K.O. on the Orient Express

>> Philippe Ducros 4ème Round delivers historical fantasy with a punch

by RUPERT BOTTENBERG

 The set-up alone is a winner. Local playwright Philippe Ducros' Le 4ème Round opens with a square-off in a boxing ring. Ducros explains: "This Armenian guy, Arsene Mardekian, has a match with Keller, the German-Turkish nephew of Enver Bey, who was responsible for the Turkish massacre of the Armenian people in 1915. All the Armenians soldiers in Ethiopia are pushing Mardekian to win, because they want a symbolic vengeance against the Turks. But he loses in the fourth round.

 "The fact is, this match really did happen in 1943, so all that is true. But that's just the starting point." The moment Mardekian hits the mat, all bets are off and Ducros roars full-tilt into the realm of historical fantasy, weaving an intricate, picaresque shaggy-dog tale of murder, revenge, faked death, loyalty, twisted love, jailbreak, mutiny, crises of faith and ultimate redemption.

 The story follows a course that leads from Addis Ababa to Istanbul to New York, with subterranean tendrils reaching to Ireland, Vietnam and Morocco. Along the way, the audience encounters punchdrunk piano prodigies, philosophizing Pakistani cab drivers, whirling dervishes, lovestruck torturers, Islamic witches, crooning prostitutes, magic chameleons, killer Coca-Cola trucks, cursed couscous, evil eyes and mystical tattoos that transform into an army of snakes.

 "What I wanted to do," says Ducros, "was a theatre show that wasn't too intellectual. I wanted to an action play, like the action movies with Bruce Willis you see in cinemas, where the adventure and the story are up front. It's not about my vision as a director, or the craft of the actors--although the actors are really good. It's not about the psychology or the politics. The main thing is the story, the destiny of the characters."

 Among those characters are some true-life figures, a necessary element for nailing down flights of historical fancy. St.-Exupery (noted aviator and author of kid's classic Le Petit Prince) drops in, as do stand-ins for hard-boiled nature boy Jack London and celebrated Italian cartoonist Hugo Pratt. It was in fact Pratt, whose best-known character Corto Maltese popped up wherever adventure beckoned in the first half of this century, who provided the initial spark of inspiration for Le 4ème Round.

 While the main event of the play is Mardekian versus Keller, the undercard is loaded: the Middle East versus America, fundamentalism versus secularism, tradition versus modernity ("After WWII," notes Ducros, "everything became rational. Anything that was supernatural or paranomal was denied."). For Ducros, though, the real fight is an ancient one. "It's a battle between those who are tolerant, and those who want to kill." Who could pass up a ringside seat for that one?:

 

In French at Espace Libre from March 9 to 25, 8:30 nightly (midnight shows on Saturdays, March 11 & 18). Tickets $17, $12 in advance at Tonic