Reviews

transFigures

This multi-layered look at the Jerusalem Syndrome proves to be a genuine letdown.

Dylan Dawson and Marguerite Stimpson
in transFigures
(© Carol Rosegg)
Dylan Dawson and Marguerite Stimpson
in transFigures
(© Carol Rosegg)

Lear deBessonet’s transFigures takes a multi-layered look at the Jerusalem Syndrome, a subject so ripe for theatricalization that the hit-and-mostly-miss result is a genuine letdown.

For those unfamiliar with a condition diagnosed less than 30 years ago, it’s explained in the first speech: “Since 1980, Jerusalem’s psychiatrists have encountered a small but increasing number of tourists who, upon arriving in Jerusalem, experience a psychotic episode during which they believe themselves to be a figure from biblical history.”

That description goes some way toward clearing up the prologue, wherein the cast of six actors, wrapping themselves in sheets, writhe on the floor or push against a side wall or other parts of Jenny Sawyer’s set with its tall, opaque screens. It appears that demons — maybe Mary Magdalene and Moses — are taking possession of the ensemble. “Oh, you’ve got another John the Baptist,” notes Victor (Nate Schenkkan), the policeman assigned to the Jerusalem Syndrome unit, just seconds later.

Once Victor has declared himself, deBessonet brings on five other contemporary figures. There’s Gene (T. Ryder Smith), a scientist studying a young man named Joshua (Dylan Dawson), who regularly talks to God and whose brain patterns during these spells is of interest; Bill (a persuasive David Adkins) and Susan (Marguerite Stimpson), a married couple about to spend time in Israel; and Bill’s colleague Margaret (Juliana Francis), who spends her downtime writing slogans on Post-its that she freely distributes and who also collects 61 prayers from other employees for Bill to insert in the Wailing Wall.

By this time, deBessonet’s mission is manifest: She wants to poke around religious extremism to see what it suggests about the upside and downside of organized religions. And although she’s billed as having conceived the play-cum-movement piece, the text is supplied, according to the script, by Bathsheba Doran, Russell Shorto, Erin Sax Seymour, Charles Mee, Henrik Ibsen, Joan of Arc, the Bible, and Post-it notes of New York secretaries. That’s some collection of motleys!

A slice of Ibsen’s Lady From the Sea is rendered melodramatically, apparently because that play’s protagonist, Ellida, is an example of increasingly obsessive behavior; and Joan of Arc shows up because she heard voices. (Both roles are played by Francis.) Indeed, St. Joan’s materialization is the most intriguing sequence, since it’s spliced with the interrogation of 1994 abortion clinic killer/hair-dresser John Salvi (Smith) and asks a pertinent question about whose crusading Catholic voices you’re going to believe. At other times, the threading of figures present and past is less illuminating and frequently histrionic.

Eventually, one of the focal characters shows alarming signs of the seven stages of Type III Jerusalem Syndrome — among them, taking many showers, rigging a toga from hotel bed linens, and delivering an incoherent sermon within sermonizing distance of a landmark. The temporarily deranged person’s identity won’t be divulged, but the one most likely to rip the sheet from the mattress is obvious from the get-go.

Determined to make her points, deBessonet — aided by choreographer Andrea Haenggi — asks much of her players. More than once they have to manipulate elastic tapes or dance or at least move gracefully while wearing sheets. Sometimes, they have to move the mottled screens as if bearing crosses. They often must convey various stages of what is either spiritual ecstasy or sheer madness, or the fine line between the two. It’s not easy, but the six performers do their level best.

During the initial voice-over, this startling statement is made: “Over the last 20 years, over 1200 people have been diagnosed with what has come to be known as Jerusalem Syndrome. Of all the patients hospitalized, 66 percent were Jews, 33 percent were Christians, and one percent had no known religious affiliation.

Well, whaddya know? Jews are twice as likely to believe that they’re Abraham sparing Isaac than Christians are likely to perambulate as the disciple Paul. Although deBessonet hopes TransFigures will spur reexamination of one’s faith and its origins, the play’s real bonus may be as a guide to finalizing one’s Middle East travel plans.

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transFigures

Closed: May 6, 2007