Ondine
by Jean Giraudoux, translated by Maurice Valency
The Walnut Street Theatre Studio 5
February 5 - March 2, 2014
Directed by Aaron Cromie
Setting
ACT ONE: A Fisherman’s Cottage
ACT TWO: A Hall in the King’s Palace
ACT THREE: The Courtyard in the Castle of the Wittenstein TIME: The Middle Ages
Director
Aaron Cromie
Costume Design
Jill Keys
Lighting Design
Matt Sharp
Scenic Design
Lisi Stoessel
Sound Design
Adriano Shaplin
Puppets, Cutouts and Shadows
Aaron Cromie
Technical Director
Scott Cassidy
Production Stage Manager/ Light and Sound Operator
Jonathan Phillips
Scenic Painter
Kate Coots
Voices
Marissa Bescript, Ama Bollinger, Aaron Cromie & Susan Giddings
Photoshop Magic
Bill Brock
Photography
Johanna Austin / AustinArt.org)
Produced by arrangement with Dramatists Play Service, Inc.
This production includes members of Actors’ Equity Association.
Ondine is made possible in part by generous grants from Wyncote Foundation; The Samuel S. Fels Fund; The Philadelphia Cultural Fund; The Pennsylvania Partners in the Arts program of the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts, a state agency funded by the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and the National Endowment for the Arts, a federal agency with support also provided by PECO and administered regionally by the Greater Philadelphia Cultural Alliance; The Charlotte Cushman Foundation; CHG Charitable Trust; and Plannerzone.
Playing time is approximately 130 minutes; there will be one ten minute intermission.
Reviews
Ondine (2014)
“…an enchanting play about enchantment…”
Toby Zinman, The Philadelphia Inquirer
“brightly drawn characters…an entertaining version of a play that we probably won't be seeing again for some time…”
Howard Shapiro, WHYY’s Newsworks.org
"...Giraudoux’s musings about our relationship with the natural world’s mysteries elevates Ondine above absurdist playfulness...splendidly proves that magical allegories can be entertaining and meaningful for adults..."
Mark Cofta, Philadelphia City Paper
“…charming production captures all the magic, heartache, and absurdity of love, as well as the inescapable realities of the established social order, the world, and life itself, in this rarely-performed classic.”
Debra Miller, Phindie.com
Director's Notes
February, 2014
Welcome to the IRC’s Season Eight, entitled: “What Happens When the Unstoppable Force Meets the Immovable Object?”
Paracelsus, Renaissance Prince of Alchemists and Hermetic philosophers, taught that the invisible, spiritual counterpart of visible nature is inhabited by a host of peculiar beings known as elementals: gnomes, undines, sylphs, and salamanders — living entities, resembling human beings, inhabiting worlds of their own. These elementals were unknown to man because our undeveloped senses were incapable of functioning beyond the limitations of the grosser elements.
In Ondine, calamity and absurdity arise when human and spirit worlds meet center stage - the human concerns of nobility and status ruling the King’s Court are rendered powerless when confronted by a free-spirited and unknowing force of nature.
Ondine marks the first IRC production directed by an outside force, with Aaron Cromie bringing his unique magic and all manner of puppet and mask elements to the stage. When I learned of Aaron’s love of Giraudoux’s story, it seemed fortuitous to combine his many talents with the IRC’s mission of presenting seldom-performed absurdist (leaning) works. This experience has been a wonderful union of style and form, akin to the birth of a Reese’s peanut butter cup, and hopefully, as tasty.
The IRC’s budget is by far the smallest in the land, 65% of which is comprised of donations and ticket sales. We present handcrafted works, labors of love that likely won’t see area stages otherwise. We owe a huge debt to IRC’s ensemble of actors and designers who have brought these shows to life over the years. And to you, our curious, adventurous audience for joining us on the journey.
Eugene Ionesco’s Rhinoceros tramples into town for FringeArts Festival in September. Mark your calendars for this one.
Well wishes,
Tina Brock
Producing Artistic Director
Review: ONDINE
SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 8, 2014
By Toby Zinman
For The Inquirer
An enchanting play about enchantment. With Aaron Cromie working his theatrical magic, IRC's production of Ondine by the French modernist Jean Giraudoux is a charmer.
The tiny stage at the Walnut Studio 5 is the perfect venue. Lisi Stoessel's set looks like an illustration from an old book of fairy tales: a little house in the midst of a dark forest. This, combined with Matt Sharp's evocative lighting and Adriano Shaplin's sensational sound design where storms rage and the air is filled with voices, creates a world where Hans (Andrew Carroll), a handsome knight in shining armor, and Ondine (Ama Bollinger), a beautiful water nymph, can fall dangerously in love.
