VpStart Crow Productions

2007 SEASON: Ghost Sonata

The Ghost Sonata
Directed by Christine D. Lange
May 4th through May 20th, 2007

Written in 1907 by August Strindberg, The Ghost Sonata (Spöksonaten) is a Swedish play about a naïve young student who idealizes the lives of the inhabitants of a stylish apartment building in Stockholm. He makes the acquaintance of the mysterious Jakob Hummel, who helps him to find his way into the apartment, only to find that it is a nest of betrayal, sickness and emotional vampirism. The world, the student learns, is hell and human beings must suffer to achieve salvation.

Performances are Fridays and Saturdays at 8 pm and Sundays at 2pm. Advance individual ticket sales are available only through BoxOfficeTickets.com or 800-494-TIXS. Adults are $20; Students/Seniors/City & County Employees are $15.

Vpstart's "The Ghost Sonata": Be prepared to think – and to feel

By Valerie Walker
The Gainesville Times
Friday, May 11, 2007

In general, I have a feeling I'm in for a bad time any time a play opens with a woman clad in black, wearing a veil that obscures her face entirely.

First instinct? "Run away! I'm about to see something depressing."

But the theater staff had closed the doors already; it was a small audience at the Sunday matinee, and I figured I'd disrupt the theater by bolting in the first two minutes. Then I thought, "I'm a professional. It's only 90 minutes. I can handle it."

I am ashamed to admit those were the thoughts that ran through my head in the first moments of August Strindberg's "The Ghost Sonata," Vpstart Crow's most recent production at the Cramer Center in Old Town Manassas, directed by Christine Lange. I'm ashamed because I'm an English scholar – of all people, why should I be afraid of being depressed?

Once things started moving, I started to relax into the play. Zach Arnold, as one of the primary characters (the student), appeared and asked a mute milkmaid to help him get a drink of water to wash the blood off his hands. He had spent the night rescuing the victims of a collapsed house.

Bloodstained hands and a collapsed house sounded pretty interesting, and I began to get hooked. Then all these seemingly random characters wandered through the stage.

Jay Tilley, as the superintendent, strolled through often, carrying plants in various stages of sickliness. A maid swept the ground, picking up dead stalks of plants. A moment later, another character lay the same dead stalks down again, over and over again like the random cycles of dream thought.

"The Ghost Sonata," written in 1907, was revolutionary for its time, a huge dramatic risk because it deviated from the standard play that everyone expected at that time.

It wasn't an old-school living-room comedy or drama with its predictable forms, clever dialog, and linear plot lines. In Strindberg's time, the play was mostly ignored. Strindberg didn't care; he continued with his experimental forms and dark images.

In "The Ghost Sonata," the student meets a man who calls himself Jakob Hummel. "Serve me and you shall be a lord of creation," Hummel says to the student. Other famous folks have made such offers, most notably the devil speaking to Jesus in the desert – so we're pretty clear Hummel is a bad guy right from the get go. But it's hard to understand just how nasty Hummel is until the mere touch of his hand nearly sucks the life right out of the student.

I had a friend like that in college, but the irony is that I'm sure she felt the same way about me, and that's the situation in "The Ghost Sonata." All the major characters have had the spirit sucked out of them, but they are simultaneously draining it out of others.

There is no purity, no levity, no brightness in Strindberg's ghostly dream life. As the play goes on, the atmosphere starts to suck the optimism right out of the student until he becomes thoroughly disillusioned with this group of people he once admired and the young girl he wanted to marry. He says, "Where cane you find anything that fulfills its promise? Only in your imagination."

"The Ghost Sonata" is a difficult play to watch. It's not "Annie," that's for sure, but it's a glimpse into Strindberg's mind, and odds are there is something in it you can relate to: The way people are socially punished for speaking the truth, for instance.

This play was a gutsy selection for Vpstart Crow, and the actors rose to the challenge, portraying the darkness and the sadness, without overreaching or heading into melodrama. Such tactics would have made Strindberg roll over in his grave – after all, this is a man who wrote, "If my tragedy depresses many people, it is their own fault."

Vpstart's production of "The Ghost Sonata" runs through May 20 at the Cramer Center in Old Town Manassas. Tickets are $20 and show times are Fridays and Saturdays at , Sundays at 2 p.m.

For more information, go to www.vpstartcrow.com.

