This Spring's mainstage drama production, "Mountain Language and other works" by Harold Pinter delivers a stark message about society and international politics, holding up a mirror up to the world for all can to see the potential misuse of power.
Drama department chair Mara Sabinson directed the production, which opens this Wednesday, May 4 and runs two consecutive weekends in Center Theater.
The members of the ensemble cast were generally excited to finally show the result of six weeks' worth of hard work. The rehearsals, while often taxing and time-consuming, will pay off when the actors finally hit the stage.
"I really enjoyed working with the cast. We're prepared to put on a good show," said Suzanne Breselor '97, an actress in the play.
The production is actually a set of three short plays by Pinter that have an interrelated message. The entire show runs less than an hour. "It may be less than an hour long, but it's going to be very powerful and to the point," said Nate Levine '97, a member of the cast.
"It's really all about the irony in killing and torturing people, using genocide to get peace and happiness," said Jay Hanlon '97, a cast member.
The works do not appear in a chronological order. Although Pinter did not intend to use the same character in more than one of his works, the upcoming production takes the liberty of casting several characters in more than one of the works to create greater unity.
Sabinson has arranged the works to build upon the theme that power must never be allowed to fall into the hands of a select few, and that no one is safe in a police state.
The first work, which is also the longest, is titled, "Party Time." It depicts a clique of elite citizens who casually go about their trivial daily routine while a state of emergency surrounds their false paradise.
"What interested me about the play is the fact that it's not only very dark, but surreal, not what you'd call realistic. I've done three other plays, and this is the most political of anything I've done," Zach Oberzan '96 said.
The snobbish behavior of these elitists is subverted by the ominous exaggeration of the political machine which seeks to destroy its enemies.
The second work, "Mountain Language," shifts the scene to a detention camp for subversives. The detainees are targeted for genoicide because they speak the "Mountain language." Abusive sergeants and other guards torture the Mountain people and attempt to supress their language, culture and vitality. They use psychological as well as physical torture to keep the Mountain people under control.
Oberzan's role required him to research the journals of real-life political prisoners and examine pictures of individuals who went through the ordeal of political imprisonment.
Oberzan said that through this research, he has become more aware of atrocities and human rights violations around the world, particularly in Bosnia. He said that he has been more motivated to do something about the evils of genocide and ethnic cleansing.
The last section of the performance is called "The New World Order," which runs15 minutes and is the shortest of the three segments. An actor who played an oppressor in the first piece plays a man who is blindfolded and tortured.
"This shows that in a police state, no one is safe, even someone who was once secure," Oberzan said.
