Number One in Something- Henrik Ibsen's The Master Builder (Theatre Review)

Vol. 1 Issue 33

I went to see a production of Ibsen’s The Master Builder last night at BAM, that’s Brooklyn Academy of Music for non-New Yorkers. Not only was it a brilliant production, it also stared John Turturro, the actor of Coen Brothers film’s fame Barton Fink, O Broth Where Out Thou and about fifty others. And who could forget the greatest role of all, Jesus Quintata? “Nobody fucks with the Jesus!” Nobody is right! This guy is a very successful actor and director and everyone wants him do The Jesus, still, and Lebowski was 1998.

Last night though there was no Jesus on stage. Turturro was very good in his role here. As I think a good actor should, he played the character as it needed to be played, making the character seem more real than the actor himself, something Will Smith or Tom Cruise could never do. Maybe that’s why Turturro is not as famous a Will Smith or a Tom Cruise, but he’s hardly a victim of his own success. According to ImDb he has more that ninety credits just in film alone.

Normally I’d just as rather read a play than see it. The whole idea of live theater always seems to come off as very contrived. As I sit in the audience watching I’m always aware that it’s all an act. I keep thinking, “Why are they acting like that? Nobody acts like that or talks like that in real life.”

It turns out that I’d just never seen a really good play before! This production of Ibsen’s was so natural it was like watching real people. The actors were mesmerizing which is a lot for me to say considering I almost always notice overacting, exaggerate it, and allow it to ruin the whole damn thing for me as I just mentioned, but not this time.

The production was super tight and well rehearsed. The actors were accompanied by a musical duo each of whom covered multiple instrumental parts throughout the show. The music linked up so well with the stage action that it was well, basically flawless.

As a former musician it almost made me nostalgic for the days when I use to play for production shows, but then I remembered that all the shows I played for were mostly awful, and not even real pit orchestra work in New York but on cruise ships. I did audition for Cirque du Soleil once. It might sound impressive but actually anyone can send in an audition tape. I didn’t get the gig obviously or I probably never would have started writing at all, let alone this blog (and that would have been tragic, I know).

I’d have been too busy playing Radio City, touring the world and making thousands of dollars. Like I said though, I was almost nostalgic. The musicians were there to accompany the actors, as they are in Cirque, as it always shall be.

Even the set was cool. It’s centerpiece a huge metal stove and chimney encompassed by a slanted, angular metal structure serving as the household; too, a nod to the Turturro’s character’s modernity and dominance in the field of architecture. But the Master Builder points out that he is not an architect. True, an architect would design buildings for a living just as The Master Builder does, but an architect can leave her architect-self at the office door. An architect designs and builds for a living, as a trade, for an income. The Master Builder exchanges his buildings for money, yes, but also more. His buildings are pieces of himself. Erected all over the land as symbols of love, but with the laying of every brick his liquefied soul drips away. It all ends very badly.

I can honestly say this is the best piece of theatre I’ve ever seen. That’s not saying much. I’ve probably only seen a few dozen plays in my life, but for the sake of this production, there is least one guy in the world that places it as his number one in something.