The Lathe of Heaven
Adapted and Directed by Edward Einhorn.
Based on the book by Ursula K. Le Guin.
Starring John Gallop III, Robert Honeywell, Eric Oleson, and Caroline Samaan, with musicians Melissa Elledge and Michael Midlarsky.
Presented by Untitled Theater Company No. 61 at 3LD Art and Technology Center (80 Greenwich Street, New York, New York).
6-30 June 2012.
For tickets call 212-352-3101 or visit www.untitledtheater.com.
130 minutes (including one intermission).
The Lathe of Heaven is an original, authorized stage adaptation of Ursula K. Le Guin’s classic novel, about a man whose dreams change reality, but who can’t control them. Having never read the novel, I can review the stage play as itself.
Things start slowly, with a man lying on a bed in a minimalist set (the biggest part of the staging is video projected on the screen/walls backing the stage). In the background (through the gauzy screens) are a cellist, pianist, and singer performing verses from the Tao Te Ching as operatic songs. I found the musical interludes a bit long and ponderous, though my companions thought they were entirely appropriate.
At any rate, after a five-minute musical introduction, the man on the bed, George Orr (played very believably by Robert Honeywell) awakens, fearing that his dreams have once again changed the world. He’s been living with the knowledge, the terror, that the real world no longer exists; that each time he dreams, the world is changed into one it isn’t supposed to be.
The world in which we meet George is a depressing not-so-distant future: near-continuous rain in his hometown of Seattle, overpopulation, endless wars… Not a world one would dream into existence.
Lately, George has been taking drugs to keep himself awake: he’s trying to avoid having “effective dreams,” because he fears changing the world, doing any more damage to reality. An unfortunate side-effect of his sleeplessness is the destruction of his working life, and eventually, he’s sent for psychiatric treatment.
The neurologist, Dr. Haber (Eric Oleson), at first appears to think George is delusional. But in one of their first sessions, Haber has George dream in his office, and when George awakens, Seattle is a sunny paradise. Haber comes to realize that George’s effective dreams really are changing the world, and sets out to either learn the technique for himself, or direct George to remake the world in Haber’s image.
George’s fear in all this is that you can’t do just one thing. As with all the horrific genie-wish stories, with every good change comes something much worse. Wishing the world were less overpopulated, George awakens to a world in which a plague killed half the people on the planet two years ago. Wishing for peace among men, it turns out the aliens have arrived. And so on.
Eventually, George twigs to Haber’s use of him, and seeks out an attorney, the bi-racial Heather Le Lache (Caroline Samaan). She accompanies him to a session, comes to believe him, and they fall in love. But when Haber directs George to dream away racial strife, Heather is erased from existence.
Can the world be dreamed into a good place? Will it only stop with Haber in complete control? Are the aliens omens of doom? The story is surprisingly gripping.
At times, the show seems a little long-winded and slow moving. Part of that, I fear, is the lengthy explanation of the parallel worlds/alternate universes concept, which is old hat for most science fiction readers, but a new idea deserving of much explanation for a wider audience. I also found the musical pieces long and slow. But overall, it’s a good story about large concepts, performed on a small stage with a small cast. I think it’s deserving of a much wider audience.