Wings of Desire at A.R.T.

More Angels in America

By: Charles Giuliano - Nov 30, 2006

Mam Smith is stunning and spectacular as the trapeze artist Marion.

Marion hovers over the stage.

Marion and the fallen angel Damiel unite.

The band plays multi language loud rock music.

Dropping in on earth.

An overview of the stage.

Hanging out on earth with plastic chairs.

A pause for refreshment.

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Wings of Desire

Stage adaptation by Ola Mafaalan, Gideon Lester, and Ko van den Bosch after the film by Wim Wenders, 1987. Directed by Ola Mafaalan. Set and lighting by Andre Joosten, Costumes, Regine Standfuss. Music and Sound by Andy Moor. Additional music by Jesse Lenat and Hadewych Minis.

American Repertory Theatre, Cambridge, Mass. in association with Toneelgroup Amsterday. Cast: Damiel, an angel, Bernard White, Cassiel, an angel, Mark Rosenthal, Marion, a trapeze artist, Mam Smith, A former angel, Stephen Payne, Homer, an immortal poet, Frieda Pittors, Thoughts, live music, Jess Lenat and Hadewych Minis, Dying Man, Fred Goessens and News Reader, Robin Young.

Box office: 617 547 8300
http://www.amrep.org

Through December 17

      How to transform from film to the stage the moody, atmospheric German film "Wings of Desire"  (1987) by Wim Wenders with its desolate rooftop views of a bombed out, post war Berlin from which peer down two angels Damiel and Cassiel observing and commenting on the eternal foibles of mankind? The short answer is forget about the film, hold the plot, and rework the piece as an example of typically avant-garde stagecraft by the American Repertory Theatre in collaboration with Amsterdam's Toneelgroup. The new work opened in Holland in October where it toured and is now having its closely watched American debut in Cambridge, Mass.

     Ola Mafaalan the Syrian/Dutch keystone of this collaboration has discussed how initially she was enervated by the slow moving Wenders film and its sweeping panoramas by cinematographer Henri Alekan but eventually became haunted by it as one of the paradigmatic films of our time. In particular she became fascinated by angels who are reported to have shown up in many of her productions which led to finally directly taking on the source of all this agita and ennui.

     The most significant change from film to stage has been to completely eliminate site specific references. Post War Berlin is out. And with it any realistic set. In this design by Andre Joosten we have a bare stage with props and the dramatic use of lights pointed to the sky from which falls, periodically, a soft stream of sand suggesting some channeling from earth, mortality to heaven, the immortality of the angelic observers. But there are verbal references to Boston, Cambridge and Harvard Square as well as a spotting of the elusive gangster Whitey Bulger. The Here and Now, literally, is evoked by news broadcaster and local celebrity, Robin Young, as Herself, ripping and reading. So the decision was made to abandon the historical context evoked by Wenders through his angels Bruno Ganz, and the former angel, Peter Falk, and to remake the film into a contemporary love story between the immortal but lonely and bored angel, Damiel (Bernard White) and the exquisite trapeze artist Marion (Mam Smith).

     As in the film, the play develops slowly. For much of its one hour and forty minutes there is a struggle to get involved. But by the climactic and stunning conclusion, when the fallen angel makes exquisite aerial love to the trapeze artist, we are enthralled. Between here and there, however, proves to be a rough patch. The stage set and props are so stripped bare that we do not have the seductive panoramas of the Wenders film and have to make do as the mind wanders trying to focus on the slowly developing action.

     The major object on stage is a concession wagon with its piped in aromas of stale deep fat and sausages. The angels Cassiel (Mark Rosenthal) and Damiel wax philosophic about the course of Empires. They have seen it all looking down on earth from their perch on the roof of the wagon. Until Marion makes a sweeping and spectacular entrance. Throughout the rest of the play we are riveted by her slender, nubile body in a spangled circus outfit of white bra and thong. In addition to her balletic aerial artistry she is a well trained actress who delivers her lines effectively. The many talents of Mam Smith contribute about 90% to the success of this production. What a find. We are just stunned by her many complex and death defying configurations of a large loop of white cloth suspended over the stage. It is little wonder that Damiel is anxious to give it all up, become mortal, eventually grow old and die, but in the arms of this precious, beautiful and uniquely talented artist. In that regard this play is entirely believable.

     But giving up heaven for earth is not that simple. We view the conundrum through the eyes and raunchy wit of a former angel (Stephen Payne) who was performed with great impact by the American actor, Peter Falk, in the German film. It is more than just a pun to say that this character is "down to earth." He embodies the humanity of being human at all its best and worst. He is the best of man. He is the wurst of man. Once it is revealed that he is a fallen angel it is suggested that, arguably, there are former angels in the audience. The actors point them out to comic impact. During encores there is a bar of text projected on the back of the stage that reads that "This play is dedicated to the former angels" in the audience.

     All of this talk of angels makes me nervous. It wasn't that long ago from the stage of the A.R.T. that the line "Hell is other people" was pronounced in a text by Sartre. So why is this cutting edge company so obsessed with Heaven and Hell? What if you subscribe to the notion that "God is dead" which makes this angel stuff a rather moot point?

     In an effort to convey mortality on stage and what Damiel is getting into there is hell on earth. There is a cacophony particularly in the loud rock music performed by Jess Lenat and Hadewych Minis which is, indeed, straight from hell. If that is the point of the awful music then it is most effective. I guess if  you give up immortality for love on earth you have to put up with bad music. It is part of being in the world today. Rap crap pervades contemporary life.. Other allegories of earthly chaos are the deadpan reading of the daily news, tossing about of plastic chairs, a kid cavorting on a skate board,  senior citizens dancing awkwardly, and stage hands sweeping up piles of the sand that has been cascading from heaven. Does this sound jumbled and chaotic? Exactly.