Carroll finds a high style of delivery that is both dashing and self-mocking, while Bollinger's lithe physicality and French accent set her apart from all the other actors (some of whose Philadelphia accents seem leaden in this other-worldly world). Carroll and Bollinger are two young talents to watch.
The play seems to be about the longing for a life larger than the practical and the domestic, although the grass, as Giraudoux is not the first to point out, always looks greener on the other side. This longing, the play seems to say, is the essence of the human dilemma and also the essence of theatre.
The superb Susan Giddings plays both The Old One, ruler of the spirit world, and The Illusionist who offers theatrical entertainments for the royal court's pleasure where the Lord Chamberlain (the excellent Robb Hutter) wrylu oversees the fussy protocol. The result of The Illusionist's illusions is a demonstration of the way theatre creates life before our eyes: Ondine is meta before the fact.
Cromie adds his own puppets and silhouettes and talking cutouts to rein in the whimsy that could make this show cloying and instead makes it fun. The second act stretched the argument beyond my interest, since the debate between the real and the imaginary, the natural and the artificial was already firmly established.
Finally, I think the play is about falling in love; Hans, who sees himself as a minor character in a story called Ondine, knows he "strayed from the appointed path, and I was caught between nature and destiny. I was trapped."
It is unnerving to remember that the play was written in 1939, and that Giraudoux, a greatly admired intellectual who headed the French Ministry of Propaganda, believed that "There is no theatre which is not prophecy."
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Indiopathic Ridiculopathy Consortium at Walnut Studio 5, 9th & Walnut Sts., through March 2. Tickets $22-25. Information: http://ondine.brownpapertickets.com or 215-285-0472.
FEBRUARY 11, 2014
SHAPIRO ON THEATER A BLOG BY HOWARD SHAPIRO
Review: The beauty and blather of 'Ondine'
Love is a drug but beware the awful side effects. Wait...no!...that can't be right. Let's try again: Love and deceit are human so therefore both are equ...Yikes! Wrong again. OK, I've got it. Love is a many splendored thing, but not for people.
Geez, I just don't understand what Jean Giraudoux is trying to tell us about love and the human condition in his paradox-filled play "Ondine," a rarely performed fantasy that's been dusted off and nicely oiled by the Idiopathic Ridiculopathy Consortium. In a way, the author's messages (there seem to be many) make little difference because, as Giraudoux would have it, if you're smart about something, you're probably dumb. (And if you claim to understand "Ondine," don't blame me for the epithet, blame Giraudoux.)
The late French playwright wrote "Ondine" in 1938 and it's considered by many his finest work. Indeed, the fantasy has an impressive theatrical structure – at one point the story we've been involved in becomes a play within a play, a highly amusing manipulation. It's also, at times, quite beautiful – an impassioned love story about a love that cannot be. Giraudoux based "Ondine" on a German tale, and on Broadway in 1954, it turned the Tony-winning Audrey Hepburn into a star, in the title role. That version was translated into English by Maurice Valency, whose script is being used by Idiopathic Ridiculopathy under the direction of local all-around theater artist Aaron Cromie. (Cromie's work as a puppet-maker and puppeteer shows up in "Ondine," in some minor roles.)
A plus for "Ondine" is its brightly drawn characters – among them, a knight whose armor is not always so shining (Andrew Carroll), a woman whose love for the knight is often close to true (Sarah Knittel), a king in love with the idea of being Hercules (the company's leader, Tina Brock). There's a chief of the king's court whose self-assurance matches his cluelessness (Robb Hutter), a wizard who sees into the future (Susan Giddings) and of course, Ondine. She is an enchanting sea nymph come ashore, and an ill fit in a world of humans. She's candid to a fault, open to new ideas and opinionated about the ways of sea creatures. She's a great swimmer.
She's also a great frustration to the knight, who falls for her at a chance meeting, only to break his vows to the woman he's promised to marry. Ondine is played with a marvelous naivete by the lovely Ama Bollinger, the only character who speaks in a French-accented English, which makes her even more lovable. (At times, she reminded me of film's Gigi, a girlish character who's, in fact, all woman.)
Idiopatic Ridiculopathy is giving "Ondine" a generally good ride, although the night I saw the show the cast ran roughshod over two key points in the play -- one involving a swapped parentage and the other, an explanation of a marriage gone sour. The dialogue came too quickly and was too loud to be digested at those junctures. In the end, though, the production was an entertaining version of a play that we probably won't be seeing again for some time.
Too bad, because when Giraudoux sticks to the plot, "Ondine" makes for a happy confusion of reality and enchantment. Whenever he hits the intersection of human behavior and philosophy, though, it's a blathering wreck. I wouldn't say that one wins out over the other, but you may need to choose your focal point.
