"The Good Person of Setzuan,” by Bertolt Brecht. Frank Theatre Premiere, October 28, 2016 (Directed by Wendy Knox, adapted by Tony
Kushner)
This is a long, somewhat archaic play that actually
speaks directly to the present. It deals
with the structure of a world presided over by ‘gods’ who want humans to do ‘good’
- yet a world in which it is impossible
to survive while at the same time doing ‘good.’
Getting money is the catch and the play’s constant theme, which is why the
play is still relevant. Given that we
have to go back to a play written by a German Communist in the late
1930’s to talk clearly about how economics affects people shows the sad state
of present theater.
As Erik Wright said in his book ‘Understanding
Class’ about game theory, Marxists deal with ‘systemic power’ – i.e. ‘what
game should be played.’ They do not just
deal with the accepted institutional ‘rules of a given game’ or the even more
low-level situational ‘moves within the fixed set of rules.’ The game itself is the issue and this is
Brecht’s ultimate point. What game do
you want to play?
The play was staged in the empty Rainbow Foods
building on Lake Street
in Minneapolis. This was a large store bought by a competitor
that owned a Cub grocery across the street, then closed it intentionally in
order to drive more business to Cub. The
union workers at Rainbow were laid-off in the process. Frank has staged the resulting large empty
space as a homeless encampment – tents, mattresses, sleeping bags, junk,
shopping carts… perhaps a sly commentary on that act. You walk through this on your way to the
play’s real site – the loading dock/shipping and receiving area in the far back
of the store. The loading dock has
stairways, a huge fan hole, the dock doors and upstairs rooms, which all serve
as the set. Frank in the past was known
for this kind of industrial staging, especially with plays dealing with poverty
or hard politics.
Poverty is the norm in Setzuan (the original German
spelling). Shen Te is a young prostitute
who shows hospitality to 3 gods by housing them for one night, and is given
silver dollars in return. Previously she
had to sell her body in order to survive, though she knew it was wrong and optimistically
hopes to make a change for the better.
Shen Te takes the money and rents a store, stocking it with
tobacco. However a horde of homeless
relatives show up, who take things, thieve up the street and threaten her new
livelihood. The former owner has unpaid
bills to a carpenter she had not told Shen Te about and he comes demanding payment. Her new rich landlord lady
knocks and demands 6 months rent up front.
Shen Te gives money to a young man she has fallen in love with, Yang
Sun, money she borrowed from neighbors so he can be a pilot in Peking. She gives
out rice to the homeless. She says she
will testify to the police for Wang, the water-seller, who has been injured by the
rich barber. She buys water from the water-seller on a rainy day. She makes a deal with the barber to house her
homeless relatives in his unused buildings, almost promising to marry him in
the process. The neighborhood loves her for these acts.
However, all this ‘giving’ makes it impossible to
survive running the store, so she dresses up and pretends to be a penny-pinching and hardened
male cousin, Shui Ta, to save the business. Through this device, the store
begins to turn a profit by ending the charity process, and instead Shui Ta
plays financial hardball. Shui Ta
ultimately appropriates some tobacco bales and starts a tobacco factory,
employing the relatives and others, including Yang, her ‘lover’, and becomes a
successful business person in Setzuan – the ‘king’ of tobacco. Through this dual-identity device the play
becomes a reflection of the battle between altruism and exploitation, between
love and economic survival, between capital and something else, playing out internally.
In this play, Brecht is saying that capitalism and
mercantile trading economies ultimately shape the psychological and social
characteristics of the people in the ‘game,’ no matter what the individuals
want. Implicitly, everyone in society
has dirty hands and cannot be completely ‘good.’ Even Frank Theatre accepts corporate
donations, as they themselves point out. The real issue then becomes the
degree of dirt. The water-seller, Wang, is the only person who exploits no one,
but lives in rags with a damaged hand, though some say the water he sells is
tainted…
At the end of the play, after the dual identities are
revealed, the cast asks the audience to solve this contradiction. Brecht is
obviously hoping audience members will think that perhaps the ‘game’ is the
wrong game and that a society not based on money might be a better
alternative. Unfortunately for most, the
audience will perhaps leaven their money-consciousness with a bit more kindness, but leave
the game unchanged.
This was a premiere and still a bit rough, but that
is normal. The play has well-sung songs
as do most Brecht plays, some modern, but the words were difficult to
understand. One of the best scenes,
reminiscent of the play “Oil and The Jungle,” was the song the workers sing while
handling tobacco. The humor is intermittent,
the actors serviceable, the setting familiar to anyone who has worked in shipping, but perhaps exotic for others.
The play will run for the next 4 weeks.
Prior reviews of Frank plays: “Love and Information” and “Things
of Dry Hours.” A U of M play, “Oil
and The Jungle,” reviewed below, as well as the book “Understanding
Class,” both referenced here. Use blog
search box, upper left.
Red Frog
October 29, 2016