Caligula- By Albert Camus
- Directed by Chris Henley
- Produced by Washington Shakespeare Company
- Reviewed by Tim Treanor
Is there anything that Alexander Strain cannot do? In the title role of Washington Shakespeare’s Caligula, Strain is man and superman, a protean philosopher-tyrant, a Killer without a Cause. Is he mad? Is he genius? Is he a Prometheus, duty-bound to bring the fire of nihilism to humanity? Yes, and in Strain’s astonishing performance, he is more than that: an incandescent Saint Satan of Pain, a roaring, retching emperor of annihilation, the King of Nothingness. And, like the real Caligula, he does a great deal of it in drag.
In fact, Strain’s performance is so brilliant that it disguises the fact that Camus’ Caligula is…well, it’s not so great. Camus’ dubious thesis is that Rome’s third Emperor, known for his extreme and gratuitous cruelty, was simply a far-seeing man who looked at the world unflinchingly, and exercised unbearable honesty and logic. Thus, for example, if it is right that Rome tax its citizens to pay for public buildings and the common defense, logic decrees that it is also right that Caligula compel everyone in Rome to rewrite their wills and make the State their sole heirs, and that moreover Caligula be entitled to kill anyone when the Treasury requires their money. Moreover, since, for reasons immediately apparent only to Caligula and Camus, all life is meaningless, Caligula is justified in randomly killing people for his entertainment, and is indeed kind because he does not pursue war, which would result in many more deaths. (The real Caligula, incidentally, was relentlessly expansionist.)
Camus employs clunky expositional dialogue to shore up his argument. “He was just what we wanted: inexperienced and conscientious enough to take our advice,” says Mucius (Theo Hadjimichael); but a real political manipulator considers himself conscientious in his work, and regrets that the regent needs his advice. “He loved Drusilla,” responds Octavius (Parker Dixon), “but she was his sister after all,” as though the assembled patricians were unaware that Caligula’s lover was also his sibling.
The ultimate test of an actor is to deliver bad dialogue convincingly. Most of the players acquit themselves honorably, but Strain makes his dialogue, no matter how prosaic, snap, crackle and pop. He is a wonder, a human storm: sneering, snarling, weeping, creeping from despair to exultation. He’ll make you hate him so much that you’ll want to stick a shiv between his ribs yourself, and he’ll make you feel sorry for him.
Chris Henley’s staging of this difficult piece gives it every chance to shine. He gets fine work out of his actors, particularly Hadjimichael, Frank Britton as the luckless Cassius (who, in real life, was the one who assassinated Caligula), and Abby Wood as Caligula’s nasty-tongued retainer, Helicon. He gets absolutely wonderful work from Kathleen Akerley, who plays the somber writer Cherea as the embodiment of ethical humanism. Cherea was designed to be played as a young man, but Akerley’s portrayal of the character gives it a certain gentle wisdom – a sort of wistfulness a more traditional approach would deny it. In addition to getting fine performances, Henley moves this play along at breakneck speed, assisted by a top-flight sound design by Erik Trester. Caligula’s final confrontation with his concubine, Caesonia (Rahaleh Nassri), full of love and murder, is as close to a perfect dramatic climax as I’ve seen on stage for a while.
And, as with most productions, there are a couple of missteps. For some reason, Henley thinks to begin the production with a brief Cliff-notes lecture by Camus himself (Akerley). He also has Heather Haney intone the stage directions, occasionally in French. To begin with, though Akerley is an excellent actor, Camus is outside her range. More importantly, whatever Camus has to say to us needs to be within the parameters of his script. Anything extraneous to the play is merely a distraction.
Enough of that: let’s talk about Strain some more. I had often thought that Strain was among that small cadre of young actors, including Kimberley Gilbert, Tiffany Fillmore, and Ashley Ivey, who would in ten years be what Floyd King, Nancy Robinette and Ed Gero are now: actors so good that their presence in a cast is sufficient to justify the price of admission. I was wrong. He’s there now. His presence more than justifies the price of this admission. He has helped to take a play of somewhat questionable value and turn it into a soaring piece of drama.
- Running time: 2 hours 10 minutes, including one intermission.
- When: Thursdays through Sundays until November 11. Thursdays through Saturdays are at 8 p.m.; Saturdays and Sundays at 2 p.m.
- Where: Clark Street Playhouse, 601 South Clark Street, Arlington, VA.
- Tickets: Thursdays $25; Fridays at 8 and Sundays at 2 $30; Saturdays at 8 $35; Saturdays at 2 PWYC.
- Info: Tickets at 800.494.TIXS, or can be bought at the website.
