Yellow Wallpaper Mill Theater

"The Mill Theatre's inspired production of this iconic story, adapted for the stage by Sturm, avoids any potential melodrama; Jaclyn Biskup's direction heightens its gothic and surreal elements, using voice-over and sound, scenic, and lighting design to help tell the story" - Suzanne Scanlon, Chicago Reader 8/28/14

 

Aug 24 - Sep 14.  Thu-Sat 730p, Sun 3p  

Tickets $20 - 773.764.8317

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08/18/14 - 09/14/14

Thu-Sat 730p; Sun 3p


"Charlotte Perkins Gilman wrote The Yellow Wallpaper in 1891 to expose the destructive medical treatment she received after experiencing what we now recognize as postpartum depression. In 1887, she'd been prescribed the then innovative "rest cure," an elaborate regimen on which she was confined to her bed, forbidden to read, write, or have visitors. The story's protagonist, Kate (Lorelei Sturm), gently resists this infantilizing treatment as she's shut up in an upstairs room with sickly yellow wallpaper. John (Ed Krystosek), her physician husband, mansplains his way around her objections, telling her when she is sick and, later, when she is better. In physical and emotional isolation, Kate projects her fears and longing onto the patterns of the wallpaper itself. The Mill Theatre's inspired production of this iconic story, adapted for the stage by Sturm, avoids any potential melodrama; Jaclyn Biskup's direction heightens its gothic and surreal elements, using voice-over and sound, scenic, and lighting design to help tell the story. —Suzanne Scanlon, Chicago Reader 8/28/14

 

"Whether viewed as a seminal feminist work or as a purely Gothic supernatural story (or both), Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s 6,000 word tale is utterly chilling. One-hundred and twenty-two years later, it’s still an oft adapted and oft referenced work because of its portrait of female powerlessness in the late 19th century that—and this is the most chilling part—hasn’t really changed as much as we’d have hoped. When you watch Congressional debates about women’s reproductive rights, it’s still old white men doing most of the talking. Gilman’s story remains an ongoing klaxon.

Cloistered by the patronizing force of her husband and the “good” doctor John (Ed Krystosek) for three months in the largest room of a manor house, the nameless woman (Lorelei Sturm) is forbidden any kind of intellectual stimulation. Diagnosed with a post-pregnancy ‘nervous condition’ and ‘hysteria’—so commonly assigned to women who didn’t know how to be quiet and servile in the 19th century—she writes secretly in her journal to stave off the crazed thoughts that begin to fill her head. These thoughts find their locus in the eponymous wallpaper of the room. Her obsession with trying to unravel its hideous mysteries leads to a kind of pareidolia wherein she sees a woman trapped inside the pattern. The turn-of-the-screw* escalation of her manic fixation with this other woman leads her to the (seemingly) only available escape from a suffocating patriarchy.

The Mill Theatre’s latest spin from Lorelei Sturm purports to be ‘movement-based’ and ‘experimental in style.’ Perhaps it meant to be similar to 2008’s critically divisive adaptation from Chicago Danztheatre Ensemble. Had this not been a part of the promotional literature, Biskup’s The Yellow Wallpaper would have been a perfectly accessible interpretation. It doesn’t live up to its own campaign unfortunately. Scenic Designer Eleanor Kahn’s evocative spiderweb of rope encompassing the in-the-round set elevates our expectations of what thrilling experimental movements might occur therein, but those expectations are thwarted. Aside from some rope wrangling, there’s not much in the way of experimental movement here. Casting Daiva Bhandari as both the sister/housekeeper Jennie and the woman in the wallpaper leads to some mild confusion as having Jennie show up at all is not necessary." - Clint May, ChicagoTheaterBeat.com



"From the yellowing pages of Charlotte Perkins Gilman's feminist short story, The Yellow Wallpaper, Lorelei Sturm brought to life a thought provoking story, using monologue, dialogue, performance movement and "off stage" audio narration. Opened Sunday, Aug. 23, at Chopin Theatre, 1543 W. Division, the show, well directed by Jaclyn Biskup, will run through Sept. 14, in Wicker Park.

The three-person cast in the one-hour, one-act play, located in a bedroom, tell the story of a young woman suffering from postpartum depression. She is married to a physician, John, who believes in the "rest cure" to overcome her "nervousness."

He arranges for them to live in an old rundown house for the summer, not only away from the road, but three miles from the village. Controlling her access to the house, he has her "confined" to the former nursery on the top floor, forbidding her from working.
ohn spends little time with her, even at night. Repeatedly he tells her that healthy eating, walking, breathing fresh air, resting and, of course, taking medication will return her to normalcy. "Exercise depends on your strength your food somewhat on your appetite but air you can absorb all the time," John repeats.

Sturm, who plays the wife, takes you with her as, isolated, she dives further into depression, becoming obsessed with the wallpaper that surrounds her. Sturm's periodic use of slow motion movements effectively enhance the conveyance of her mental state.

Daiva Bhandari adaptively plays the governess or nurse, a ghost and narrator, as well as a prop tender for a rope that is attached to Sturm's ankle midway through the story.

Ropes are used with great symbolism in the play. Loosely hung to define the bedroom walls, they were described by audience-goer Denise Browning as "brilliant." "They were indicators of what was to come. And the use of the robe on her ankle was an effective way to increase the tension within the story. It was all very well thought out."

In conversations post-performance, some audience members commented that women's mental and physical health issues, such things as postpartum depression, are not always that far away from the practices of more than 120 years ago.

In a conversation with Sturm following the performance, she professed that she was not the play's writer but rather its creator. What ever title she prefers, she told a great story on paper and then performed it flawlessly.

Well paced with the use of background music from time to time, the show has a thumbs up from this writer.

Presented by the Mill, their notes on Charlotte Perkins Gilman include:

She was born in Hartford, CT in 1860. Throughout her life she made much of her living lecturing on women’s issues and social reform. She was a prolific poet, though is probably best known for her short story The Yellow Wallpaper, published in The England Magazine in 1892. The work was inspired by her own experience with postpartum depression in 1885, and subsequent treatment with “the rest cure," which brought her very “near the borderline of utter mental ruin”. Some of her other notable works include Women and Economics, The Home: Its Work and Influence, Herland, and her autobiography The Living of Charlotte Perkins Gilman. She died in Pasadena, CA in 1935 from an intentional overdose of chloroform" -
Elaine Correens, OurUrbanTimes.com

 

 

From the Mill Theatre - "A woman suffering from postpartum depression is prescribed the "rest cure" by her physician husband. Forbidden from reading or writing and forced into stillness, she soon becomes overwhelmed by loneliness and boredom. Her isolation drives her further from reality, leading to an obsession with the eerie wallpaper that lines her oppressive walls. Her descent into madness pays homage to Gothic horror stories while tackling the complexities of postpartum depression. The story, set in a time when men had complete control over women's mental and physical health, reminds us that, in light of recent court decisions, we still have a long way to go for women to gain agency over their own bodies. This new adaptation is movement based and experimental in style allowing for the heightened theatricality that blends classic storytelling with exciting visual spectacle".

Author
Charlotte Perkins Gilman with adaptation by Lorelei Sturm

Director
Jacklyn Biskup

Performers
Lorelei Sturm (The Woman) Ed Krystosek (John), and Daiva Bhandari (Jennie).

Production
Mary Ellen Reick (Stage Manager). Guest artists include Mike Durst (Lighting Design), Eleanor Kahn (Scenic Design), Steven Crissey (Costume Design), Alex Romberg (Sound Design), and Sarah Stec (Graphic Design)

Tags: Theater, American, 2014