The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari
Buy
the poster!
by John Moran
directed by Bob McGrath
scenic design by Laurie Olinder
and Fred Tietz
films by Anthony Chase
costume design by Catherine Zuber
lighting design by Howard Thies
sound design by Christopher
Walker
Closed March 22, 1997
At the Loeb Drama Center, 64 Brattle
Street, Cambridge
The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari is a world premiere,
multimedia theatre piece with music, loosely based on the 1920
German Expressionist film of the same name. Bob
McGrath and John Moran have
created a hybrid of the film and the Parisian drama known as the
Théâtre du Grand Guignol, the 19th-century
theatrical tradition out of which the film was born. Specializing
in terror, blood and guts, and sexual innuendo, The Grand Guignol
was the dirty little secret of Paris, a place where pimps and
petty thieves shared benches with the crowned heads of Europe,
all seeking terror and titillation. Moran uses a unique "techno-opera"
stage technique that he's perfected with McGrath: the music, sound,
and sound effects are pre-recorded, and the actors on stage lip-synch
to their own recorded voices. All of this is overlaid with film,
slides and set pieces. The effect is a dream-like hypnotic ride
that is both funny and horrific. The lights, color, sound, and
costumes create something like the excitement of an amusement
park -- except it's like nothing you've ever seen before!
After each performance of The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari,
the audience was invited to attend a screening
of the silent film in the lobby, with live piano accompaniment
by Martin Marks.
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 Synopsis
Penny Price is the proprietor of a small, dilapidated penny arcade
and an abandoned theatre. Her business began to founder several years
ago when her lover died, leaving Penny alone with nothing but a slot
machine that projects his moving image for companionship.
The bank threatens to foreclose on her mortgage, but just when all
seems lost for Penny and her arcade, the infamous Grand Guignol
theatre company comes to town. The Guignol troop, headed by the
mysterious Dr. Caligari, offers to buy the empty playhouse from
Penny. She gratefully accepts, and all her problems seem to have
ended -- for the moment.
The Guignol actors are planning a special one-night engagement,
and soon their preparations are the talk of the town. The show opens
before a packed house, but the audience does not realize the true
nature of the performance until it is too late to
escape.
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Related Links
American Repertory Theatre
This page
updated April 1, 1997
webmanager@amrep.org
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