	COMING SOON Vpstart Crow's 2008-2009 Season An Enhanced Season of Seven Productions! The First Production opens in May Performances are Fridays and Saturdays at 8pm and Sundays at 3pm. Advance individual ticket sales are available only through BoxOfficeTickets.com or 800-494-TIXS. Adults are $20; Students/Seniors are $15.
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	2007 SEASON: Ghost Sonata The Ghost Sonata Directed by Christine D. Lange May 4th through May 20th, 2007 Written in 1907 by August Strindberg, The Ghost Sonata (Spöksonaten) is a Swedish play about a naïve young student who idealizes the lives of the inhabitants of a stylish apartment building in Stockholm. He makes the acquaintance of the mysterious Jakob Hummel, who helps him to find his way into the apartment, only to find that it is a nest of betrayal, sickness and emotional vampirism. The world, the student learns, is hell and human beings must suffer to achieve salvation. Performances are Fridays and Saturdays at 8 pm and Sundays at 2pm. Advance individual ticket sales are available only through BoxOfficeTickets.com or 800-494-TIXS. Adults are $20; Students/Seniors/City & County Employees are $15. Vpstart's "The Ghost Sonata": Be prepared to think – and to feel By Valerie Walker The Gainesville Times Friday, May 11, 2007 In general, I have a feeling I'm in for a bad time any time a play opens with a woman clad in black, wearing a veil that obscures her face entirely. First instinct? "Run away! I'm about to see something depressing." But the theater staff had closed the doors already; it was a small audience at the Sunday matinee, and I figured I'd disrupt the theater by bolting in the first two minutes. Then I thought, "I'm a professional. It's only 90 minutes. I can handle it." I am ashamed to admit those were the thoughts that ran through my head in the first moments of August Strindberg's "The Ghost Sonata," Vpstart Crow's most recent production at the Cramer Center in Old Town Manassas, directed by Christine Lange. I'm ashamed because I'm an English scholar – of all people, why should I be afraid of being depressed? Once things started moving, I started to relax into the play. Zach Arnold, as one of the primary characters (the student), appeared and asked a mute milkmaid to help him get a drink of water to wash the blood off his hands. He had spent the night rescuing the victims of a collapsed house. Bloodstained hands and a collapsed house sounded pretty interesting, and I began to get hooked. Then all these seemingly random characters wandered through the stage. Jay Tilley, as the superintendent, strolled through often, carrying plants in various stages of sickliness. A maid swept the ground, picking up dead stalks of plants. A moment later, another character lay the same dead stalks down again, over and over again like the random cycles of dream thought. "The Ghost Sonata," written in 1907, was revolutionary for its time, a huge dramatic risk because it deviated from the standard play that everyone expected at that time. It wasn't an old-school living-room comedy or drama with its predictable forms, clever dialog, and linear plot lines. In Strindberg's time, the play was mostly ignored. Strindberg didn't care; he continued with his experimental forms and dark images. In "The Ghost Sonata," the student meets a man who calls himself Jakob Hummel. "Serve me and you shall be a lord of creation," Hummel says to the student. Other famous folks have made such offers, most notably the devil speaking to Jesus in the desert – so we're pretty clear Hummel is a bad guy right from the get go. But it's hard to understand just how nasty Hummel is until the mere touch of his hand nearly sucks the life right out of the student. I had a friend like that in college, but the irony is that I'm sure she felt the same way about me, and that's the situation in "The Ghost Sonata." All the major characters have had the spirit sucked out of them, but they are simultaneously draining it out of others. There is no purity, no levity, no brightness in Strindberg's ghostly dream life. As the play goes on, the atmosphere starts to suck the optimism right out of the student until he becomes thoroughly disillusioned with this group of people he once admired and the young girl he wanted to marry. He says, "Where cane you find anything that fulfills its promise? Only in your imagination." "The Ghost Sonata" is a difficult play to watch. It's not "Annie," that's for sure, but it's a glimpse into Strindberg's mind, and odds are there is something in it you can relate to: The way people are socially punished for speaking the truth, for instance. This play was a gutsy selection for Vpstart Crow, and the actors rose to the challenge, portraying the darkness and the sadness, without overreaching or heading into melodrama. Such tactics would have made Strindberg roll over in his grave – after all, this is a man who wrote, "If my tragedy depresses many people, it is their own fault." Vpstart's production of "The Ghost Sonata" runs through May 20 at the Cramer Center in Old Town Manassas. Tickets are $20 and show times are Fridays and Saturdays at , Sundays at 2 p.m. For more information, go to www.vpstartcrow.com.
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