Answering the Call

With its repertory of “The Seagull” and “Mephisto,” the Actors’ Gang isn’t messing around. Both are large-cast affairs of extreme difficulty--contrasting studies in the psychic breakdown of an artist, one oblique in its societal criticism, the other blunt, befitting its Nazi Germany backdrop.

Under the wing of artistic director Tim Robbins, whose staging of “Mephisto” opened over the weekend, the new Gang has announced itself: We are here, and while the work may have an outlandish streak, we aren’t kidding.

It’s a disappointment, then, that “Mephisto” is a disappointment.

In the Klaus Mann novel, actor Hendrik Hofgen is just another ambitious stage hopeful, striving to get ahead in the economically disastrous period of 1920s Germany. A communist, he believes in the power of revolutionary theater, even if most audiences don’t. “How quickly it’s disappeared,” says one of Hofgen’s colleagues. “In 1919 people still flocked to Strindberg and Wedekind. Now in 1926 they want only musical comedies.”

The years pass. Hofgen achieves his dreams of glory. Portraying Mephistopheles in Goethe’s “Faust,” he secures his dreams of fame, wealth and prestige. As the Nazi Party’s theatrical darling, he becomes the head of the State Theater. In effect, in a morally hellish time, he is both Mephisto and Faust.

Mann’s novel is merely a departure point for the stage version, adapted by Ariane Mnouchkine. In a prologue, Mann himself receives another publisher’s rejection of the “Mephisto” manuscript. (Mann later committed suicide.) We’re shown lengthy scenes of the Hamburg cabaret where Hofgen and company perform for the working-class citizens. Later, the actor Hofgen renounces his communist beliefs for a more practical-minded agenda.

It’s an ambitious text, translated into English by Timberlake Wertenbaker. It’s also a bit of a mess. Hofgen recedes somewhat into the background. (The opposite happened in the 1981 film version, best remembered for Klaus Maria Brandauer’s galvanizing performance.) The play attempts to do it all: To reveal the cost of Hofgen’s bargain with the Nazis, and to etch a complete panorama of Germany crumbling under the weight of its own miserable destiny.

Director Robbins, whose film “Cradle Will Rock” took on a similarly panoramic chunk of history, was drawn to this material for all the right reasons. Surprisingly, however, the results feel heavyish, uncertain. Early scenes of expository introduction should fly by, but they don’t; they go plop-plop-plop. Too many scenes with or without Hofgen (a drab Ned Bellamy) lack dynamism and tension. Many of the “Mephisto” performers, many of them highly skilled, appear in the Gang’s other show, “The Seagull,” and to a man and woman, everybody comes off better in that production.

Largely it’s a matter of material. Chekhov’s play is no breeze, but it’s a wonderfully easy-breathing stage creation. “Mephisto” on the page goes only so far into the rich, horrifying recesses of its subject. There is, however, a lovely and lasting epilogue, in which the cast members write the name and eventual fate of their characters on the stage floor, in chalk.

It’s a simple moment, and in sheer unaffected impact, it makes up for a lot.

*

“Mephisto,” the Actors’ Gang, 6209 Santa Monica Blvd., Hollywood. Saturday, 8 p.m.; Sunday, 2 and 8 p.m.; Nov. 14-16, 8 p.m.; Nov. 24, 8 p.m.; Nov. 25, 2 and 8 p.m.; Nov. 28-30, 8 p.m.; Dec. 8, 8 p.m.; Dec. 9, 2 and 8 p.m.; Dec. 12-14, 8 p.m. In repertory with “The Seagull.” Ends Dec. 14. $15-$20; Wednesdays, pay what you can. (323) 465-0566, Ext. 15. Running time: 3 hours, 15 minutes.

Bill CusackKlaus Mann/Sebastien Bruckner

Ned Bellamy: Hendrik Hofgen

Patti Tippo: Carola Martin

Joseph Grimm: Hans Miklas

Angela Berlinger: Rahel Morowitz

Cynthia Ettinger: Theresa von Herzfeld

V.J. Foster: Otto Ulrich

Lolly Ward: Myriam Horowitz

Brian Powell: Magnus Gottchalk

Erik Patterson: Actor

Adele Robbins: Mrs. Efeu

Brian T. Finney/Ray Mickshaw: Knurr

Susan Dalian: Juliette

Brent Hinkley: Alex

Kate A. Mulligan: Erika Bruckner

Clare Wren: Nicoletta von Niebuhr

Steven M. Porter: Theophile Sarder

Kirk Pynchon: Lorenz

Brian Brophy: Thomas Bruckner

Lindsley Allen: Emelyne

P. Adam Walsh: Ludwig

James Boyce: Hans Josthinkel

Written by Ariane Mnouchkine, translated by Timberlake Wertenbaker, from the novel by Klaus Mann. Directed by Tim Robbins. Scenic design by Richard Hoover. Costumes by Ann Closs-Farley. Lighting by David F. Hahn. Music/sound design by David Robbins. Props by Chuck Olsen. Choreography by Lindsley Allen. Stage manager Kyle Rudgers.