Adaptation of ‘The Fever’ brings motion, political depth to stage
Brody Hessin lounges on stage wearing pajamas and a white robe as the audience looks for seats in the intimate, 60-seat Black Box Theater. He clicks away on a white Macbook and occasionally turns to the nightstand for a swig of ginger ale.
The all-white set is clean and looks like a small hotel room. The audience sits and watches. They whisper, as if not to disturb the only actor on stage.
Latecomers enter cautiously not wanting to be intrusive. Yet ‘The Fever’ has hasn’t actually started.
‘It’s OK,’ the house manager says to the audience, ‘you can talk.’
The lights dim and Billy Joel’s ‘New York State of Mind’ begins to play. The pre-show opening to the Black Box Players’ production of ‘The Fever’ starkly contrasts the rest of the fast-paced and, at times, confusing show.
Directed by senior acting major Chris Dall’au, ‘The Fever’ is the second Black Box show of the year. Originally a one-man show written by Wallace Shawn, Dall’au adapted the first person narrative into an ensemble piece for 13 Syracuse University students.
”The Fever’ is a one man show in the strictest sense,’ the director’s note reads. ‘As it is written, there are no scene breaks. There are no stage directions. In fact, there is no actual character.’
This adaptation of the show is unlike any other show playing at the Syracuse Stage complex this year. Essentially, it is a stream of consciousness story, with all 13 actors reciting the original monologue broken into parts.
The 90-minute show breeds a raw passion. The audience is never able to escape the show and the fate of the Traveler, played by Hessin, a senior musical theater major.
For the majority of the show, Hessin remains in the background as the ensemble acts out his memories and the underlying moral issues that catch his attention.
The Traveler constantly wrestles with the torture and pain in the world. He is an upper-class man, someone with money. A man who travels to poor countries, yet does nothing to change the fate of the poor.
For the show, the entire theater is utilized, making the audience feel as if they are an important part of the show. All the lines are delivered directly facing the audience and the center aisle becomes a throughway for the ensemble members traveling to the stage.
There is constant motion on stage, there was always at least one person on stage – ensemble members constantly enter and leave the theater, and Hessin reacts in the background.
There is no real edge to the stage. Although the constructed set represents a hotel room in a ‘strange country where my language isn’t spoken,’ that is not the entire stage. The theater itself, with the black walls and red floor, is a prop for the actors to use.With a piece like this, it is hard to create a cohesion and balance among such a talented group of actors. Dall’au achieves this – no one member of the ensemble stands out.
All actors wear tattered black turtlenecks and loose-fitting pants splattered with white and red. The ensemble is the star of the show. Hessin is quite believable in his tortured state of realization, but the ensemble steals every scene.
‘The Fever’ never releases the grasp it has on the audience. The show exhibits a talented group of actors and a director with an immense passion for the play.
There are four more performances of ‘The Fever.’ All shows are at the Black Box Theater at Syracuse Stage. For ticket information, visit blackboxplayers.org.
Published on November 16, 2008 at 12:00 pm
