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At the National, Some Trace of 'The Idiot'

by Zoe Strimpel
Thu, 31 Jul 2008 at 10:20 PM

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The National Theatre is associated with "proper" theater: big, luxuriant, expensive, and expansive productions of heavy hitters from Michael Frayn to Tennessee Williams, Beckett, and Shakespeare. Indeed, that's been my experience of the place. Bit of a shock last night, then, to find myself at the Cottesloe (the National's most intimate theater, tucked around the side of the main building) for a play ominously entitled "…some trace of her," directed by Katie Mitchell.

A title containing no capitals and three dots is a warning sign for me, cautioning me that something thinks it's cleverer than it is. Well, "…some trace of her" may, in fact, have been cleverer than me. It is a sequence of "reimagined filmic shots" based on Dostoevsky's "The Idiot" (the adaptation is credited to "Katie Mitchell and the company"), requiring mind-bogglingly complex staging.

A big screen appears, and the arty, black-and-white scenes that appear on it are coming from hastily arranged shots onstage. It takes a while to realize that the screen is a real-time reflection of what's happening in front of us. Indeed, the stage is somewhere between a film set and a theater's backstage with props, cameras, and costume wardrobes galore. The actors themselves are part characters, part stagehands, and part producers, all wielding cameras when they aren't, well, acting.

The structure of the performance does not allow for any coherent buildup of story, and I imagine you're a little in the dark if you don't know the Dostoevsky. (I didn't.) Basically, this is a sequence of set pieces: some impressive, even mesmeric in their dramatic tension. But in no way does this play draw you in, and I'll wager I'm not the only National regular who came away scratching her head.

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