OpenStage’s world premiere of “Rasputin” is in many ways the perfect model for how to mount an original script. And while the finished work isn’t perfect, the remarkably organic development process this venerable Fort Collins theater company has undertaken is one that should be studied and emulated. The process requires diligence, patience, open-mindedness and, in the happy case of “Rasputin,” no more money than it would have cost to mount any other play.
“Rasputin” is the 28th original production by a Colorado theater company in 2005, and one can only imagine how much more realized promising debut stagings of “Dead White Males,” “Oil” and “The Dead Guy” might have been had they been put through the same demanding and loving paces.
It’s one thing to order a script and perform it six weeks later. OpenStage committed to developing Fort Collins playwright David Hall’s humanizing look at Russia’s mad monk two full years ago. It started with openstage etc., the wing dedicated to developing new and experimental works. Over three weeks in March, Hall’s script was given six public staged readings, each adjudicated by a guest from the theater community. I was invited to lead one of those informal discussions, and with Saturday’s world premiere, I got to see firsthand the massive transformation of a script that ultimately had eight revisions.
Grigory Rasputin was the contradictory Siberian peasant who had a gluttonous appetite for wine, women and power, but also was possessed of a healing gift that had some believing him to be a man of God, others the devil’s pawn. Rasputin’s ability to spare the hemophiliac Russian heir of deadly bleeding episodes won him the begrudging respect of Tsar Nicholas Romanov II and the undying affection of his wife, Alexandra. His subsequent influence over Nicholas’ court has been exaggerated by history, but he was executed by jealous members of the extended imperial family.
With his lothario charm, humongous ego, historical relevance and unsettling mystery, Rasputin is the perfect theatrical character. Hall’s purpose is to separate man from myth, to use known facts and let audiences decide whether this polarizing man was sinner, saint or, most likely, somewhere in between. Such historical figures are nearly impossible to know in their time. From Jesus to Joan of Arc to Hitler to George W. Bush, the people of their day are those least capable of discerning a threat from a savior. It takes the perspective of time.
Hall and director Eric Corneliuson have staged a well-structured, linear biography in which actor L. Michael Scovel simply moves from point to point on the stage, continuously encountering new characters in fluid, seamless transitions. We meet the mother who dreamed of her son’s demise and the father who saw him as a traitor. We see Rasputin heal many, but oddly Hall skips perhaps the most theatrical moment of his life – when he dramatically roused the tsarina’s best friend, mangled in a car wreck, from a coma.
Hall’s “Rasputin” takes a simplified storytelling approach designed as much to inform as to entertain. The production is enhanced by Thomas Miller’s sound and Dennis Madigan’s moody lighting, and there are several solid supporting performances – notably Deborah E. Todd as Rasputin’s mom, Mark Terzani as the tsar and Brian Brooks and R. Todd Hoven as the courtly assassins. But there are just as many that are lacking in requisite confidence.
Ultimately the production rests squarely in the hands of Scovel, who has handled the title duties since Day One. And all that time living in Rasputin’s skin may ultimately be a detriment, for the actor comes across as perhaps too invested. His is a dour performance with too much monotone shouting and not enough nuance. There is clearly deeper psychological terrain for Hall to have mined here, but in the end Scovel’s approach is so overly earnest as to be bludgeoning. We need less mope and more Machiavelli.
Still, “Rasputin” is an accessible character study, one that was born at the right time and is a credit to OpenStage.
Theater critic John Moore can be reached at 303-820-1056 or jmoore@denverpost.com.
*** | “Rasputin”
DRAMA|OpenStage Theatre & Co., 417 W. Magnolia St., Fort Collins|Written by David Hall|Directed by Eric Corneliuson|Starring L. Michael Scovel, Kristin Fuhrmann Clark and Mark Terzani|THROUGH NOV. 19|8 p.m. Fridays-Saturdays; 2 p.m. Nov. 6, 13|2 hours, 20 minutes|$13-$20|970-221-6730
