’Festen’ :: Things still rotten in Denmark
Pawtucket’s Gamm Theatre is presenting the New England premiere of "Festen," the successful London and Broadway play about a modern Danish family with a dark and disturbing secret. The production runs through February 12.
"Festen" is adapted from the 1998 film and screenplay - "The Celebration" - that the film’s director Thomas Vinterberg co-wrote with Mogens Rukov and Bo Hr. Hansen. The stage adaptation, which premiered in London in 2004, is by British playwright David Eldridge.
The story centers on a family’s birthday party, in which a well-to-do Danish family is celebrating the sixtieth birthday of its patriach, a businessman named Helge. Coming to the party is his eldest son Christian, whose twin sister recently committed suicide. The celebration begins with a toast by Christian, who reveals a shocking secret about his father that turns the family on end. For the next 24 hours, the disbelieving guests at Helge’s lavish country estate must choose sides as the truth is painfully revealed.
Shakespearean overtones
As a film, "The Celebration" (or "Festen" as it was released in Denmark), helped establish the radical filmmaking style known as Dogme 95 on the map. Dogme 95 requires a rigorous technique involving hand-held cameras, natural lighting, no optical tricks or special lighting. ’’My supreme goal is to force the truth out of my characters and settings,’’ say the group’s Vows of Chastity. ’’I swear to do so by all the means available and at the cost of any good taste and any esthetic considerations.’’
"If this sounds like a stunt," wrote Janet Maslin reviewing the film in the New York Times, "it surely doesn’t look that way in ’The Celebration.’ Choosing as his setting a grand chateau that is a family-owned hotel, Mr. Vinterberg presents a birthday reunion that becomes a black-tie psyche-bashing blowout with latter-day Shakespearean overtones."
Perhaps it was those Shakespearean overtones that attracted Eldridge to adapt the film script to the stage. His stage adaptation opened at the off-West End theater the Almeida in March, 2004 with a cast that included Jonny Lee Miller and Tom Hardy. After a sold-out run, it moved to London’s West End, where it was a hit. Two years later came a Broadway run, which was less successful.
In reviewing the New York production, Ben Brantley in the New York Times wrote: "It wasn’t that Mr. Eldridge’s lucid, efficient reworking of Thomas Vinterberg’s movie of the same title was in itself so compelling. As dramatic literature, "Festen" is merely a lesser descendant of more titanic dramas of homecoming by Pinter, Shepard and O’Neill. But Mr. Norris’s production was so uncompromising and poetic in its spareness that it tapped into primal territory where the script alone didn’t go."
A brave play
At the Gamm Theatre, the company’s artistic director Tony Estrella helms the production, which features Gamm Resident Actor Steve Kidd (Claudius in "Hamlet") as Christian and Boston-based stage and screen actor Will Lyman (narrator of PBS’ "Frontline" series) making his Gamm debut as the patriarch, Helge.
Estrella said, "We deliberately chose to follow ’Hamlet’ -- a hard act as there ever was -- with this contemporary Danish tragedy. The echoes 400 years on are unmistakable: fathers, sons, revenge, a family falling to pieces. It’s both the perfect companion piece and as shocking and cathartic a piece of theater as I have experienced in my career. Something is rotten in Denmark indeed."
"It is a brave play and a very exciting and important one," Kidd told EDGE. " It is shocking and really painful. The audience sees the play at times through my character’s eyes and as such is invited to empathize with his plight. Playing a character who has had such a painful and troubling history is a huge responsibility and a wonderful challenge."
Kidd has enjoyed working on the show with Estrella, for whom he has a lot of respect: "Tony’s vision, smarts and work ethic is inspiring to all and makes everyone better. He’s an astonishing leader."
Kidd saw the film "The Celebration" and enjoyed it, but believes the stage production is a more powerful experience for audiences.
"I think they will be emotionally engaged and take away a supreme respect for the lives of these characters as portrayed by this talented cast," Kidd added.
"Festen" runs through February 12 at The Gamm Theatre, 172 Exchange St., Pawtucket, RI. Tickets: $34 and $42 (depending on day/time), preview and press performances (Jan. 12-16) only $25. Discounts for subscribers, groups of 10 or more, seniors and students. Tickets at 401-723-4266 or gammtheatre.org.
