David Gordon’s
Uncivil Wars, an adaptation of Brecht & Eisler’s
Roundheads and Pointyheads played at the Walker this weekend. I saw it Thursday night. There were some very committed and accomplished performances by the company members. Eisler’s music is fabulous, and I found it the best part of the show. Gina Leishman, the music director and multi-instrumental accompanist, played a spare and effective accompaniment that was truly Eislerian.
Hanns Eisler at the piano
At times it was difficult to concentrate on the song texts. My companion said to me that music automatically adds a sentimental and emotional element that makes it difficult for us to think. I contend that none of that is in the writing. Eisler was very conscious of the musical stupidity factor, and his settings always allow for meaning to shine through. I put our listening difficulties down to well-intentioned confusion on the part of Mr. Gordon.
The piece was billed as an adaptation, not a faithful staging of the original work. There have been some wonderful adaptations of Brecht and Eisler which have moved far from the source material. But Gordon’s adaptation, such as it was, added little or nothing to the play. He appended long disquisitions on Brecht’s dramatic theories and his and Eisler’s history, including a bit about Eisler’s deportation after an appearance before the House Unamerican Activities Committee. All this stuff is…well, interesting. I find it interesting. But I came to see a performance piece, not an illustrated lecture. These facts could have been addressed in program notes. There were none.
Gordon inserted the characters of Brecht (played by Valda Setterfield) and Eisler (played by Leishman) into the play as commentators. As my friend said, Brecht’s use of the alienation effect did not extend to the point of putting himself on stage. Brecht’s and Eisler’s material can be trusted to work. If not, um why do it?
Finally, there is the question of the Walker’s and Gordon’s use of a local pick-up company. What was that about? Twenty to thirty community members and University of Minnesota students filed onto stage at the opening and were seated in two dark clumps upstage until the penultimate number, when they dispersed about the stage and joined in a long and pointless stomping dance number, first in unison and then in canon. After giving it two days’ thought, I still don’t get any context, critical thought or dramatic oomph from this dance. Instead I feel sympathy for the poor chorus who had to sit through an hour of non-involvement before performing something unrelated to the entire preceding piece. And I wonder how much the Walker will parlay this and other simulacra of community involvement into further funding opportunities.
