Adventures at BAM Part III: Malkovich in 'The Infernal Comedy'

Our third foray into this season's Next Wave Festival at the Brooklyn Academy of Music, was, as always, a great time and, as they often are, provocative. This time around it was for John Malkovich, which was one of the two main reasons for engaging in this in the first place (though truth to tell, John Hurt in 'Krapp's Last Tape' which we are seeing next, is one I'm looking forward to as well.)

I had never seen Malkovich on stage so was excited about the prospect; I love his intensity, and he seems to me to be a very intelligent and daring actor(Bette had seen him in Death of a Salesman and she still talks about how mindblowing that was). Well this piece was daring, but for different reasons. The idea of Malkovich doing a not-quite-solo piece about a serial killer (true story as well) seemed like an inviting proposition. And he was all the things you would expect, charming, funny, and with moments of real tenderness that were nearly as surprising as the sudden moments of violence that erupted.

Now,this was performed at BAM's opera house (where we had previously seen Threepenny Opera)and I can imagine that if you were up in the second balcony some of the nuance of Malkovich's performance would have been totally lost . . . his performance needed a more intimate space . . . but there was a reason why that could not be: there was a thirty piece orchestra on stage, and two opera singers who sang arias that were intended to coincide with the story somehow. The orchestra was great, playing vintage instruments, and a real treat. For all I know the singers were great as well, but a little aria goes a long way with me, and some of these arias went waaay beyond my threshold . . . the ladies were meant to evoke characters Malkovich spoke about: his mother (one of the more startling images was of Malkovich with his ear to her stomach listening to his pre-natal heartbeat and his hand on both his heart and hers as she sang ... oh and did I mention we were in seats in the first row stage right about five feet from where this was happening!) When he strangled one he ladies of with her brassiere (the modus operandi for the guy he was playing) I was sort of hoping that was the end of her singing for the evening! Of the one hour and 45 minute performance at least half was music; but in only one or two cases was it interminable).

I made a choice early on to ignore the supertitles and watch Malkovich's reaction as the girls sang and he sat there listening very actively. It was great to be so close and to really watch his face as he interacted with the other characters, his focus and intensity were what you would expect, but the piece didn't serve him all that well. BUT it was another case of an artist making choices, difficult choices, unexpected choices, and how can you not applaud that? He could have a great career doing lame movies (with some good ones in there to be sure) or safe plays and make a gillion dollars, but he has chosen to go out on a limb and do something for the art of it . . . if only more people of his stature would do that . . . but of course, there are very few of his stature. I applaud him for that, and it was a very unique evening of theater.

A sidebar: in a Charlie Rose interview broadcast this week and available on CR's web site, Malkovich was asked about the cliche that 'the camera never lies'. Malkovich countered that of course the camera lies, that is the whole point, stage is where the truth resides because, to paraphrase Malkovich, "how can you lie on stage?"

Damn! I love theater!