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The protagonist of the main event for this year’s Eugene O’Neill Festival starts the story as a happy man, content and proud of his work in the boiler room of a transatlantic ocean liner – until his feeling of belonging is ruptured by the comment of an upper class woman reminding him of his place in society.
“Oh, the filthy beast!” is the quote that serves as the catalyst for main character Yank to venture into the throes of the plot as he begins to question everything he’s ever known, and as suppressed emotions from his past begin to emerge to the surface.
EONF Artistic Director Eric Fraisher Hayes said it was this moment, and Yank’s response to it, that he and lead actor James Hiser were seeking to explore further as the two reunited in their same roles for this year’s production of “The Hairy Ape” more than a decade after they had originally put on the play together.
“The play starts with Yank, this character who has made a world out of the stokehole where the furnaces are, that’s his world, and he’s the best at it,” Hayes said in an interview with DanvilleSanRamon. “That’s his world, and he dominates it, and he thinks everything makes sense.”
The later comment from the woman — who benefits from the wealth generated by Yank’s work, yet eschews any appreciation for his role and mastery beyond that of a cog in the machine — forces the main character to confront a reality in which he is far from dominant.
“Then this woman, who is the daughter of the guy who owns the ocean liner, she goes down just for the hell of it to see how these grubby, dirty men work down in the furnaces, and she’s horrified by what she sees in Yank,” Hayes continued. “And it really tears a hole in the whole idea of where he belongs, and sends him off on a quest to go find his place, looking to get back at her.”
Where Yank ultimately finds himself at the conclusion of the plot is alluded to in the play’s title.
“He ends up at the zoo, where he finds himself talking to the gorilla in the cage – the hairy ape – who feels at that point is the only one who understands him,” Hayes said.
While Hayes has experience telling the story of “The Hairy Ape”, he said that in his second time around, he is seeking to explore the main character and the themes of the play in a more nuanced way.
“I’m really interested in exploring the themes of the worker and who owns things, and who belongs and who doesn’t,” Hayes said. “I really wanted to personalize the story, because I kept coming back to the question of why does this woman’s rejection throw him so off. I got really into the question of why, why would this be so important to him, and in doing that I looked through the play and I found these places in the play script where he refers to his family life.”
The snippets of Yank’s family life that Hayes was drawn to include the character’s abusive father and his mother’s death from alcoholism, making for an overall shaky psychological foundation for the protagonist during his youth – and inspiring Hayes’ framing of the play in its early moments this time around.
“In his head he’s in his own little world that reminds him of the womb, where he’s safe and things make sense,” Hayes said. “In a sense, he then I think creates a completely masculine – you could even say toxic – world of metal and fire and muscle, and that’s his world, and when this woman comes to see him it kind of jars loose this idea that ‘maybe there’s something outside of this artificial, mechanical womb I created for myself.'”
While Hayes’ approach seeks to explore the inner workings of the main character, in doing so he seeks to illuminate universal themes that resonate with a wide range of audience members, ultimately inspiring the theme of this year’s festival, “Seeking to Belong”.
“Seeking to belong came out of my understanding of this play, how Yank was on a quest to find his place, and so seeking to belong was the phrase that came to mind,” Hayes said. “I do think in general, it feels like our country is kind of in a crisis with ideas about belonging, and who belongs and who doesn’t.”
“The Hairy Ape” debuts Friday (Sept. 5) for a three-weekend run. Two of those weekends are at the Tao House, with the show coming to town at the Village Theatre in downtown Danville for its final weekend. Sept. 20 and Sept. 21.
Tickets and more information are available at eugeneoneill.org.
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