In 1891 Frank Wedekind’s Spring’s Awakening took society by storm with its fearless exploration of teenage sexuality and the misery that ignorance, trepidation, Puritanism, and outright abuse impart. Who among us cannot remember the frustration, confusion, exhilaration, pain and upheaval that comes with the strange grace of adolescence? (Personally, I was a basket case.) Sadness, upon sadness, outrage upon outrage; Wedekind indicts the cultural and systemic paradigm that repeatedly fails young people desperately in need of a compass. Quaint discomfort and Draconian punishment are met with equal contempt.
Easy to see why Spring’s Awakening has had a resurgence, considering how these grotesque dilemmas persist. Ignorance and petty, judgmental moral values continue to prevail over common sense, and honest, practical sharing of information. Recent memory evokes a Surgeon General who had the audacity to suggest mutual masturbation between lovers as a pragmatic alternative to unprotected sex. She was censured and forced to step down by idiots, who were terrified that some useful information could only lead to havoc. Comparisons to Prometheus, Margaret Sanger and Socrates only begin to suggest the reverberations.
Melchior and Moritz are close friends in the demanding world of high school education, where success and a secure, fulfilling future are too often conflated. Manhood has commenced with a vengeance and Moritz is overwhelmed by sensations and imperatives too intense to manage. Wendla is experiencing her own ordeals, profoundly bewildered by a life devoid of palpable affection and feeling in general. The other kids are struggling with additional problems, punitive abuse, molestation, dozens of emotions too dangerous to discuss with the gatekeepers of knowledge. Attempting to help his buddy, Melchior writes something of an instruction book for Moritz, with illustrations. The book gets passed around, which will mean trouble in the end. Wendla and Melchior begin experimenting, only to expose wrenching personal issues they didn’t know existed. Tangled and terrifying.
Wedekind demonstrates the triumph of the ridiculous over imperative need. Children, essentially, aching for guidance and comfort are meet with stoic indifference. The three protagonists: Wendla, Moritz and Melchior come to excruciation, all which could have been avoided if those they loved, trusted and relied upon had merely come through. Wedekind is quite ambitious as he attempts to weave a contextual universe, bringing in considerations of death, solipsism, social politics, responsibility, a world without compassion, solace, introspection or reflection. The anger and despondency expressed by the young are implacable and heartbreaking.
Rock the Cosmos. It’s no surprise that Outcry Theatre’s production of Spring’s Awakening brings Wedekind’s narrative of teenage chaos with all its ferocious, twisted, and electrifying epiphany to the stage. This feverish, focused, kinetic cast combines director Becca Johnson-Spinos’ melancholy choreography, woundedness and blind rage to reveal the pervasive stain of humanity, and how disappointing parents can be. It’s a bit to process in one sitting, but how often can you experience this astonishing, unsettling, disconsolate journey that will stand your hair on end? Get drenched in this perfect storm. Theatre at its best.
Outcry Theatre’s Spring’s Awakening plays July 6, 2018 – July 15, 2018. Addison Theatre Centre, Studio Theatre, 15650 Addison Road, Addison, TX 75001. 972-836-7206. www.outcrytheatre.com