Silent Swoons: Reconstructing German Expressionist Cinema
ABOUT
The idea for DIARY OF A SOMNAMBULIST came from the 1919 German Expressionist film The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari. In the film, Cesare is a somnambulist manipulated by the mysterious Dr. Caligari into committing a series of murders. The hallmark of this silent classic was its exclusive use of black-and-white sets constructed and hand-painted in an extremely stylized manner.
The notion of an alluring creature controlled by an outside force amidst this fantastic monochromatic dreamscape became my point of departure. With by scenic design collaborator Huck Snyder, we restricted the design pallet (costume, makeup, film and setting) to black and white. Dr. Caligari was present metaphorically, by way of a small cut-out figure spinning incessantly on a hidden turntable. For dramatic tension, I instead paired Cesare with another sleepwalker from the history of art––Lady MacBeth, accompanied by Verdi’s music rather than Shakespeare’s verse. Through an extended series of solos and duets, the two sleepwalkers interact with the set, the projected film sequences, and each other.
“Kelly and Huck Snyder (designer) use the film The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari as a two-dimensional and technological art form, as the inspiration for a live theatre piece. Here, the traditional virgin, hypnotized by her stalker’s menacing presence, is replaced by a guilt-racked sleepwalker out of a different nightmare—Lady Macbeth (Marleen Menard), who hand-washes her tormented way across the stage, and then in concert with Kelly. “Concert” is the right word, too, since the piece is developed like a musical suite, and almost all the action is played out in rhythm, to a tape collage alternating the more morbid reaches of 19th century symphony and opera with the most stylishly grotto horror-movie soundtracks. There is no literal—certainly no literary—content to the piece, only image and music, and any implications these call up. But these latter are hypnotically beautiful. It’s apparent that they know what they’re doing, and that they’ll have a hard time bettering the beauty and skill with which this has been carried out.” – The Village Voice
PRODUCTION DETAILS
Story, choreography and direction by John Kelly
Set installation by Huck Snyder
Film sequences by Anthony Chase
lighting design by Pierre Lamarche
costume by James Reilly
wig by Andre LaFreniere
sound mix by Guy Story
music by Samuel Barber, Georges Bizet, Bernard Hermann, Aram Khachaturian, Serge Prokofiev, Giacomo Puccini, Henry Purcell, Igor Stravinsky, Giuseppi Verdi, Marek Weber and Paul Whiteman.
Premiere: Theater In Limbo, The Limbo Lounge, NY, 12 February 1986.
WITH: John Kelly (Cesare, the Somnambulist) and Marleen Menard (Lady MacBeth).
FILM CAST: George Carstens, Wendy Copp, George M., Philly Abe, Hapi Phace, Stephen Tashjian (Tabboo!), Anthony Chase, Pierre Lamarche, Marleen Menard, John Kelly, Huck Snyder.