"Ondine," a production of the Idiopathic Ridiculopathy Consortium, runs through March 2 on the fifth-floor stage at Walnut Street Theatre, on Walnut between Eighth and Ninth Streets. 215-285-0472 or www.brownpapertickets.com/event/504495.
http://www.newsworks.org/index.php/arts--culture/item/64812-review-the-beauty-and-blather-of-ondine-
Theater review: Ondine
By Mark Cofta
Philadelphia City Paper
Published: 02/13/2014
Why do we consider fairy tales a children’s realm? The not-for-kids (due to its maturity and complexity) Ondine, Frenchman Jean Giraudoux’s 1938 fantasia by The Idiopathic Ridiculopathy Consortium, splendidly proves that magical allegories can be entertaining and meaningful for adults.
The eight-year-old company’s first guest director, Aaron Cromie, maintains the playfully absurdist IRC aesthetic nurtured by founder Tina Brock in shows ranging from European classics like Franz Kafka’s The Castle and Eugene Ionesco’s The Chairs to modern works like Charles Mee’s Paradise Park.
From Lisi Stoessel’s storybook sets and Adriano Shaplin’s atmospheric sound to Jill Keys’ colorfully bohemian costumes and Cromie’s clever puppets and cutouts, Ondine shimmers with impish delight. So does Ama Bollinger as the water sprite title character, a hyperactive beauty whom knight errant Hans, played with stiff-spined commitment by Andrew Carroll, instantly loves.
Inconveniently, Hans is already betrothed to mere mortal Bertha (Sarah Knittel), causing all sorts of humorous problems at court.The Illusionist (Susan Giddings) must conjure key future scenes to reveal the triangular relationship’s inevitable arc.
Giraudoux’s script bogs down in debate — particularly in Act III’s sham trial — but Cromie’s 11-actor ensemble, featuring Brock’s aged king, Robb Hutter’s supercilious Lord Chamberlain and other IRC stalwarts, keep the action swirling around Bollinger’s Ondine, a childlike force of nature. Giraudoux’s musings about our relationship with the natural world’s mysteries elevatesOndine above absurdist playfulness.
Through March 2, $20-$22, Walnut Street Theatre Studio 5, 825 Walnut St., 215-285-0472,idiopathicridiculopathyconsortium.org.
ONDINE
(Idiopathic Ridiculopathy Consortium):
Nature versus Human Nature
February 9, 2014
Debra Miller
Phindie.com
When Hans, a handsome but not-so-smart knight-errant of Wittenstein, meets the unbridled naiad Ondine at a fisherman’s cottage in the woods, they fall recklessly in love and marry—a union that is not possible for beings from two different realms. Compounding the troubles of the ill-fated couple is Bertha, a cultivated princess betrothed to Hans, who sent him on his life-altering quest through the forest, and The Old One, who enforces a fatal pact that seals their destinies. Enchantment, romance, humor, and tragedy characterize Jean Giraudoux’s ONDINE of 1939 (based on the German Romantic novella UNDINE of 1811), and the Idiopathic Ridiculopathy Consortium’s charming production captures all the magic, heartache, and absurdity of love, as well as the inescapable realities of the established social order, the world, and life itself, in this rarely-performed classic.
The multi-talented and singularly brilliant Aaron Cromie directs a cast of eleven live actors, along with assorted puppets, shadows, and cut-outs (which he also created, inspired by the black-and-white Art Nouveau illustrations of Aubrey Beardsley), in a storybook setting and a play-within-a-play format that combines poetic myth and symbolism with the brutal actualities of love and loss, and nature versus human nature. Though the themes are deadly serious, Cromie’s touch is as light and lyrical as the movements of a water sprite, while never losing a firm grip on the important moral lessons inherent in all good fairytales. He seamlessly shifts moods, from the comic playfulness of Act I to the haunting melancholy of Act II, leaving the audience brimming with thought and emotion at the final curtain.
Newcomers to the IRC Andrew Carroll (Hans) and Ama Bollinger (Ondine) are a delight as the mismatched couple; his knight-errant is laughably human, haughty and muddled, and her elemental creature is a true force of nature, acting with total abandon and bringing both passion and ethereality to the title character. The well-cast Bollinger’s native French accent further serves to distinguish Ondine, an outsider in the earthly sphere, from the mortals with whom she interacts. Standouts among the supporting cast are IRC regulars Tina Brock as the blustery and vertically challenged King; Ethan Lipkin as the philosophizing Judge; Robb Hutter as the comically urbane Lord Chamberlain; and a commanding Susan Giddings in the patriarchal role of The Old One/The Illusionist.
