Passions rage in Private Theatre reinterpretation of Strindberg's PLAYING WITH FIRE (photo by Allen Murabayashi)

The Box
189 Chrystie St. between Stanton & Rivington Sts.
August 23-24, $25-$500, 8:30
www.theprivatetheatre.org
www.theboxnyc.com

“Jesus, this is hard to follow,” one character says early on in the Private Theatre’s inventive, bawdy transformation of August Strindberg’s 1893 one-act, Playing with Fire, and indeed, that’s part of the fun. The Private, which has previously performed such shows as Heiner Muller’s Philoctetes, Jean Genet’s The Maids, Stephen Adly Guirgus’s Jesus Hopped the A Train, and Henrik Ibsen’s Hedda Gabler (in an East Village townhouse), has unrepressed Strindberg’s tale of repressed love, sex, and seduction, creating an immersive experience at the Box, a burlesque theater on Chrystie St. With the audience hanging out at the bar in the back, on couches, in booths, on the balcony, and even on the stage itself, fourteen actors playing six roles make their way through the space, hooking up for some raunchy sex, watching others doing it, and wondering how big a man’s member is as he takes a leak. At the center of the story are married couple Newt and Kersten, who reexamine their desires when their friend Axel comes to stay with them. Axel has the hots for Kersten, while Newt has a thing for his cousin Adelle, whom Newt’s father pursues right under the nose of his wife. The actors weave in and out of the audience as their actions are filmed by four camera people and projected onto monitors, along with prerecorded footage; in addition, live and prerecorded dialogue is interwoven, so it is often difficult to tell what is live and what is Memorex. No matter where you sit, you won’t be able to see everything without checking the monitors, which enhances the idea of sex as some kind of game. Occasionally the cast breaks out into moments of interpretive dance (choreographed by Bronwen Carson), with bursts of strobe lights (courtesy of lighting designer Isabella F. Byrd) adding to the mystery, set to a score by Kwan-fai Lam and Sam Kidel. Interestingly, while the women’s Victorian-esque costumes, by Andreea Mincic, are robust and titillating, the men wear rather drab, plain clothing. Directed by John Gould Rubin based on Royce Coppenger’s unique adaptation, Playing with Fire, presented during the hundredth anniversary year of Strindberg’s death, is the kind of production in which adventurous theatergoers need to just go with the flow. It often turns the viewer into a voyeur; at one point, a man reaches into a woman’s genitals for several minutes, but just in case you can’t see it from your angle, it is broadcast in close-up on the monitors. And the positioning comes with a cost; tickets begin at $25 for a spot by the bar and reach up to $175 for a booth up front with free bottle service. There is also a lottery for free tickets, with two performances left, on August 23 & 24. Although the show begins at 8:30, everyone is encouraged to come to the Box as early as 7:00 to have cocktails and mingle as part of the overall experience.