Once upon a time, humanity tried to build a tower that would reach up to God. The punishment for their impertinence was to suddenly find themselves each speaking a different language. No one understood each other, and they scattered across the globe, their masterwork abandoned.
This biblical tale is beyond familiar. Assistant Professor of Theater Cláudia Tatinge Nascimento, however, used it as the foundation for a kinetic and innovative play about American culture. “Babel,” which was performed in the ’92 Theater last weekend, called forth a cast of vaudeville “ghosts” who, for an hour’s time, made a spellbinding circus of the nation’s collective unconscious. The actors built the piece with Professor Tatinge Nascimento, drawing from texts that ranged from Bertolt Brecht, e. e. cummings and Edgar Allan Poe to Emma Goldman, Ronald Reagan, Joseph McCarthey and Jim Jones. And, of course, The Bible. Archetypes twist through the story: A Cowboy (Josh Lubin-Levy ’06) champions the tower in terms of unilateralism and manifest destiny, then tangles with a Bear (Alex Early ’07)—perhaps echoes of Russia, or simply nature—and an Acrobat (Tara Shah ’05) who archly describes the appeal of Eastern Exotica. A Soldier (Perri Yaniv ’04) and his soon-to-be Widow (Meredith Steinberg ’06) pull at each other with invisible strings. And the ringleader Magician (Max Goldblatt ’05) forms a comedic duo with the religious Believer (Sara Bremen ’05)—who is by turns 3 and “30” feet tall—to trade seemingly formulaic banter on the larger themes of faith and intellectual cynicism.
The show wove the fable’s themes of hubris, Diaspora and inflicted diversity into a spectacular exhibition of some of Wesleyan’s greatest talents. Singing, sleight-of-hand, stilt-walking, rope tricks, violin, accordion, and truly amazing gymnastics ran throughout the piece. “Babel” was staged in the round without any structural set, and the actors moved throughout the theater, behind and between the audience’s seats. They climbed ladders leading nowhere, cast huge shadows against white screens, fit themselves into boxes and framed themselves against the walls like wax figures in an Epcot diorama. The pace was frenetic for the audience, but the actors moved seamlessly through their highly choreographed world. Their ease and precision gave beauty to even the play’s harsher moments.
Beauty was the operative theme of the evening. The show was so beautiful it taxes one’s thesaurus: the costumes were gorgeous, the lights were resplendent, the actors were comely, their acting exquisite, their use of the space magnificent. The show was in fact so stunning that at times the production elements upstaged the content of the piece.
The text was also rather dense, and while the sources were listed in the program they were not distinguished on stage; it was unclear whether any of the actors’ lines were original at all. Some of the Tower metaphor didn’t quite follow in terms of explaining America’s cultural fragmentation. The fable breaks down into four steps: Hubris angers God who Punishes with Confusion. But “Babel” cuts out the middle two, and Hubris leads to Confusion of its own accord. This is fair enough, but wasn’t clearly intentional; early on Goldblatt in fact promises a depiction of God as The Author, but the show never delivers. God is strangely absent here, as is the theme of language with which the fable is synonymous. Cultural diversity is arguably implicit to the story of America, but the show only stressed differences in the comparison of East and West—a cross-cultural, rather than intra-cultural context.
This nimble piece of theater did, however, bring a great many new ideas to its audience. The ’92 was used to its full potential in a way seldom feasible for students (who typically get only one week of tech in the space, as opposed to the department’s three). “Babel” also stood out compared to many faculty productions in the most vital way: it was there for the students. The piece strove to affect its specific audience, taking on issues relevant to Wesleyan students rather than indulging the show’s creators. As explained in the program notes, Professor Tatinge Nascimento (who hails from Brazil) altered her initial, more intercultural concept to adapt to the needs of her cast. This was the other potential that “Babel” recognized and fulfilled: that of its actors. Instead of taking a backseat to someone’s Vision, here each actor functioned as a professional, inextricable from the show itself. It is no small challenge to build a show from the ground up, and while the professors built with them it was the students who shone. The result was an astonishing work of art that was impressive not only in its context at Wesleyan, but as its own vibrant creation.
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