The Jungle
Adapted and Directed by Matt Foss
From novel by Upton Sinclair
Music by Nicholas Tonozzi
at Oracle Theatre, 3809 N. Broadway (map)
thru Sept 6 | tickets: FREE | more info
Read review
Sinclair’s seminal novel gets worthy, overdue stage treatment
Oracle Theatre presents
The Jungle
Review by John Olson
I’ve long been aware of the 1905 novel by Upton Sinclair, though not really familiar with it. It seems to me “The Jungle” was mentioned a lot in school, but was never required reading. I knew it as the exposé of the meat packing industry that sparked federal food inspection laws. Yes, it was that, but Sinclair’s intention was also to expose the inhumane treatment and exploitation of the workers, largely newly arrived immigrants, in Chicago’s meat packing plants at the beginning of the 20th Century. Sinclair was reportedly disappointed that the other part of his message didn’t register with the public. Matt Foss’s original adaptation of The Jungle makes mention of the unsanitary conditions in the plants, to be sure, but Foss has successfully assumed Sinclair’s mantle in reporting this shameful episode of American history by focusing, as Sinclair did, on the story of the immigrants who came to Chicago with such great hopes, only to be figuratively (and sometimes literally) ground into meat. In fact, Foss seems to be one of the very few artists that have ever told this story dramatically. Sinclair reportedly wrote a stage version himself, IBDB lists a 1907 Broadway production and there was a silent movie version in 1914 that is now lost. In 1990, the
So for right now, Foss’s version is it – and\ rightfully so. It’s ingenious in the way it presents animal slaughter, and depicts settings from Atlantic steamships, old Chicago streets, taverns and brothels, all in a tiny, tiny storefront space on a stage that can’t be much more than 300 square feet. The acting is stylized rather than realistic, but the characters nonetheless come to life and break our hearts. Foss’s main device is to use rolls of butcher paper, paint and wood cut presses. For the slaughtering scenes, the actors pull paper off two large rolls on one wall, tear it off and place it on the floor, where other players press an outline of a steer (with all the various cuts marked) in black paint. The actors playing workers staple these sheets to the wall as if securing the animal for slaughter and then splatter red paint on it for blood as they cut the sheet apart as if slaughtering the steers. The paper is also used for symbolic drawings like the house the immigrants are hoodwinked into buying. The rendering room – where the last remains of the animal including guts and body fluid are ground up to make byproducts like grease – is on the opposite side of the “slaughtering wall.” It’s through a door beyond which we see only fog and an eerie light, but the actors convince us it contains an unbearable smell that is absorbed by the skin and never leaves.
Sinclair’s story follows a family of immigrants from Lithuania – the stoic Jurgis (Travis Delgado), his sweet fiancée Ona (Stephanie Polt), Jurgis’ sickly father Antanas (Drew McCubbin) and cousin Marija (Havalah Grace). Delgado is riveting as this central character – strong and pathetic all at once, while Polt is heartbreaking as his long suffering wife. Grace plays the resourceful cousin who is the first to learn English and the best at finding ways to get by. Thomas Wynne is the plant foreman who does most of the harm to the family, and he’s evil without resorting to caricature. The remaining cast members and McCubbin play multiple roles as various Chicagoans the immigrants meet. Kate Staiger is terrific as the officious Miss Henderson at the plant as well as the crusty but honest landlady of the rooming house where the immigrants first live. Colin Morgan is a standout as the dishonest real estate salesman who sells them a “new home” from which they are certain to be evicted as well as a bartender with sticky fingers when it comes to handing back the change from a $100.00 bill. Grayson Heyl shows versatility as both the immigrants’ loyal friend Jaydvyga and a duplicitous barmaid. There are also solid performances by McCubbin, Dylan Stuckey, and Rick Forsee in a variety of less colorful roles.
The sets, designed by Foss, are minimal, but effective. Frequently he makes do with just a board and wooden stands. Joan Pritchard’s costumes, though, are detailed and evocative of period looks both of Chicago and Lithuania. Jason Fassl’s lighting is both scene-setting and mood-setting, that is to say dark and foreboding – appropriately enough for the story of people who spent their days in a windowless factory, only getting outside at night after their 12-hour workday. It’s all accompanied by an original musical score by Nicholas Tonozzi and Sam Allyn that is alternately lyrical and hard-driving. Though not period-specific, it helps thrust us into this harsh time and place.
A story that includes the killing and dismembering of live animals would be tough to show dramatically with complete realism. Schwimmer’s interest in doing a film version notwithstanding, it would be hard to expect audiences to witness that part of the story. Foss’s inventiveness has solved that problem, but as theatrical as it is, all of Foss’ inventions are there to serve the story, and not for gratuitous flash.
This is heavy stuff, to be sure. You know things are not going to go well for these poor Lithuanians, though the story does end with a measure of hope. But like America’s history of slavery, this episode of inhumanity is one we as Americans ought to own up to. That it happened in our own city, not so many miles from the theater we’re watching it in, is all the more reason not to avert our gaze.
Rating: ★★★★
The Jungle continues through September 6th at Oracle Theatre, 3809 N. Broadway (map), with performances Fridays, Saturdays and Mondays at 8pm, Sundays 7pm. Tickets are FREE, but reservations are strongly recommended. More information at PublicAccessTheatre.org. (Running time: 100 minutes with no intermission)
Photos by Jason Fassl and Logan Conner
artists
cast
Travis Delgado (Jurgis), Stephanie Polt (Ona), Havalah Grace (Marija), Drew McCubbin (Antanas), Dylan Stuckey (Jakob), Thomas Wynne (Connor), Kate Staiger (Widow, Miss. Henderson), Rick Foresee (Tamos), Colin Morgan (Worker, Musician), Grayson Heyl (Jaydvyga), Sam Allyn (musician), Rory Jobst (understudy)
behind the scenes
Matt Foss (director, adapter, set design, props), Nicholas Tonozzi (original music, music director), Sam Allyn (score, sound design, musician), Dylan Stuckey, Colin Morgan (musicians), Jason Fassl, AntiShadows LLC (lighting design, photos), Joan Pritchard (costume design), Jesse Mooney-Bullock (cattle design and chicken puppet), Jennifer Drinkwater (additional artwork), Eleanor Kahn (scenic painter), Tony Santiago (producer), Amy Hopkins (stage manager), Michael Brandt, Justin Snyder (technical director), Taylor Bibat (puppet direction, production associate), Lyndsay Rose Kane (casting director), Evelyn DeHais (graphic design), Logan Conner, Oomphotography (photos)
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