Puntila & his Hired Man Matti, a Frank Theatre Production at City of Minneapolis Public Works yard on 3/20/08

By: David de Young

Grant Richey as Herr Puntila and Carson Lee as Matti -  Photo by Tony Nelson

Directed by Wendy Knox

The magic of a Frank Theatre production begins before the proverbial curtain even rises. A theater without an official space, each production is staged in new and often unexpected environs. It’s a joy to watch what was once a factory, a warehouse or a garage get a second lease on life as a theater, complete with light and sound.

Bertolt Brecht was known for drawing on Greek traditions as well as for wanting his plays to promote debate rather than just tell a story. If one of Brecht’s primary concerns was making audiences talk amongst themselves later, Frank Theatre’s production of his 1941 play Puntila and his Hired Man Matti is a success. A discussion about what the show might have meant that started on the way home from Thursday’s preview performance (the show opened Friday, March 21^st) was still going between me and my show companion even after the Easter holiday.  

Of course, if you’re looking for a story as well, there’s still one of those, and an interesting one at that. Herr Puntila (Grant Richey), a Finnish farmer who owns a birch forest, wants to marry off his daughter Eva (Emily Zimmer) to an Attaché (Patrick Bailey). But his daughter is in love with Puntila’s chauffer, Matti (Carson Lee). Drunk, Puntila’s all for the union of his daughter with his hired man, but when he’s “completely and senselessly sober” it’s a whole ‘nuther story, as the saying goes.

This production might be hard to digest in one sitting – it throws a lot at you at once. But perhaps in awareness of that, Frank director, Wendy Knox helps you follow the story with titles and descriptions of the many, many scenes carried by on signs (“Puntila finds a human,” “Puntila gets engaged to early risers,” “The League of Puntila’s Brides,” etc.) The play is also bookended by a didactic introduction and conclusion recited in rhymed verse.

Also helping you digest the content is the folk song-like original music (musical composition and direction by Jake Endres) that helps to break apart the scenes and summarize what just happened and prepare you for what comes next. (There are so many songs, it’s almost a musical at times, but I think the songs still qualify as incidental.) The use of music occasionally reminded me of Anthony Shaffer’s The Wicker Man (the original cult version of the film, not the recent horrid re-make.)

The evocative and cartoonish set (design by John Bueche) includes birch trees painted on the walls which juxtaposed nicely with the occasional real train going by (yes, the Light Rail!) Painted Styrofoam buildings were moved on and off the set, and of particular interest was a library scene where bookcases were both painted onto the walls and brought onstage painted on flats.

Richey as Mr. Puntila sometimes reminded me of Ray Bolger as the Wizard of Oz’s scarecrow as far as the looseness of his intentionally two dimensional character. Zimmer is a dainty Eva who never seems to set down the fake stage cigarette she puffs on for the entire show. Carson Lee as Matti added an intensity as the human conscience of the production. Patrick Bailey as the Attaché reminded me a bit of a polite but stuffy, Tony Randall. Of the supporting ensemble (11 strong) Celeste Jones as the Telephone Operator stood out as did Cheryl Willis as the Milkmaid both providing plenty of physical comedy. All told, there are 15 roles in this production, perhaps a reason this lesser-known of Brecht’s play not often performed.

For the most part, Herr Puntila is a comedy with social commentary as an underpinning. At the end you may be left wondering if a different outcome (which I'm not going to share in this review) might have been possible; and you may have your own theories on ways the upper and lower crust might be able to find a happy medium and get along. But the piece doesn’t so much tell you whether it’s possible, as is does leave you to sort it out for yourself, though it clearly leans towards the cynical belief that the classes are like vinegar and oil, and despite the fact that they can be shaken together pour on the salad before the meal, by time for desert coffee they’ve gone their separate ways.

Location Info: City of Minneapolis Public Works yard
Artist Info: Frank Theatre

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