Theater Review: A Low-Voltage Russian revival of Schiller’s Love and Intrigue

Love and Intrigue (Kabale und Liebe)

Written by Friedrich Schiller

Directed and adapted by Lev Dodin

Maly Drama Theatre of St. Petersburg, Russia

Brooklyn Academy of Music

June 16, 2018

As I was watching this rare US performance of a play by the famed German classicist playwright Johann Christoph Friedrich von Schiller (1759-1805), I kept thinking that I was at an early Verdi opera, just with no music. Perhaps it was the supratitles (the actors were speaking Russian, in an adaptation for the St. Petersburg troupe performing it) or the melodramatic events—lots of court plotting and frustrated love. Then it occurred to me…the Luise in the lead role was in fact also the Luisa of the title role in Verdi’s early opera Luisa Miller (1849). It turns out that Schiller’s plays, rarely performed on stage these days (at least outside Germany), were a favorite of romantic opera composers. His plays were the basis for Rossini’s William Tell (1829), Donizetti’s Maria Stuarda (1835), then Verdi’s I Masnadieri (1847), Luisa Miller (1849), and Don Carlos (1867). The plots are rich with coincidence, (melo)dramatic surprise turns, and tortured (metaphorically and actually) characters. We should remember that Schiller was writing these plays in the late 18^th century, a time when French, English and certainly American playwrighting was not very good. His plays were therefore wildly popular and influential in Europe, along with those of his contemporary Goethe.

So how does Love and Intrigue (1784) do now as a straight play, without the emotionally amplification of opera singing and orchestration? The plot revolves around the love by young Ferdinand, the son of the president of the Duchy, for Luise Miller, daughter of a humble music teacher. Luise is also loved by the aristocrat Wurm, setting in motion lots of plotting by Ferdinand’s father to get Luise married off to Wurm, while pairing Ferdinand to the older, morally fallen English aristocrat Lady Milford. The action is a mix of drama and comedy, and the director used a light touch in not overplaying the melodrama. The interest in the plot lies in the blunt portrayals of class conflicts and stupidity of the ruling class, doubtless risky in the aristocracies of the late 18^th century. In that it reminded me of The Marriage of Figaro, written about the same time by Beaumarchais in France. Schiller was a pioneer of the German Sturm und Drang (Storm and Stress) movement that favored emotion and subjectivity over tight logical control, so it is no wonder that later opera composers gravitated to his melodramatic plots.

That said, this is not quite Shakespeare or O’Neill. Chekhov, Ibsen, and Strindberg are still a century away. There is little in the plot to compel reflection or real dramatic tension for a modern audience, and character development is rudimentary.  This Russian production did its best to keep things moving, with quick set changes, excellent acting, well-done supratitle translations, and inventive lighting and sound design. The director chose music matched to era, mostly choosing Beethoven as the musical backdrop. Costumes were appropriate for the era, with aristocrats in tuxedos and gowns. The basic set of interchangeable tables and chairs without much backdrop was cleverly manipulated by six hunky young guys in white tuxedos, constantly moving things about and frowning at inappropriate activities they saw on stage, like meddlesome servants. The young Ferdinand, whose love for a woman lower than his class provides most of the dramatic fuel, was charmingly played by Danila Kozlovsky. His initial entrance, and the very opening of the play, was basically a flying leap acrobatically landing prone on top of a table to kiss his love Luise. 

This made pretty clear both his intentions and what the play would focus on. The versatile Ksenya Rappaport played Lady Milford, an aging, morally fallen British aristocrat forced into being a concubine for the Duke and a potential wife for Ferdinand. Ms. Rappaport was wonderful, mixing acrobatic dance-like entrances and exits with acting of a wide dynamic range. She was a conflicted character, not truly comfortable in either the upper or lower class. 

Schiller’s writing for her comes the closest to achieving a truly three-dimensional character. Her dancelike performance contrasted with the director’s general approach of having people march on and off stage with sharp right angle turns, perhaps to show their entrapment in class roles. This got a bit old after a while. While I enjoyed the performance, it seemed long, and this is not a play that I would care to see again. I think the operatic adaptations of Schiller best in the modern world.