Theatre Review: Norma Jeane Baker Of Troy Is A Dividing Myth
Playing at the stunning, The Shed theater, what I love about Norma Jean Baker of Troy is that it is a dividing piece, in part, because it is experimental theater veiled as a mythic, office based tale. Leaving the theater, some thought it was brilliant and thought-provoking, while others thought it was really weird and confusing. Anna Carson’s combined tale of Helen of Troy with Marilyn Monroe might push away theater traditionalists while summoning a new wave of theatre-lovers that adore surreality.
Beaten blamed, and beautiful seem to be the three “B’s” director Katie Mitchel wishes to elaborate from Carson’s writings. Ben Whishaw transforms and transcends as an office worker determined to turn the life of Marilyn Monroe into a Greek Legend, particularly that of Helen of Troy. As he posts news-clipping of the Hollywood starlet’s tragic life and recent death and details their combined story to a typist (Renée Fleming), he pieces together how Marilyn/women have been used as an excuse and an escape from men’s violence. As the play progresses, he begins to dress and become more and more like Marilyn, of which the Fleming’s voice breathtakingly serenades and warns him that to be a woman is to be a “disaster.”
It takes a lot of nerve to make something with the idea that it does not need to be loved by everyone. The text is dense, and broken into literal, grammatical pieces; with Whishaw’s character announcing where to put a comma or period. Initially, you ask yourself, “Is he going to do that all the time?” Yet, by the end of its 90 minute run, you get used to the eccentricity and chopped bursts of manic energy that is Norma Jean Baker of Troy. It is a LOT to dissect, and some audience members were not willing or wanting to try, which is understandable. There are certain theatrical plays that are for a specific crowd, and I kept on imagining all the training actors and trained playwrights “fangirling” over the plays bold statements style.
While Whishaw’s performance is enthralling and Fleming’s legendary, operatic voice ricochets with gorgeousness, for some, it was the only thing keeping them through. This was especially so because the set, by Sussie Juhlin, looked like a 1964 office. It felt so grounded in time and aesthetic that it intriguingly clashed with the play’s strangeness and mythos. Amongst desks and paper, Whishaw and Fleming were trying to unpack and uncover how women are not treated as objects as much as propagandas; excuses and images meant to “justify” men’s animalistic desires and give “rationale” to their inhumane acts. It is as if men have constructed women’s sole, human purpose to be their emotional launchpads or punching bags as they try to find grander meaning to their existence. The fearsome depth of that message will hit viewers like a bell because, frankly, I never thought of women’s plights through such a perspective.
I believe theater is as much about education as it is entertainment. I want my imagination sparked as much as I want my intelligence/ mindfulness to be expanded, and Norma Jeane Baker of Troy did achieve this. While some may question whether it is entertaining or, at least, “enoguh so,” Carson has creatively connected Marilyn’s life with Helen of Troy’s, and shown the real danger of making women into prizes is that, eventually, we treat them like rusting trophies. Marilyn/ Helen goes from being fawned over like a “cloud” dropping from Heaven to being a body seizing and dying over pills and heartbreaks. Such a journey of male mistreatment may be from a myth, but you can’t help but realize it is a common tale for women. To Buy Tickets for Norma Jeane Baker of Troy, At The Shed til May 19, Click Here.
