Theatre PANIK Resurrects 'The Corpse Bride'

Theatre PANIK is bringing The Corpse Bride back to its Yiddish roots. The famous folktale, which follows a young bridegroom who accidentally weds a corpse bride on the way to his bride’s village, was discovered by PANIK co-artistic director Niki Landau in 2002. Her husband, Paul Lampert, conceived of the play as a movement piece set to music. And in fitting with Theatre PANIK’s mandate of giving voice to those unheard, Landau set her version of the story in the shtetls of Eastern Europe, when anti-Semitism was rampant and Jewish brides were specifically targeted.

Landau and Lampert’s version of The Corpse Bride will also pay tribute to Yiddish theatrical tradition through rhetorical gestures and a silent film style mixed with projections displaying text, environment and scenery. Shalom Life recently spoke with Landau (who shares artistic director duties with her husband) about the vision behind her play and why Jewish themes figure so largely in the work of Theatre PANIK.

Your previous two productions for Theatre PANIK (My Name is Rachel Corrie and Territories) are politically-charged contemporary works. The Corpse Bride sounds like a departure in several ways. Do you see it this way?

The Corpse Bride is a conscious departure, but it’s not disconnected from our previous work. After looking at the current state of things in Israel, I wanted to go back and look at a time before the Jewish people had political power. I wanted to look at what trauma does to people, specifically the trauma of the pogroms, and how it creates that need to be empowered, but then the empowerment results in a loss of innocence. Even if that innocence was never really there, even if we mythologize it, we still regard shtetl time with a kind of nostalgia, and yet we wouldn’t want the vulnerability of that time since it proved so disastrous. So it puts us in an interesting emotional dilemma, memory-wise, and I think that dilemma is reflected in our culture today.

Form-wise, also, it’s a real departure, because part of Theatre PANIK’s mandate is to present new and interesting forms of theatre. We definitely want to keep shaking things up!

How does your version of The Corpse Bride differ from the original Yiddish folktale?

I chose to set the story in the shtetls of Eastern Europe, at a fictional moment in history when all the Jewish women of marriageable age are gone and no women, except one, have been born for sixteen years. Basically, I wanted to focus on the attacks on women in the pogroms. I also tipped my hat to the great storytellers Isaac Bashevis Singer and Shalom Aleichem in bringing out some of the humour and nostalgia of the shtetl.

Your cast is a combination of stage veterans and George Brown College theatre students. Why did you decide to cast The Corpse Bride this way?

We knew the story needed a big cast, with lots of young people in major roles. We thought it would be a great opportunity for a graduating class of a theatre school, and George Brown was excited to be part of the project. The veterans, including the wonderful Richard Greenblatt, Sarah Orenstein, and [William] Vickers, are playing all the ‘parental’ roles, and the mix is just great. And, of course, Evelyn Hart, former prima ballerina of the Royal Winnipeg Ballet, is incredibly exciting to watch in this show, which is so different from anything she’s done in the past.

All three productions from Theatre PANIK have a strong Jewish current. Is this something that's important to you when choosing works for Theatre PANIK? Will future plays necessarily carry Jewish themes?

We don’t consider ourselves a Jewish company, despite the fact that Paul and I are both Jewish. We are both drawn to stories which reflect our own experiences and beliefs, and so far the Jewish current has been the strongest. But we are certainly conscious that other stories need to be told, other voices need to be heard, and we are eager to explore stories from other cultures.

Was there a particular turning point or moment that compelled you to start Theatre PANIK?

Theatre PANIK started with Territories, but I think the whole momentum can really be traced back to 9/11. There was a sense, during the first few years following that tragedy, that it was dangerous to even be in a public place. I remember being struck by what a brave act it was, a kind of political act, to gather in a public place. And I wanted to make it a worthwhile experience for those who dared to do that. There was something inherently theatrical about an audience at that particular time – they were, as we say in theatre, very ‘present,’ there was a kind of vulnerability and willingness to be moved – and I think that is true of all audiences, you just need to make them sit up, pay attention, and care.

What can we expect in the future from Theatre PANIK?

I never know what to expect. We’re currently developing a play by the wonderful Hannah Moscovitch about a couple who hires a nanny and it kind of explodes their relationship. We always have new ideas and new writers we want to work with.

What is the inspiration behind the name "Theatre PANIK"?

Oh, I’m sure a psychotherapist would have a field day with that question.

The Corpse Bride runs June 4 and 5 at the Young Centre for the Performing Arts. For more information, visit www.theatrepanik.ca.