IRC’s artistic design contributes immeasurably to the mythic spirit of the story, with bewitching sound (Adriano Shaplin) and lighting (Matt Sharp), and alluring sets (Lisi Stoessel) and costumes (Jillian Keys), all evocative of a fairytale. February 5-March 2, 2014; http://idiopathicridiculopathyconsortium.org.
About the author
Debra Miller
Debra holds a PhD in Art History from the University of Delaware and teaches at Rowan University, Glassboro, NJ. She is President of the Board of Directors of Da Vinci Art Alliance, Philadelphia, has served as a Commonwealth Speaker for the Pennsylvania Humanities Council, and is a judge for the Barrymore Awards for Excellence in Theatre. Her publications include articles, books, and catalogues on Renaissance, Baroque, American, Pre-Columbian, and Contemporary Art, and feature articles on the Philadelphia theater scene.
ONDINE (Idiopathic Ridiculopathy Consortium): At sea with emotional hyperbole
February 10, 2014
Julius Ferraro
Phindie.com
Talented and celebrated director Aaron Cromie teams up with the idiosyncratic Idopathic Ridiculopathy Consortium to tackle French impressionist Jean Giraudoux at the Walnut Street Theatre Studio 5. The play, ONDINE, is about colliding worlds. Cromie and his team succeed at portraying one of these worlds, but falls short on the other.
Ondine—an ondine, or water sprite (or the Little Mermaid)—has made child-rearing difficult for her adopted peasant parents. She’s headstrong, fickle, and—well—magical. But when Hans, a young, handsome, kinda dumb but sorta poetic and really self-satisfied knight-errant rides up to their door and decides to take her away to marry her, they aren’t happy to lose her.
Ondine is special. Her unreal relationship to the world makes her impossible to control and impossible to give up. Supremely herself, she delights in every moment, listens to no one, makes and breaks storms, and flips unexpectedly from one caprice to another. She is engaging, vivifying, and dominating. At this point, she is not so different from Hans, who with his royal status, confidence, and fickleness in love is similarly dominating and unpredictable.
Their connection and the impossibility of the relationship are both obvious in a moment. Philadelphia newcomer Ama Bollinger brings an intensity and dedication to the role which make Ondine more than just a tiresome manic pixie dream girl. She becomes, somehow, both mythical and real, analogous with youth and foolishness but also somehow relatable to a mature sensibility: pure enthusiasm.
After a wowing first act, receiving admiring and spontaneous applause, the second two thirds of this production gradually decline in verve. Hans brings Ondine to court, where their relationship’s impossibilities become clear to both of them. Finally, Ondine undergoes a farcical trial by judges of supernatural crimes and Hans is driven to madness and death by the strength of her love for him.
Cromie and his talented cast establish the mythical world, but the real world it is meant to collide with never quite finds its footing.
Giraudoux’s major themes, as the program tells us, include love and the relationships between man and woman (“or between man and some unachievable ideal”). But Giraudoux’s concept of love comes across as unstomachable in its naiveté.
Ondine, as she herself attests, thinks always of Hans, wants to be fused to him by flesh, and sees him as her god. You might say, the entire play is about that unstoppable force’s collision with reality—the concept that Ondine’s suffocating, childish brand of love is unachievable.
Yet, in this impressionistic play, characters can die of love. They are driven crazy by it. Hans and Bertha feel “destined” to be with one another. This becomes very tricky to present to a modern audience. It is a naive and dangerously cliche presentation of love. The language is hyperbolic. And Cromie’s actors, and therefore the audience, never quite come to terms with the levels it wants to soar to. They reach a certain emotional intensity in the middle of the second act and don’t offer much variety afterwards.
Therefore, in a funny way, the “reality” which Ondine is meant to collide with, and which lends this play its power, never becomes real to us, and the “love” presented remains an unattainable and frustrating ideal. The question I come away with is this: can we even do impressionism in Philly right now? What companies, directors, and actors do we have who possess the style and the understanding to pull it off? It is not unlike the failure of People’s Light (read my review of GHOSTS here) to fully grasp and present Ibsen’s realism in an affecting way.
There are, of course, numerous things to like about this production. Susan Giddings as the Illusionist, Andrew Carroll as Hans, and of course Bollinger as Ondine are chief among them. February 5-March 2, 2014; http://idiopathicridiculopathyconsortium.org.
About the author
Julius Ferraro
Julius Ferraro is a freelance writer and blogger in Philadelphia. He believes in the power of theater and art and all that stuff, and that Philly's stuff is the best stuff. He writes weekly for Philly.com'sArt Attack on those very topics. He has an email here and a blog here. His twitter is @JuliusFres