BY LUCIA MAURO
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More than the intricate ironies they aim to expose–and the vain virtuosity they subtly criticize–in their current production of Tom Stoppard’s Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead, Dale Goulding and Yasen Peyankov as the interchangeable leads have an opportunity to reexamine their own artistic ambitions.
The founders and co-artistic directors of European Repertory Company (ERC), which will celebrate its 10th anniversary next year, have unveiled to Chicago audiences stark and illuminating canvases of plays stretching from France, England, Spain and classical Greece to Eastern Europe. For six years, they were based at Baird Hall in Lakeview’s Wellington Avenue United Church of Christ–a space into which they poured much sweat and personal savings. But in 1999, they outgrew the 75-seat house and are now an itinerant company.
Critical acclaim and loyal audiences have followed them, and the founders managed to stretch themselves beyond ERC onto the stages of Steppenwolf, Goodman, American Theatre Company, Next and National Pastime. They continue to bring back to the ensemble provocative insight and invention. So the presence of Goulding (who directed R&G, running through Feb. 15 at the Athenaeum Theatre) and Peyankov in Stoppard’s self-consciously theatrical stage puzzle resonates on a deeply personal level.
"After co-producing The Duel with Steppenwolf," says Peyankov, "we wanted to go as small as we possibly could for our next show. It was a way of staying in touch with who we are as a company."
"And," notes Goulding, "we were able to re-examine where we came from."
In fact, ERC’s creation grew out of burning artistic and political convictions. Goulding–a native of the working-class town of Leicester, England–met Bulgarian actor Peyankov while touring Sofia, Bulgaria in 1990 with the Grotowski Theatre Laboratorium (rooted in Grotowski’s "poor theatre" tradition). Peyankov, a dissident opposed to Bulgaria’s Communist Party, staged Friedrich Durrenmatt’s Hercules and the Stables of King Augeus to voice his belief that the country "was comfortable living in manure." The government quickly closed his show, and it became dangerous to stay in his homeland.
Goulding and Peyankov shared a theatrical vision, the "Theatre of Essence," which explores what is human and innate in all cultures. They continued to correspond. And when Peyankov immigrated to Chicago, he encouraged Goulding to settle here as well. They both laugh when recalling that they made their Chicago stage debut in a silly spy thriller called The Raccoon Agenda at the Playwrights Center. Goulding played "the Bond character," while Peyankov was cast as "the evil KGB guy."
"We decided to start our own company immediately after that experience," shares Goulding with a chuckle.
By 1992, the two ex-pats had started ERC–debuting with a grim and psychologically menacing production of Macbeth at Café Voltaire.
ERC experiments with a wide gamut of styles and playwrights, but it maintains the Grotowskian belief that theatre exists "to learn to break down barriers which surround us…to destroy the limitations caused by our ignorance and lack of courage. In short, to fill the emptiness in us; to fulfill ourselves."
Peyankov summarizes ERC’s mission in that "if Dale’s the head, I’m the heart."
During its first season, ERC also produced Harold Pinter’s The Hothouse and Slawomir Mrozek’s anti-Communist dark comedy, Out at Sea, before settling into its Baird Hall home with Albert Camus’ Caligula. The year 1995 marked a crucial turning point when Goulding staged Steven Berkoff’s ferociously shaved-down adaptation of Agamemnon, which ran for almost two years. A solid ensemble of artists also was organized at this time.
My own experiences with ERC productions have been consistently revelatory, and I’ve always come away with the feeling that the company has a genuine connection to the artistic soul and its capacity for provoking change. After more than 22 productions, ERC is in the midst of a promising transitional time.
When ERC core artistic associate Luda Lopatina’s spring 1999 staging of Anton Chekhov’s Ivanov kept selling out, the company had to add seats and began nudging precariously over the theatre’s zoned capacity. "The growth of the company could not sustain the space anymore," says Peyankov. Goulding admits, "We got tired of playing the landlord."
They left Baird Hall that year. Now TimeLine Theatre occupies ERC’s former space. In the fall of 1999, ERC presented Zoyka’s Apartment by Mikhail Bulgakov at American Theatre Company. The 2000-01 season began with The Duel at the Steppenwolf Studio and continued with R&G at the Athenaeum. Its next offering, Moses Moe’s world-premiere adaptation of Carlo Gozzi’s Princess Turandot, will be staged at The Theatre Building March 30-May 6.
Most gypsy troupes dream of settling into a permanent space. But ERC has moved in the opposite direction and views the return to itinerancy as liberating. They don’t feel like they have to rebuild their audiences either.
"We can explore larger venues," says Peyankov, "and we have opportunities to bring in new audiences." Goulding points out that "our identity was already established before we became itinerant, and we’ve had a very large following in Chicago’s Russian community."
Yet, while ERC’s artistic merits are well grounded, its business expertise has been less consistent. "Dale and I are artists," says Peyankov. "I’m frustrated because the potential of our theatre has not been realized."
Therefore, ERC is actively pursuing a sturdy administrative structure, which includes a general manager and a fund-raising board, eventually leading to a permanent home with a mainstage and smaller black box studio theatre, a five-play season, and the establishment of ERC as a regional theatre. Most importantly, ERC wants to raise the funds to bring in European playwrights and actors–like Howard Barker, Steven Berkoff and Sir Anthony Hopkins–to work directly on new projects with the ensemble.
ERC currently rents an office at the Athenaeum Theatre. Goulding and Peyankov believe their mission has remained the same, but have noticed that Chicago’s theatre community and audiences have grown increasingly sophisticated–no longer clinging to the city’s once-definitive rock 'n’ roll sensibility.
Ultimately, their artistic choices arise from their attachment to the human condition.
"There is no programming at ERC," stresses Peyankov. "It’s what we feel passionate about. What we do is not a job. Theatre is a state of being."