FringeNYC 2013: Waiting For Pessoa
Is death a dream? Loosely based upon Fernando Pessoa's text THE MARINER, with original danse macabre choreography and music, three people watch and wait beside a coffin by the sea. What are they waiting for? What is anyone waiting for?
Official production websiteShow details/ticketing at FringeNYC
Review by Ed Malin · August 9, 2013
This theatrical event by Eileen Fischer is based on the work of Fernando Pessoa, a writer in early 20th Century Lisbon. A shy person, his brilliance came to light when it was later realized that pieces of fiction published under seventy or so pen names (or "heteronyms") were all by Pessoa. If this sounds a little like Kierkegaard, another similarity is a tone of ambiguous, existential humanism. But from there, you're on your own as you enter the confrontational world of the 100 year-old theater piece "The Mariner" written by Pessoa and adapted by Eileen Fischer.
Three watchers wearing whiteface (unnamed, portrayed by Patricia Dodd, John Sannuto, and Basil Horn) sit before a coffin ringed by glowing candles. They have beautiful things to say, but their attempts to connect are anticlimactic. "Every action interrupts a dream" is one gem, shortly followed by "your words remind me of my soul, perhaps because they're not true." Awkward lighting changes and and jarring music slice into the dialogue. The saving grace for these characters--and the innovation over the original script, plus the fact that the three watchers are no longer sisters--is Alvaro de Campos (Shawn E. Lockaton) who was one of Pessoa's heteronyms. He enters the play through some almighty voiceovers, then speaks with the others about Pessoa, who he believes is a separate person. Death is kept at bay, at least for those outside the coffin. There is even some dancing.
It's difficult to talk about plot or acting here. As a commentary on reality and creator vs. created, it's quite nice. Perhaps it's easy to understand how such extreme modernism came out of Portugal, whose monarchy had just been removed and was at a midpoint in its recent 200 years of decline. The show is nominally about mariners, wherein people have waves in their souls and train themselves to look only for the appearance of change. Writer Eileen Fischer has added an extra layer to a work that was already heavy-meta, and Director John Sannuto has tried to make it funny.
Preview: Interviews with Artists from Waiting For Pessoa
We're asking artists from each show to answer questions about themselves and their work to help our readers get a detailed advance picture of the festival:
The Five W's · John Sannuto (Director)
- Who are your favorite directors?
Not applicable - What's your favorite pastime when you’re not working on a play?
Not applicable - Where did you get your training in theater?
Not applicable - When did you know you wanted to work in the theater, and why?
Not applicable - Why did you want to direct this show?
I wanted to direct this show because I loved what the text had to say about life, death, what is illusion and what is reality. And I was also intrigued by the use of original music and danse macabre elements of the play. What is more, the sea plays an important role in Waiting For Pessoa and the play draws us into its dreamy ambiance and its reflective nature of its possibly destructive or possibly transcendent forces.
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