The Memorandum
The Memorandum
BackStage
Karl Levett
November 4, 2010
It's been more than four decades since the 1968 American premiere of Vaclav Havel's "The Memorandum," when it was part of Joseph Papp's inaugural season at the Public Theater. The play's inspirational spark was the absurdities of life in Eastern Europe under communism; we witness one man become a victim in a bureaucracy gone mad. This revival, from the enterprising Actors Company Theatre, gives us a chance to contemplate that desperate period. But the wheel of time has spun very quickly over the years: Changes include the Velvet Revolution in 1989 and the playwright himself becoming president first of Czechoslovakia and then the Czech Republic. As a result, "The Memorandum" has lost much of its immediacy. It's now more interesting as a historical statement than as a piece of vital theater.
The cautionary tale is told in 12 attenuated scenes. Josef Gross (James Prendergast), the managing director of an office, opens an important memorandum written in an incomprehensible language. His daffy secretary, Hana (Lynn Wright), explains that it is written in Ptydepe, a new language reckoned to be more efficient. Gross, who works on a humanist principle, learns that the order has been given by his deputy director, Jan Ballas (Mark Alhadeff). Thus begins Gross' humiliation. He first seeks help from the Ptydepe teacher (Joel Leffert), then goes to the Ptydepe Translation Center, run by Otto Stroll (John Plumpis) and graduate Ptydepist Alex Savant (Trent Dawson), aided by their lovely secretary, Maria (Nilanjana Bose), and nominally overseen by the always-too-busy chairman, Helena (Kate Levy). There's also a staff-watcher, George (Jeffrey C. Hawkins).
Gross cries out about "this vicious, vicious circle!," and the play has a circular structure, demonstrating its lesson about running around in circles getting one nowhere. Although Havel dispenses some winning doublespeak jabs along the way, quite a bit of the satire now seems heavy-handed and repetitious. As Havel intended, underlying the satiric touches is a vein of ever-present menace; this now seems to have a longer shelf life than much of the comedy.
This stylish production, ably directed by Jenn Thompson on Adrian W. Jones' antiseptic white set, features witty costumes by David Toser in a dozen shades of gray. Prendergast, who on short notice took over the central role of Gross from an injured Simon Jones, does well in resigned bafflement, resisting any move toward pathos. Alhadeff, as the slippery Ballas, makes a first-class smooth-talking villain. Leffert is a most authoritative teacher of gibberish, and Bose craftily injects a touch of humanity into the play's final scene. Some much-needed humor is left to Hawkins, as a silent yes man, and Wright, who does wonders with hair-fixing vacancy.