Image Credit: Ty Semaka.
November Theatre
November Theatre did their first production of “The Black Rider” for Edmonton’s 1998 Fringe Festival (the world English language premiere) and has been performing their critically acclaimed show ever since. I was lucky enough to catch its performance last night at the Arts Club Theatre Granville Island Stage in Vancouver, BC and it completely blew away all my expectations.
The Black Rider
The Black Rider was a collaboration between William S. Burroughs (words), Tom Waits (music), and Robert Wilson (stage direction); it’s an elaborate macabre-cabaret retelling of an old German folktale.
Der Freischutz (The Free-Shooter), an old German folktale on which The Black Rider is based, was first published in the early 1800’s in a collection of ghost stories called Gespensterbuch by August Apel and Friedrich Laun.
It was adapted into a widely celebrated opera by Carl Maria von Weber in 1821. The opera, also named Der Freischutz, deviates from the intentions of the original story by giving the story a happy ending. Staying true to 19th century romanticism, a Deus Ex Machina is used in the form of a hermit, who sets everything right.
In 1823, Thomas de Quincy wrote a short story adaptation of his own: The Fatal Marksman, which is based on the original ghost story. The Fatal Marksman, along with the original tale of Der Freischutz, would later inspire Robert Wilson, Tom Waits, and William S. Burroughs to create The Black Rider.
Burroughs recreated this story by adding elements of his own life: the infamous incident where he accidentally killed his wife in a botched William Tell parody and his quintessential knowledge of addiction.
The Plot
Wilhelm, a city clerk, is in love with the royal huntsman’s daughter, Kathchen. In order to marry her he must prove himself to be a worthy hunter, a skill at which the fumbling clerk is inept. While attempting to hunt, Wilhelm meets a devilish Peg Leg man who offers him some help in the form of magic bullets – guaranteed to always hit their mark. With these bullets, Wilhelm brings home enough dead game to satisfy Kathchen’s father. Their wedding day is announced, as is the test that Wilhelm must pass on his wedding day to prove himself a true shot – the shooting of a wooden bird from a tree. Having spent all of his magic bullets, Wilhelm returns to the crossroads with hopes of meeting Peg Leg to get one more special bullet for this final shot. Peg Leg eagerly gives him the desired bullets, but with a presaging warning: “Six are yours and hit the mark, and one is mine and hits the dark.” At the trial, all of the wedding guests are gathered in anticipation as Wilhelm takes aim and fires a shot that can’t miss…
The Cast
The cast was incredible. Every one one of them fully captured their (sometimes multiple) characters, completely removing any impression that their lives existed off the stage. Rachael Johnston was not only an amazing Kathchen, but kept the entire crowd enthralled with secondary roles; most of the time singing (in)human noises instead of lyrics. Kevin Corey was a perfect Wilhelm; playing the clown until his meeting with Peg Leg (the Devil) and then slowly and subtly becoming more demonic until his final number.
Mackenzie Gray might have impressed me the most. His role as the Living Skeleton saw him channeling Tom Waits’ caricature, but never once coming off as a cheap imitation. His voice, as enormous as his stage presence, immediately set the bar from the opening number and continued to impress throughout the show.
The Band
The three-piece band, led by Corinne Kessel, provided a perfect backdrop for the show. The three musicians managed a huge sound through instrument switching and intuitive arrangements. For the first time in my life, I saw a Chapman Stick (a ridiculous, multi-stringed instrument designed for two-hand tapping that’s usually used for masturbatory noodling) on stage, and also for the first time, I saw it used brilliantly. Dale Ladouceur used it to play bass and melody lines simultaneously, but also took advantage of its ridiculousness and created some pretty excellent sound effects for the actors.
The Show
The show was simply incredible; the kind of incredible that’s hard to verbalize without just saying “incredible”. As excited as I was to see the show, I’ll admit that I was wary of the classic theatre judgments (i.e. not respecting the original intent, bad performance, etc.) On top of that, Tom Waits is one of my favourite artists, and “The Black Rider” one of my favourite albums. I had images of horribly over-the-top imitations of Waits’ gravely voice, pointless obscurities, and impossible attempts at the original staging.
None of those worries came to fruition. It was simply incredible.
