Not For Squares

AFTER WATCHING the first scene of the Harvard-Radcliffe Summer Theatre's production of Arthur Schnitzler's La Ronde, the audience realizes that the material is not appropriate for young children of people easily embarrassed by explicit dramatizations of sex. However for others, director Bill Rauch's creative adaptation of this collage of 10 one-act dialogues is a superbly orchestrated version of the delicate material.

Dominoes are a fitting analogy for the Summer Theatre production which explores relationships between 10 couples before, during, and after sex. In the ancient game, you stand 10 dominoes in a circle and push one, the first one falls on the second which in turn descends on the third and so on until the 10th completes the motion by landing on top of the first La Ronde works in a similar fashion. The play starts at approximately 20 minute intervals beginning at 7:30, but it does not matter when you come as long as you stay for exactly tow hours to watch the procession of 10 well-executed "love" scenes.

Each member of the audience begins his two hour sitting in one of five parts of the Theatre, each of which contains an individual small stage. Since there are 10 actors, five scenes with male female dialogues concerning sex continue at any one time. Conversations which include discussions on the pleasure and intoxication of sex and how sex fits into serious romantic relationships are enacted by an actor waiting on one stage and another who leads the audience from his/her previous scene.

This complicated process works smoothly in Rauch's production as the five stages never interfere with the dialogue. Throughout each scene, the audience hears excerpts of the others which makes them feel that they are part of a process.

Only a troupe of mature actors could succeed in arousing and then sustaining the audience's attention for the 10 scenes and this group does so by making each scene equally as powerful as the others. Each actor develops his own persona, which Schnitzler has broadly classified as whore (Carolone Isenberg), soldier (Tim Banker), parlour maid (Holley Stewart), young gentleman (Benjamin Cobb), young wife (Anne Higgins), husband (Jonathan Magaril), sweet young thing (Debbie Wasser), poet (Alek Keshishian), actress (Amy Brenneman), actress (Amy Brenneman), and Count (Paul O'Brien).

ALL the characters are broadly defined and the actors effectively portray the spontaneity marking their sexual intercourse. These relationships describe an unhealthy attitude toward sex which they think is not as fulfilling as anticipated. For example, in the case of the soldier and parlour maid, he virtually has to rape her after they meet at a cafe. The couple really has nothing to bind them except passion which becomes the common bond uniting all the scenes.

The level of the uninhibited acting is consistently excellent and the the show's tinning runs smoothly with live piano music as the transitions between the scenes. The costumes contribute to the quality in the level of acting with each actor wearing the same sexless outfit of lavender courderoy. Matching the clever costumes are the creative sets which use different props like toilet seats as chairs and chalkboards as windows using the chalk to draw the blinds.

And to confuse you a bit more, each actor plays one role in both scenes, (i.e. the audience watches a king of chain-letter series of relationships with each character dealing with two different lovers. And although each dialogue only lasts 11 1/2 minutes, each actor manages to create a believable character with his own foibles, facial expressions, and sexual mannerisms. During each interval, the couples reach some sort of crescendo, which Rauch treats delicately without overdosing the audience with passionate, explicit sex.

The passion the couples build on rests more with their vocal intonations and physical movements than with any nudity. The audience gradually adjusts to the highly personal subject matter before it, as we watch 10 completely different relationships each with its own problems, intimacy, and passion.

Although the theatrical effect is brilliant, the audience leaves the performance wondering what all these sexual relationships were meant to prove. Some of the scenes include discussion about the pleasure and intoxication of sex as opposed to the philosophy needed for a serious relationship. But beyond the sex and the rather scandalous reproduction of it, La Ronde as a play falls flat without any redeeming message or moral.

All the same, this production is worth seeing merely for the aesthetically pleasing rendition by the troupe of 10 actors. It does not advertise explicit sex but merely uses it as any other part of a relationship between two people. La Ronde is perfect summer theater; although the viewer does not have to think too much, it is energetic and creative presentation that keeps your mind going in circles.