Playwright: Robert Falls & Seth Bockley ( adapters/directors ) At: Goodman Theatre, 170 N. Dearborn St. Tickets: 312-443-3800; www.GoodmanTheatre.org; $20-$45. Runs through: March 6
Chilean-born Roberto Bolano ( 1953-2003 ) was a name I knew only in passing. I'd never read the novels which flooded from him in his final decade ( he wrote poetry until he was 40 ). Thanks to this world premiere adaptation of his final novel, published posthumously in 2004, I've had a crash introduction to Bolano's apocalyptic world. Although five-and-a-half hours long, my crash course was far from complete, so my observations about Bolano's work are first impressions.
Clearly, he's a master-teller of huge, multi-faceted and complex stories. This stage version duplicates the novel's five sections spanning 80 years, although not strictly chronological. My superficial understanding suggests Bolano took inspiration from Borges-style magical realism and Dickens-style plot intrigues, including the sarcasm and humor those great role-models frequently brought to their works. Bolano used numerous autobiographical details in his novels, often just in passing, and was fascinated by Nazi historyevents pre-dating his birthperhaps because of Pinochet fascism ( opposed by Bolano, a leftist ) in his native Chile.
The multiple storylines revolve around mysterious, reclusive German novelist Hans Reiterborn in 1920, nearly seven feet tall and using the pen name Benno von Archimboldi, after Renaissance Mannerist painter Giuseppe Arcimboldi. The tale unfolds mostly in the 1990s, as European literary scholars attempt to track down Hans/Benno in Santa Teresa, Mexico. Latino characters then take focus before a European flashback chronicles Hans/Benno's fairytale-like childhood, World War II Nazi military service and writing career. It concludes in 1999 in industrial Santa Teresa, a fictionalized Ciudad Juarez where the play/novel stops for a lengthy examination of that city's hundreds of unsolved femicides and corrupt, sexist police.
Each section states a theme which is played out in the story, for instance "Madness is contagious" in Part II or "History has a way of making heroes into monsters and vice-versa" in Part V. The overarching theme is stated in Part I: "Coincidence is the flipside of Fate," our destinies are not pre-ordained. Indeed, Part III has a Black American journalist named Oscar Fate whose experiences in Santa Teresa are entirely coincidental; Bolano loves irony. Many puzzle pieces come together by the end although not every storyline, or character arc, comes to a conclusion. Femicides continue in Ciudad Juarez.
This production is remarkably well-done. The performances are richly nuanced, occasionally passionate and frequently funny, although this intimate staging is more intellectually appealing than emotionally gripping. Complex lighting and film/projections provide kinetic energy for narrative passages with little stage action. Be warned: The work's tone is increasingly grim as the literary satire of Part I gives way to increasing violence and chaos without a hint of a happy ending. Is the title Satanic? No one knows, although Part IV features Sacraphobia ( usually called hierophobia ) and a "Demon Penitent." Must 2666 be five-and-a-half hours long? Probably not, but leisure has value and complex tales shouldn't be rushed. The production 2666 sustains itself through its great length and is a genuine theatrical eventa window into Bolano's erudite mind and dark understanding of the 20th-century world.