For a city that prides itself on its architecture, it's odd that Chicago doesn't see too many productions of The Master Builder, Henrik Ibsen's drama about an architect.
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Playwright: Henrik Ibsen; English translation from multiple sources. At: The Building Stage, 412 N. Carpenter. Phone: 312-491-1369; $10-$20. Through June 14. Photo by Michael Brosilow
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True, Ibsen's 1892 play is an odd mix of realism with undercurrents of symbolist drama. Also, its architect antihero, Halvard Solness, is a manipulative egomaniac who isn't at all endearing.
The folks at The Building Stage rectify this Master Builder deficiency with a sleek and different approach. Just like trendy architectural firms like Morphosis and Coop Himmelblau ( which are more design collectives instead of top-down firms run by a 'starchitect' ) , The Building Stage proudly trumpets how each member of its Master Builder acting ensemble contributed to the research, staging and design elements ( the one exception is the effective lighting design work of Maggie Fullilove-Nugent ) .
Spearheading this groups approach is actor/production overseer Blake Montgomery, who, not surprisingly, plays Halvard. Otherwise the rest of the ensemble doubles up in characters ( changing costumes in view of the audience ) , with each pairing representing two-sided challenges to Halvard.
For instance, David Amaral plays ailing architect Knut Brovik ( whom Halvard professionally superceded ) and Brovik's architect son Ragnar ( whom Halvard is terrified of due to his youth and change-embracing design abilities ) . Meghan Raham plays Halvard's wife Aline Solness and the contrary Dr. Herdal ( they both nag at or try to hinder Halvard's ambitions and his self-inflated pride ) .
Then there's Daiva Bhandari, who plays the extramarital love interests of mousy secretary Kaja Fosli ( who is quickly tossed aside ) and the over-enthusiastic Hilde Wangel ( who truly could be the one-time schoolgirl in awe of Halvard's amazing talent that she claims to be, or a symbolic Faustian spirit that nefariously goads Halvard to his death ) .
The Building Stage's interpretation is a very modern approach that also is rooted in the 19th-century text. The set is cleanly minimal with a glossy white floor and modernist pieces of furniture, while the costumes are a mix of Victorian outfits and 1960s minimalist chic.
It's a self-consciously artsy approach, no doubt to emphasize the timelessness of artistic ambition and man's infallibility due to aging. There's also the hint ( thanks to a swooshing audio effect that happens whenever a character walks on stage ) that everything is taking place in Halvard's mind as he builds up delusions of grandeur to the control he exerts in his life.
Perhaps The Building Stage's Master Builder is too dispassionate acting-wise, since you really don't care for the characters ( save for Bhandari who excels as both the spurned woman and the ultimately deadly sycophant ) . Still, there's much to admire on display, from the production's intellectual group approach with symmetrical staging and its skilled dissection of a problematic 19th-century play.
