The most basic and habitual human activities, such as walking and talking, become difficult and strange for a group of men and women as they encounter one another in the lobby of an old European resort hotel. Their attempt to shake themselves from the dream-like state in which they find themselves provides the drama in the play "The Ride Across Lake Constance," which is being staged Tuesday-Saturday, March 11-15, at the University Theatre, 222 York St.
The School of Drama production marks the first time the play will receive a full-scale staging in the United States in 20 years. It was written in 1972 by the Austrian playwright, novelist, poet, essayist and screenwriter Peter Handke, who has been called "the most remarkable playwright in any language since Beckett" by noted drama critic Richard Gilman. The work was translated by Michael Roloff.
In the play, three men and two women are trying to maneuver in a world which looks familiar and real, and yet is one from which they feel entirely disconnected or dislocated, says director Andrew Utter, a third-year student at the drama school, who chose "The Ride Across Lake Constance" as his thesis project.
"The characters are constantly attempting to feel natural and comfortable in the space they are in but find that they have difficulty doing the most basic things, like walking, talking or remembering," he says. "They feel at odds both with language and with their physical surroundings. While their environment looks realistic, for the characters it seems to have pitfalls everywhere, so just walking across the room is a challenge. They strive to get conversation going and to do things that make them feel normal and natural."
To help themselves along, the group engages in role-playing and parlor games and acts out different skits. This playfulness is a "momentary antidote to the self-consciousness they are struggling with," says Mr. Utter. Just as some of the characters begin to feel less uncomfortable, identical twins come along, which causes the original five characters to re-experience their sense of dreaminess.
"The play is really about the strangeness of the everyday world," explains Mr. Utter. "I think the playwright sees us as sleep- walking through the world, but believes that if we were to wake up for a moment and look at it, a lot of things that we take for granted would look different and strange to us. This strangeness can be liberating -- it can lead to spontaneity and freedom -- but it can also be frightening and disorienting, because there really are no rules when looking at it from that vantage point."
Mr. Utter says he chose "The Ride Across Lake Constance" because he has been impressed with the work since he first acted in a scene from it during his undergraduate years at Duke University. "I was really taken with it," he says. "It remains to this day the most daring experiment in theatrical form that I've encountered from post-war Europe. I'm drawn to the philosophical aspects, the questions of 'What is language?' and 'What is consciousness?' But I also think it is deeply involving at a very human level. I know the difficulties of self-consciousness are something I struggle through all the time, and I think most people do."
He adds that its poetic nature is another special element of "The Ride Across Lake Constance," which is considered to be Mr. Handke's greatest work. "He really makes poetry out of the words, the gestures, the environment and spatial relationships -- there's poetry in the whole matrix of events as they unfold," says Mr. Utter. "I really think American playwrights would do well to get back in touch with that poetry again."
The Austrian playwright has also written novels, poetry collections and books of essays. He wrote and directed the film version of "The Left-Handed Woman" in 1980 and cowrote the screenplay for the critically acclaimed "Wings of Desire" 1988 . To give stage life to the challenging world presented in "The Ride Across Lake Constance," Mr. Utter and the production's designers have attempted to capture the ethereal mystery of the black-and-white 1920s and 1930s cinema. "The sense of style in the films of that era really captures the play's elusive qualities," according to Mr. Utter.
Acting in the play are drama school students Adrienne Dreiss, Jonathan Walker, Eric Scott Gould, Kimberly Ross, Gregory Berger- Sobeck, Tessa Auberjanois, Vivian Keh and Esther Chae. Collaborating on the production are Michaela Strumberger set designer , Jenny C. Fulton costume designer , An-Huei Tsao lighting designer , Shane Rettig sound designer and Tom Sellar production dramaturg .
Shows are 8 p.m. nightly, with an additional 2 p.m. matinee on Saturday, March 15. Tickets are $10 for Tuesday-Thursday performances and the Saturday matinee, and $15 on Friday and Saturday evenings. Student tickets are $8. For information and reservations, call the Yale Rep box office at 432-1234.