s roundabout is about more than sex. “It’s very complex. It doesn’t just deal with the physical level of desire,” says Erin Johnston, who plays The Actress. Â
“We’re dealing with different types of sexuality, and also sexual promiscuity,” agrees assistant director Laura MacFadyen.
The play’s sensual intimacy could be humorous for a class as tight-knit as the third years. “We have to act seductive and sort of make eyes with each other, all the while moving the furniture around,” groans Mr. Cape. However, their familiarity with each other kept genuine discomfort to a minimum. “We, as actors, have a certain level of trust,” explains Ms. Johnston.
“This class is a really great class,” agrees Ms. MacFadyen. "They’re playful and daring… we haven’t had a whole lot of awkwardness.”
Relationships and connections
“They’re really willing to take the risk,” adds Mr. Wilcox. “We’ve been trading stories about our own relationships because they really relate to these ones… Some of these relationships and connections, like it or not, are really close to our past sometimes.” Besides, he says, “There’s lots of breath mints going around.”
Taking a cue from the season’s earlier production of While We’re Young, DalTheatre has gender-swapped a few roles: The Young Miss is now The Young Man, and The Count has become The Countess. Mr. Wilcox says such choices enhance the play’s realism: to put on a show about romance and only depict heterosexual couples “would be ridiculous, in this day and age… it wouldn’t speak to many of the theatregoers, I would assume.”
Other changes to Schnitzler’s fin de siècle script include a modernized setting (DalTheatre’s production is framed with scenes from a contemporary Parisian brothel), a staging in the round (like last season’s Madwoman of Chaillot), and original music by Aaron Collier (Mr. Wilcox refers to these as “French-house-electro-compositions,” and when I look confused, offers a comparison that makes it all clear: Daft Punk.) The production has also partnered with HÂţ»â€™s Women’s Centre.
La Ronde shows February 8-11 in the David MacK. Murray Studio (Dal Arts Centre). Tickets are $14 ($7 for students) and are available from . (Edit, Feb. 9 - the run is now sold out.)
Leave the kids with a babysitter, because this is one show you don’t want to miss.