Guru who?

>> Robert Lepage's Geometry of Miracles is a cautionary tale

by AMY BARRATT

Let's face it: nobody's talking about the terrific Ex Machina show that's playing at Usine C. They're talking about the Robert Lepage show. Even though Geometry of Miracles is a collective creation (10 people are credited as co-authors) there's no escaping the fact that it's director-"concepteur" Lepage's name that sells tickets.

Appropriately, Geometry of Miracles is about collective vs. individual work and whether it's possible for someone to be a leader without becoming a tyrant. The framework for this exploration is the later life of American architect Frank Lloyd Wright within a broader context of mid-20th Century events.

The action begins in 1929, when Wright was already 62 years old. Dates, as well as images and other information, are projected periodically throughout the play on a screen stretching across the back of the stage. The story deals with the influence on Wright of his Bosnian-born second wife, Olgivanna, who in turn was influenced by New-Age-movement predecessor Gurdjieff.

Gurdjieff founded the Institute for the Harmonious Development of Man, where Olgivanna took courses before marrying Wright. It was she who convinced Wright to open his own "school," where young architects would pay to apprentice themselves to the great man. Their education, as envisioned by Olgivanna, was to encompass much more than drafting. Whereas Gurdjieff's teachings emphasized living consciously, rather than mechanically, in order to develop one's full potential and individuality, Olgivanna, as portrayed here, was a control freak who tried to impose her vision of what was best for everybody. Under her supervision, the Taliesin Fellowship, as the apprenticeship program was called, begins to look like a wacky Waco-style "compound."

As for Wright himself, while he likes having the apprentices around to help him achieve his projects, he doesn't seem to realize what the fellowship is turning into right under his nose.

Meanwhile, in France, Gurdjieff's vision is falling apart. Students at his school, instead of learning to think for themselves, begin to worship the guru to the point of repeating his every word and action. All of this is portrayed against a backdrop of rising totalitarianism in Russia.

Ironically, the ultimate message from the Ex Machina collective seems to be that, in practice, collectives don't work. With Geometry of Miracles, the company has written itself a cautionary tale, a warning to stay alert and to refrain from elevating anyone to a god-like status.

Actor Tony Guilfoyle is a dignified yet passionate white-haired Wright and he has the Midwestern accent down cold. Rodrigue Proteau (a regular with Carbone 14) is mesmerizing in the dual role of Gurdjieff and Beelzebub. Thaddeus Phillips is brilliantly comic as Herbert F. Johnson (the Johnson Wax king for whom Wright designed a head office). Rick Miller strikes just the right boy-next-door note as Wes Peters.

The play has been pared down significantly from the original production two years ago in Toronto. It still covers a long time period (from 1929 to Wright's death in '59 and beyond) but takes a minimalist approach that gets the job done in about two hours. The set is clean and spare and emphasizes angles, much like Mr. Wright's architecture. Only the ending, with the entire cast dancing in a mid-'80s discotheque, seems forced. :

La Geometrie des Miracles/ Geometry of Miracles (in English) to April 1 at Usine C. Tickets $35, Students $22, 521-4493