Born out of actorly improvisations based on the suits of playing cards and tackling German history from the end of World War II to the beginning of the ongoing war in Ukraine, Robert Lepage’s “faith, money, war and love” is knitted together by chance.
The story of an orphan girl delivered to a nunnery who becomes a supermodel after giving up her children to pursue a career, the play tracks the intersecting lives that spring from and surround her own. But despite the broad canvas, expertly rendered by Lepage and co, there is no theory of history animating this rare Berlin character-based production, where lighting and sound design receive as much (if not more) attention as the text.
The text slides along as smoothly as the LED screens transition from one image to another, unspooling a narrative invested in coincidence, astrology and tarot cards whose significance fails to outstrip the exercise that birthed it: we humans possess a marvellous power of invention.
For while the excellent ensemble of actors shape-shift with numerous – and transformative – costume changes (Vanessa Sampaio Borgmann deserves roses for her efforts here) ultimately, the piece stays on the surface. It is a great instance of stage magic and illusion – as well as a trick where a five-hour run time feels short – but dwell on it deeply and you’ll find in its depths only reflexive melodrama and fatalism.
- Schaubühne, Kurfürstendamm 153, Charlottenburg, Nov 22-23, 25-26, German with English surtitles, details.
