Losing the Faith

Wittenberg's lofty characters take the low road.

by David Anthony Fox

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Published: Feb 5, 2008

Oh, how I wish I'd left at intermission and written it up then. Alas, I stayed till the bitter end. So ... here are two mini-reviews — take your pick.

Act I:

"I'm playing at the Bunghole tonight — two stein minimum, and all the tripe you can eat," says Dr. Faustus. So, even though Wittenberg is a play full of lofty characters — Faustus and Martin Luther and Hamlet and (wait for it) the Eternal Feminine — we know we won't be taking the high road. Actually, low comedy is Wittenberg's saving grace. There's certainly nothing plausible in the scenario of the meeting of all these minds at a German university, but it's superbly acted by an ensemble including Greg Wood (Luther) and Scott Greer (Faustus). Playwright David Davalos has fun with the clash of religious beliefs, and manages to riff cleverly on Shakespeare, history, pop culture and most of all, life in academia. If you spend a lot of time around students and their less mature counterparts, faculty, you might find yourself breaking into uncontrollable giggles. (I do, and I did.)

Act II:

Even Act I could be shorter, but at this point Davalos repeats himself ad nauseam, apparently thinking the same jokes just get funnier with every retelling. Worse, now we're in for the pretentiousness we'd been spared hitherto. Luther and Faustus spar endlessly for the mind and soul of Hamlet, in what I'm sure Davalos thinks is a triumph of Tom Stoppardian erudition. (If God has any taste for theater, I hope he holds Stoppard accountable right alongside Faustus.) Instead, it's a masturbatory exercise in self-congratulation. Till now, I would have described Wittenberg as well directed. But hasn't J.R. Sullivan ever heard of scissors? Is there no one who will save Davalos — talented, but an insufferable windbag — from his own terrible instincts?

Wittenberg Through March 16, Arden Theatre Co., 40 N. Second St., 215-922-1122, ardentheatre.org.

 

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