Death and the Ploughman

The year is 1401. A bereaved ploughman, maddened by the loss of his young wife in childbirth, demands answers from Death itself.

So begins Death and the Ploughman, a powerful meditation on grief, mortality and the meaning of life. In November, New York’s acclaimed SITI Company, led by theatrical pioneer Anne Bogart, will bring the first American stage production of this early German Renaissance classic to Washington University’s Edison Theatre.

Performances — part of the Edison Theatre OVATIONS! Series — begin at 8 p.m. Friday and Saturday, Nov. 11 and 12. Tickets are $28; $24 for seniors and Washington University faculty and staff; and $18 for students and children under 12.

Edison Theatre is located in the Mallinckrodt Student Center, 6445 Forsyth Blvd. Tickets are available at the Edison Theatre Box Office and through all MetroTix outlets. For more information, call (314) 935-6543.

Among the first prose works in Modern High German, Death and the Ploughman was written by Johannes von Saaz (c.1350-c.1414) shortly after the death of his own wife, Margherita, in August 1400. SITI’s production — adapted to the stage by Irish playwright Michael West, from his own original translation — captures both the Medieval density and emerging Renaissance humanism of von Saaz’ text. The grieving farm laborer passionately defends mankind, denouncing mortality and its all cruelties, while his implacable foe responds with calm, if darkly humorous, ruthlessness:

Behold the bears and the lions in the wilderness;
the horses, valiant and proud; the men, forever skillful,
surprising and wise. Behold all these creatures of the
earth. How intelligent they are! How beautiful! How
strong! How Alive! … They will all die.

Bogart, one of today’s most influential directors and performance theorists, directs the three-person cast, which stars SITI veterans Will Bond as the ploughman; Stephen Webber as Death; and Ellen Lauren as soul of the ploughman’s wife. Designer James Schuette stages the debate amidst a crisp, black-and-white laquered set that suggests an abstracted chess-board.

Bogart, who heads the graduate directing program at Columbia University, is widely known as a founder of Viewpoints theory, an influential method for training actors that relies heavily on improvised movements and gestures. Over the years, she has directed more than 60 productions and won two Obie Awards as well as a Guggenheim Fellowship and a National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) Artistic Associate Grant. Publications include Anne Bogart: Viewpoints (1995); A Director Prepares: Seven Essays on Art and Theatre (2001); and The Viewpoints Book: A Practical Guide to Viewpoints and Composition (2005).

Bogart founded SITI Company in 1992 with acclaimed Japanese director Tadashi Suzuki. Originally envisioned as a summer institute in Saratoga Springs, New York, SITI quickly emerged as one of American’s leading ensemble touring theater companies, committed to the creation of new work, the training of young theatre artists, and the pursuit of international collaboration. They previously visited Edison Theatre in 2001 with War of the Worlds, an original work based on Orson Welles’ infamous radio broadcast.

Edison Theatre

Edison Theatre’s OVATIONS! Series serves both Washington University and the St. Louis community by providing the highest caliber national and international artists in music, dance and theater, performing new works as well as innovative interpretations of classical material not otherwise seen in St. Louis. Focusing on presentations that are interdisciplinary, multicultural and/or experimental, Edison Theatre presents work intended to challenge, educate and inspire.

Edison Theatre programs are made possible with support from the Missouri Arts Council, a state agency; the Regional Arts Commission, St. Louis; the Mid-America Arts Alliance, supporting cultural activity in communities throughout Arkansas, Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska, Oklahoma and Texas; and the National Endowment for the Arts.