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THE SOUND AND THE FURY Send This Review to a Friend
My advice to anyone going to see the Elevator Repair Service’s return of its stage production of a section of William Faulkner’s 1929 novel “The Sound and the Fury” would be to read Faulkner first. Otherwise, one may be lost in the shuffle and find it difficult to follow what is unfolding. Of course, one could argue that a theater work should stand on its own without one having to do research to fully grasp the piece. One could also argue that it might just be preferable to read Faulkner in the first place.
The Elevator Repair Service, with its reputation for experimentation, has taken the first part of the Faulkner work titled “April Seventh, 1928” and adapted it for the stage, with its cast members giving their all in the elaborate interpretation, most playing multiple roles. The drama is set in Mississippi during the years 1898-1928, mostly in an unpretentious all-purpose living room designed by David Zinn.
There are parts of Faulkner’s dialogue projected above and characters read the conversations punctuated by “he said” and “she said,” giving the impression of carefully following the writing.
The key to understanding the play is to realize that it is told from the viewpoint of severely retarded Benjy Compson (Susie Sokol), who observes life about him skewered and bewildering for his underdeveloped mind. With so much whirling about, it is not always easy to keep realizing that events are unfolding from Benjy’s distorted perspective.
Various members of Compson family and their African-American servants have their lives dramatized, and sometimes characters break into fast-paced dancing. The result is a very busy tapestry played out flamboyantly in two hours and fifteen minutes without an intermission.
A sadness pervades the spectacle, occasionally relieved by humor reflecting the dysfunctional lives under inspection. But the work challenges audiences to keep up with it and make sense out of all of the performances and Benjy’s bouts with frustration and hysteria. Not everyone will think it worth spending so much intellectual energy in trying to follow everything instead of just curling up on a sofa and reading the source material. But for those who enjoy such a challenge and don’t find it an interminable slog, the Elevator Repair Service obliges big time.
This is the company that gave the world “Gatz,” the six-hour plus reading of “The Great Gatsby.” Credit the enthusiasm of company members, in addition to Sokol as Benjy, for bringing “The Sound and the Fury” to stage life, including Daphne Gaines, Rosie Goldensohn, Maggie Hoffman, Mike Iveson, Vin Knight, Aaron Landsman, Randolph Curtis Rand, Greig Sargeant, Kaneza Schaal, Pete Simpson, Lucy Taylor, Tory Vazquez and Ben Williams. Director John Collins has whipped it all into shape, confusion intact. At the Public Theater, 425 Lafayette Street. Phone: 212-967-7555. Reviewed May 22, 2015.
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