The Theater: Howitzers and Hymns

NARROW ROAD TO THE DEEP NORTH by EDWARD BOND

Know thyself, said the ancients; man cannot know himself, say the moderns. He is the enigma of enigmas, a caveman turned philosopher, an innocent ensnared in sensuality, a master builder of civilizations who wrecks them like a frustrated child.

Attuned to this theme, Bond's play is vaguely set in Japan in what might be the mid-19th century. The central figure is the great Japanese poet, Basho (Robert Symonds). He is on a quest for some radiant shaft of wisdom. Instead he encounters a power-mad dictator, Shogo (Cleavon Little), who establishes a great city, but it is overthrown by invading colonialists garbed in the Union Jack and blasting away with howitzers and Christian hymns. Edward Bond, a 36-year-old Londoner, took exactly 2½ days to write the play and uses four words to explain it: "Society makes men animals."

When Narrow Road had its U.S. premiere in Boston more than two years ago, it was tonic and haunting. In the current Lincoln Center Repertory production, it is as flat as warm beer. Not that the directing and acting are bad. The Vivian Beaumont Theater itself may be partially responsible for some of Lincoln Center's fiascos. The arena stage leaks away dramatic intensity. Open space proves to be the actor's enemy in this building, leaving him ungrounded, unfocused and lacking gravity. Watching a play in the vast vertical reaches of the Vivian Beaumont is like seeing a child's lost balloon float upward and upward until it becomes a speck against the sky.