Critics weigh in on Daile Theatre's staging of «The Shining City»
Director Dmitry Petrenko has staged Irish playwright Conor McPherson's play «The Shining City» at the Daile Theatre in Riga. Critics single out Lauris Dzelzītis's performance, while views on the production's visual design differ.
The Daile Theatre in Riga has staged «The Shining City», a play by Irish playwright Conor McPherson. Director Dmitry Petrenko focuses on a psychotherapist who receives patients in his basement office. Several theatre critics have reviewed the production, among them Līga Ulberte, Atis Rozentāls and Toms Čevers.
This is the second investigative play Petrenko has directed at the Daile. His earlier production was Ferdinand von Schirach's play «He Said, She Said», which presents a courtroom hearing in the literal sense. In McPherson's work, the «investigation» takes place in the human psyche, inside a therapist's office.
The performances
Andris Bulis plays the psychotherapist, a former priest. Lauris Dzelzītis appears as the patient John, Anete Kursīte as Neasa, the mother of the therapist's child, and Mārtiņš Upenieks as Laurence, a male sex worker.
The critics agree on Dzelzītis. Ulberte calls his work absolutely precise, Rozentāls describes an inward-turned, almost frightening scrupulousness, and Čevers considers the three scenes featuring him mature and self-sufficient psychological theatre. Ulberte describes Bulis's performance as passive and vague, while Rozentāls notes that he never fully reveals the therapist, leaving room for speculation.
Visual design
Set designer -8 presents the basement as a space of the subconscious, with huge tree roots breaking through the wall. The atmosphere is supported by music from Edgars Raginskis and a moving painting reminiscent of Andrew Wyeth's «Christina's World». Ulberte argues that the production's aesthetics make it hard to tell what is an objective scene and what is the hero's mind at play. Čevers concludes that the show's impact rests largely on the work of the set designer, lighting artist and composer.
Rozentāls says the production demands deep engagement from the viewer, and that its ending allows at least two readings. Čevers feels it leaves questions unanswered, including why the play has its title.
