Review: OTWT Features GRAND GUIGNOL's Horrors of Theatre History

An evening at Artistic Director Dale Gutzman's Off the Wall Theatre (OTWT) continually thrills the intellect and imagination while raising the heart rate. To honor a French theater tradition beginning at the turn of the 20th century (1897), OTWT stages a Milwaukee Grand Guignol, a production consisting of four one act plays, similar to the original programming of this specialized theater genre.

Gutzman explains to the audience during the evening that Grand Guignol reularly performed six plays a performance, four horror shows usually interspersed between two comedies, to heighten the emotional contrast for audiences. A successful French night involved at least two people fainting per play due to the horrific and graphic nature of each production.. One prominent Grand Guignol actress, Paula Maxa, was named "the most assasinated women in the world" because her character experienced the bruatality of being murdered 10,000 times througout her career, which included approximately 3,000 rapes. How clever of Gutzman to translate this theater history into his season where the horror and psychological drama consumes the tiny stage.

OTWT plans only four horror one acts without any comedy where actors strive for the Grand Guignol "naturalism" acting technique, which meant a melodramatic approach to the characters who murder, seek revenge and assume the darker side of human nature. Four plays---Clowning Around, The Final Torture, The Kiss and Pagliacci--represent the choices Gutzman presents. The evening needs to unfold in surprise with very little said regarding the thin plots, and while graphic events occur, along with humorous asides, these four plays probably rank as rather tame to what the Grand Guignol actually produced for over six decades into the early 1960's.

One selection, The Final Torture, poses some interesting questions regarding the horrors of wars as General Grangier holds his armed forces against the Chinese during the Boxer Rebellion. At a standoff for 55 days, Grangier refuses to surrender to Wing Lo, who declares that Grangier and his forces must die, while the general hopes for reinforcements to save his position and troops. Paul Pfannenstiel, Patrick McCann, Jeremy C. Welter and Jessica Trznadel appear under James Feeley's direction.

In th longest one act featured after the intermission, Jeremy C. Welter inhabits an actor, Pagliacci, in the play of the same name, who experiences jealously and rage when the female star of the show, Kirsten Roble's Needa, secretly finds another lover. Gutzman sets the fokelore tale to music under his adaptation and direction that also includes Pfannenstiel, Lawrence J. Lukesavage, McCann, Henry Hammond and Joey Katsirousbas. Most interesting in this one act, the actors play within a play, and shout to the audience that the atrocities happening in front of them are supposedly real..."It's not a play! It's not a play!"

Intereting enough, science determined that the brain can experience difficulty discerning fiction and reality on film or television, which provides the perfect fear in the horror/suspense genre. The human psyche needs to tell the brain and body what is being seen is actually fantasy. Either way, the visuals, as at the original Grand Guignol, stimulate the senses for an evocative high, which might explain the fascination with these stories--overly increased and heightened sensory experiences.

Whatever a person believes, OTWT presents an alluring, diabolical and fantasy evening in their Grand Guignol horror stories based on actual history. This tradition resurfaces in many forms and places across the globe in the 21st century, and eventually influenced countless films, novels, and television programming, perhaps even the iconic Michael Jackson "Thriller" video, which also made visual history. Gutzman stated that after World War II when the terrors applauded on that stage became realities in the world, with even more hienous inhumanities exposed, the Grand Guignol's popularity waned. Perhaps after this one evening, the audience might just wish that all the terrors faced on a day to day basis could only live on theater stages instead of in lives throughout the world.

Off the Wall Theatre presents Grand Guignol through November 8 to continue their 16th season. Next up, Gutzman's "Roman Holiday of Laughter," A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum.' For information or ticket information, please call 414.484.8874 or visit www.offthewalltheatre.com

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