The audience felt the mood of “Life and Death in the Charity Ward” the minute they entered the theater. Lee Pender ’07 sat stage right, sprawled in a chair, a cigarette held in one hand, and a contemplative scowl on his face. From time to time, before the performance officially began, Pender let loose a cough that sent shivers up my spine, spitting and hacking like an emphysema patient on his death bed.
Thus began the theatrical adaptation of Charles Bukowski’s famous short story, “Life and Death in the Charity Ward,” performed last weekend in the ’92 Theater. Adapting Bukowski, a despondently dark writer, to the Wesleyan stage is quite a feat, considering the density of the author’s language and the difficult and often morose topics he tackles. A piece without a definitive era or location must use other tactics to compel the audience to step into and accept the world of the story and identify with the characters, and Nikolchev’s cast, along with a spectacular lighting and design team, managed to do just that.
Martin Shapiro ’08 designed a brilliant set, a simple combination of white tarps that divided the stage for particular scenes. The stark whiteness of the background that boxed-off small pieces of the stage drew the audience into the hospital, where the sharp cleanliness of the white-gowned world becomes quickly sullied by gushing blood and vomit. Rachel Fischoff’s ’08 costumes provided a similarly effective design, as the uncomfortably white gowns constricted the messiness of the hacking and spitting characters. The lighting, designed and executed by Fran Geiger ’07, complimented the bleak dreariness of each scene, shadowing Pender’s face in the opening and starkly revealing the uncompromising faces of the patients throughout the scenes within the hospital.
As the curtain rose stage right, revealing Kieran Kredell ’08 restrained to his hospital bed, the audience found a guide through the morose world of the charity ward. Kredell’s opening monologue, an incantation repeating the depressing story of what the audience assumed was his former life, firmly planted the audience along with the hospital’s new admit, Hank, played by Pender, within the life of the charity ward. Throughout the production, Kredell used the constraining narrowness of the set and costumes to distinctly portray his character, fighting the restraints on his narrow bed as he repeated his monologue, twisting almost seductively in his limiting, shabby hospital gown. Kredell additionally provided a much-needed, though still dark, reprieve from the extraordinary drama of the piece as he flirtatiously begged for a cigarette from his hospital bed.
Playing every female role, Randa Tawil ’09 audaciously portrayed the nurse and Bukowski’s ex-girlfriend, Vicky. As unforgiving as Bukowski’s female characters usually are, Tawil managed to add dimension, especially as she played the nurse, vacillating between inattentive sweetness and gross disgust.
Under Nikolchev’s guidance and thoughtful scripting, this talented cast combined with spectacular behind-the-scenes work presented an abnormally difficult piece in a surprisingly engaging fashion. Adopting a Bukowski story for the stage has the potential to alienate an audience. The fact that “Life and Death in the Charity Ward” succeeded is a testament not only to Nikolchev’s writing and directorial abilities, but to the talent of his cast and crew as well.
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