It was a long time
since I opened Jack London’s novel Martin
Eden – and in my hazy memory, I only had a rough idea about its plot and
themes. All the more surprised was I to discover that there is a theatre
adaptation of it at Divadlo bez Hranic. Simple curiosity and also growing desire
to go to the theatre again pushed me into buying a ticket – so after a busy
school day, I and two friends grabbed our seats at the small Prague theatre.
To be honest, all I knew about the theatre adaptation was
that it is essentially one long monologue, accompanied by music. When this
turned out to be true, I was afraid; would my company (who haven’t read the
novel) find the evening as delightful as I was? I at least knew what was
going on – but the story is a little lengthy and repetitive! Soon I realized
that these insecurities were unnecessary, as everyone – even the high school
class of teenagers at the back who were obviously there because they had to be
– were absorbed by the performance which turned out to be metatextual.
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| Image credit: Divadlo Bez Hranic |
How so? The
performance opens with the entrance of a stranger to a bar; he and the owner
decide to spend their lonely night by telling the tale of Martin Eden. The
stranger plays the character of a self-taught working-class young man who
desires to become a writer in early 20th century America and the bar
owner turns into a pianist, who occasionally says the lines of characters like
Ruth (Martin’s beloved bourgeois lady) or editors from various magazines Eden
sent his stories to. Together they vivified London’s famous novel, jumping from
serious moments of despair and confusion to heart-warming ones of love and
success. It was all the more smile-breaking at the end of the two hours though
to see the protagonist (now a popular writer) so emotionally ruined that he
commits suicide by drowning into the sea.
I entered the
theatre without any expectations – only small worries – and I left with a
contented soul that desired to open the novel as soon as arriving home and read
deep into the night. In short, I believe the theatre adaptation is a good
reminder of the novel or at least a wonderful trailer to it for those who
haven’t read before the challenging road to success of a courageous sailor...
And it is definitely worth reading London’s novel even though neither the
author nor his work is on our BA American literature reading list.
Anna
Hupcejová
