A haunting tale upholds
the best late-night tradition

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By John Berger
jberger@starbulletin.com

Suspense isn't part of the experience as the University of Hawaii's Ernst Lab Theatre concludes its 10th year of "Late Night Theatre" with "The Yellow Wallpaper."

The structure of the story is like that of "The Incredible Hulk" television series. Each episode's premise is a setup for the specific event that will cause mild-mannered David Banner to morph into the unstoppable Hulk.

So it is with "The Yellow Wallpaper." We know going in that The Woman is right when she tells her husband that there's something wrong about the mysterious bedroom with the hideous yellow wallpaper. And when her husband tells her not to worry, we know that something very bad is going to happen before morning.

We know that three female spirits exist in the walls of the room and are going to emerge from it.

Are they worth the wait? As directed by Cassandra Wormser and choreographed by Helen Lee, the three largely fulfill expectations. And, as another of Lee's experiments in integrating dance and conventional theater, "The Yellow Wallpaper" doesn't disappoint.

The play itself is largely the work of Daniel Akiyama, who adapted it, with Wormser's assistance, from a largely autobiographical story written by Charlotte Perkins Gilman in 1892. Gilman wrote of a woman whose physician husband diagnosed her as suffering from "hysteria" after the birth of their child.

'The Yellow Wallpaper' Where: Ernst Lab Theatre When: 10:30 p.m. today and tomorrow; a discussion will follow today's performance. Another discussion takes place at 5:30 p.m. Tuesday in Room 101 at Kennedy Theatre. Admission: $7; $6 non-UHM students, seniors, military, staff; $3 UH students Call: 956-7655

As per standard 19th-century medical practice, he prescribed an assortment of tonics and "phosphates" along with confinement in a bedroom where she was to receive as little "agitation" as possible.

The Woman (Kathy Hunter) tells her husband (Tim Wiler) that there is something unsettling about the room with the yellow wallpaper. The pattern is apparently random, and the sections of the paper are ill matched. Strips have been torn off in places as if by badly behaved children, and the floor is gouged and splintered. She says the room has "a vicious influence." He notices the great view and superior ventilation provided by the three windows and implies that her agitation is just another manifestation of "hysteria."

A horror story on one level, it is also a tragedy. The Woman appears to sincerely believe that her husband knows what's best for her. He never appears less than sincerely convinced that he's upholding the highest standards of medical practice.

The Women in the Walls (Kathy Bishop, Traci Chun and Jackie Ni'i) prove worth the wait, and Wormser gets fine support from Daniel Gelbmann (set design) and Vince Liem (lighting) in enhancing their performance. Gelbmann uses a white fabric backdrop to represent one wall; we hear the spirits whispering behind it, and then see their hands and bodies pressing against it, before the dancers push through slits at floor level and "appear" in The Woman's bedroom.

The subtle differences between the dancers' movements require a keen eye to appreciate, but their collective work opposite Hunter is the key to making the production more than a conventional and predictable horror story, a romantic tragedy or some kind of feminist rant about the mistreatment of American women in the 19th century.

Hunter is an appealing if tragic heroine whose performance becomes deeper and more detailed once the spirits make themselves known and The Woman begins drifting toward insanity. Hunter's best moments come after The Woman starts to see The Women in the Wall perhaps as kindred souls rather than objects of dread.

Wiler does a fine job as the well-meaning Dr. Gilman.

Since the "Late Night" series began in 1992, it has introduced such gems as "Zanni Got His Gun," "Blue Bird Rhapsody" and "Revenge of Late Night Sci-Fi Double Feature," and occasionally spawned such self-indulgent theatrical debacles as "Queer Cabaret" and "The Adventures of Paka And Lolo." All things considered, "The Yellow Wallpaper" is much closer to the former than the latter, and well worth seeing.

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