Pirandello's Henry IV, as adapted by Tom Stoppard, a nimbus theater production at Minneapolis Theater Garage on 3/6/09

By: David de Young

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Dwight Gunderson as Henry in the the Nimbus production of Henry IV - Photo by Jon Behm

If you somehow manage to walk into the Minneapolis Theater Garage thinking the latest production by Nimbus is a Shakespeare play, Luigi Pirandello and Tom Stoppard will clear that up for you rather quickly after the stage lights come up. Though Shakespeare did write two plays of the same name, Italian playwright Pirandello penned his own Henry IV about a completely different king in 1921. The play makes liberal use of elements from real recorded history, but director Josh Cragun assures us (correctly) that being familiar with the 11th Century Holy Roman Emperor “does not detract from understanding or enjoyment of the play.”

Tom Stoppard translated Pirandello’s play into English in 2004 creating an updated version Cragun calls “faithful to the original work,” with “the vitality in English that it had in the original Italian.” Other commentators have said Stoppard upped the funny factor in his adaptation and made the antiquated early 20th Century psychiatric theory part of the joke.

As the action begins, we learn that an Italian aristocrat, Henry (played by Dwight Gunderson) has gone mad after falling off a horse during a masquerade twenty years before while playing the role of Henry IV. To care for him in his mental illness, Henry has been placed in a remote house in the country made up to look like a medieval castle with four actors who play the roles of his attendants. All the while, this “expensive insanity” is being financed by Henry’s nephew Di Nolli (Andrew Sass) who arrives at the castle with his fiancé Frida (Larissa Shea), Frida’s mother Matilda (Jane Hammill) and Matilda’s lover Belcredi (Milton Papageorge). Along with a doctor of psychiatry (Arnie Roos), the group hatches a plan to cure him of his madness, dressing up in period costumes to pay him a visit in the throne room.

The set up has all the elements of a muddled-up comedy of errors, but instead of the resolution of mistaken identity at the end, we are left with even more questions than we had when we came in, especially about sanity versus insanity. This "is he or isn’t he crazy?" tension drives the play forward, and the play illustrates how being in the presence of a madman can make you question your own saneness more than anything else since “madmen shake the foundation of everything you believe.”

Nimbus’s production is a quick 95 minute jaunt (no intermission, and none needed) with commentaries on both identity and madness. Though it’s not a perfect production, it’s most definitely a satisfying one. Director Cragun tackles the script in a straightforward way that does justice to the way Stoppard tackles the play's themes. And it works.

Dwight Gunderson is solid in his role as Henry, and Jane Hammill gives a memorable performance as Mathilda. (Hammill, by the way will be appearing in the upcoming Coen Brothers' film, A Serious Man, that comes out in October.) There are no extraordinary performances here, but that only serves to keep the playing field level throughout. The overly abrupt ending following the last of several unexpected plot twists leaves us wondering what might have happened if Stoppard had allowed the action to continue even five minutes longer.

Henry IV runs through Sunday, March 29th.  Tickets and more information available at www.nimbustheatre.com

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Location Info: Minneapolis Theater Garage
Artist Info: nimbus theatre

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