When the lights come on the actors are frozen, their bodies contorted, and Caligula enters to soft, melodic music. Caligula gyrates pointedly when the beat drops, as if jolted by an electric shock. One by one, the other characters succumb to the music as well.
“‘Caligula’ is a deliciously bizarre show; it shows that theater doesn’t have to be about a family on the couch,” says Russell Berns, the show’s director and a Communication junior. “It epitomizes what theater should be: mythic, epic and larger than life.”
“Caligula,” an adaptation of Albert Camus’ 1944 work that opened yesterday, tells the story of a group of characters who rebel against a tyrannical Roman emperor. The characters oppose the eccentric and megalomanic Caligula.
The set creates a visual interplay of light and dark: the white curtains that encircle the stage contrast the blackness of the stage and ceiling. The set alludes to the pressures of good and evil, pushing and pulling Caligula on his pursuit of freedom.
“‘Caligula’ embraces the beauty and ugliness of life within a single moment,” Berns says.
The production also underlines the importance, and absurdity, of human existence. Caligula rapes, murders and terrorizes on his quest for the truth. Communication junior Sam Long portrays Caligula; the decision to cast a woman in this role plays upon its philosophical roots. Long says that these existential concepts drive the play.
“I think that the essence of ‘Caligula’ is the realization that people come to when they realize that they will die,” Long says. “Some people turn to God and the notion of an afterlife, others turn to Buddha and the notion of reincarnation, and then there are the existentialists. They realize the absurdity of our existence, and that all we have is one life to do something extraordinary.”
Caligula immerses himself in the absurdity of human existence in his quest to live by the light of truth. The emperor’s quest for freedom is a central concept of the play, one that Berns wants the audience to experience.
“We wanted to expose the audience to Caligula’s reign of terror and make them believe that they too are Caligula’s subjects,” Berns says. “The audience should realize that this is not a story that can be confined within the theater’s four walls, it should be applied to life.”
“Caligula” integrates the audience into their production: The first row of seats sits on the stage, the arena-style seating surrounds the set from three sides and the actors get right in audience members’ faces.
Everyone involved in this production says they believe the audience can benefit from Camus’ existential message.
“This show presents something that is so essential: Believing that the impossible is possible,” Berns says. “It is about breaking from the chains of youth, and society, to build our own world.”
Long points to a specific moment in Act 3 where she feels that Caligula is speaking to both the other characters and the audience.
Caligula cries out: “The great mistake you people make is not believing the theatricality of it all. If you did, you’d know that any man can play the lead of his divine tragedy and become a God.”
Long says he thinks this central message can be applied to life and the constant quest for happiness.
“Camus is telling us to wake up, realize that this is our only life and that we make the rules,” she says. “We need to go out into the world and assertively find our respective paths.”
“Caligula” is playing at Shanley Pavilion Thursday at 7 p.m. and 10 p.m.; Friday at 8 p.m. and 11 p.m. Tickets are $5 for students, faculty and senior citizens; $7 for general admission. Tickets can be reserved online at groups.northwestern.edu/lovers.
Medill junior Michael Burgner is a PLAY writer. He can be reached at [email protected].