Playwrights: Georg Buchner and Sylvan Oswald. At: The Hypocrites and About Face at Chopin Theatre, 1543 W. Division. Tickets: 866-811-4111; www.thewoyzeckproject.com; $28/one play, $48/both. Runs through: May 22
The Woyzeck Project is part of an informal Off-Loop exploration of Georg Buchner's seminal proletariat drama. At his death in 1837 (just 23 years old), Buchner left Woyzeck an unfinished series of scenes in no set order, which means hundreds of writers, composers and directors have connected Buchner's dots as they wish.
Basic story: Woyzeck, a soldier, is both inarticulate and religious which leads him to accept without protest the abuse and exploitation he suffers at the hands of others, notably his army superiors (a captain, a medical officer and a drum major). His only comfort is Marie, his common-law wife. When she betrays him with the drum major, Woyzeck snaps and murders her, paying for his crime with his own life. Buchner was inspired by a real murder case.
In The Woyzeck Project, director Sean Graney has adapted Buchner for The Hypocrites, while About Face Theatre presents the world premiere of Sylvan Oswald's Pony, which reflects aspects of Woyzeck.
As he has with other classics, Graney reduces Woyzeck to a Comics Illustrated version; a simplified condensation of the tale running just one hour. Still, his version remains true to the story and characters, although Woyzeck himself is the only character Buchner developed beyond one-dimensionality. Graney's physical staging is strong, retaining hints of the play's German locale and earlier time period (despite some modern costume flourishes), and adding some pseudo-Brecht/Weill songs by Kevin O'Donnell.
Oswald's Pony is far more difficult to connect to Buchner. It's set in a vaguely-Western and vaguely-modern small American town. Oswald's characters parallel Buchner's to a degree, but you'd need to be familiar with Woyzeck to get it. Where Buchner is concerned with the brutalization of the lower class by others, Oswald is concerned with gender identity issues, with all his characters brutalizing themselves.
Those characters include two trans men, Pony and Heath (played by a woman and a man, respectively), two lesbians and a hetero woman into heavy sexual violence. In Oswald's tight world, the characters talk about others not understanding, of fear of revealing their truths but we never see "others" not understanding. All the conflict and fear (and possible self-loathing?) is imposed by each character upon him/herself rather than by any outside antagonist, and that's a problem with the play.
Frankly, to the casual ticket-buyer the plays may seem linked by common production values rather than by story or theme. They share a dream-like ambience thanks to Tom Burch's semi-abstract scenic design of trees, tree stumps, an angular stream and plastic sheeting, and thanks to the chilly, foggy lighting by Lee Fiskness. Also, both plays prefer dream-like elliptical dialogue over the straight line. The antihero, Woyzeck, is incapable of expressing himself, while Oswald's characters frequently talk around the obvious. The result is that style and impression take precedence over story and clarity (although Woyzeck is more direct than Pony). The two plays emerge as companion tone poems, the Buchner gathering up darkness while the Oswald ends with a glimmer of light.
