Theater Review

Tom Titus

Howard Korder’s “The Hollow Lands,” now in its world premiere at South

Coast Repertory, would make a more compelling novel, or better yet a TV

miniseries, than a play.

It’s a sprawling chronology of an Irish immigrant’s adventures in the New

World and covers the period from 1815 to 1857 -- certainly the most

ambitious production SCR has yet attempted in 35 impressive years. Yet

despite its magnificent settings and dramatically challenging production

values, “The Hollow Lands” is, well, hollow at its core.

Director David Chambers, who guided Korder’s 1990 world premiere of

“Search and Destroy” superbly, is faced with a more awesome task this

time around -- eliciting audience involvement with characters whose

choices are strange and often confounding. He responds by thrusting the

pedal to the metal in the area of interpretation.

The result is a series of increasingly histrionic sequences over a

three-hour time frame that repel, rather than invite, interest and

empathy. Brutal murders are casually accomplished, and characters undergo

Lear-like transformations without benefit of a narrative thread to stitch

these incidents together.

We may grudgingly accept the idea of several characters crossing paths

over a 40-year period in various areas of the unsettled frontier, and

changing radically in the process, but Korder keeps us emotionally

distanced from his creations. We are more awe-struck by Ming Cho Lee’s

superlative settings than anything that transpires on them.

The principal character, James Newman, begins as a young ambitious

immigrant whose bravado masks emotional insecurity and continues through

various attempts to make a place for himself in his adopted homeland.

Michael Stuhlbarg projects the avaricious nature of his role strongly,

creating an impulsive man who leaves little room for familial

considerations and ultimately deserts his wife and young son.

Rene Augesen offers both tough and tender moments as his wife,

unsuccessfully attempting to quell his pioneering spirit. Simon Billig

and Graham Shields lend macho support as his adventuring companions,

while Rob King seethes effectively as a hot-tempered rival.

Mark Harelik -- who anchored Korder’s “Search and Destroy” a decade ago

-- tackles the play’s showiest role of a proud nobleman cutting a trail

through the wilderness and ultimately being conquered by it. His final

scene is wrenching in its physical and emotional torment.

Hal Landon Jr. enacts the shopkeeper who first employs Newman as a second

cousin to his familiar Scrooge persona. He and other SCR pioneers --

Richard Doyle, Don Took and Art Koustik -- take on a variety of

characterizations, all enriched beyond their temporary importance to the

story -- with Doyle’s Mansonesque cult leader delivered with frightening

precision.

With such blue-ribbon performances and a succession of scenic backdrops

recalling the work of Alfred Hitchcock and Salvador Dali, “The Hollow

Lands” is a visual smorgasbord. But playwright Korder, the most important

element in the process, has not delivered a story we can hang our hearts

on.

CUTLINE: Mark Harelik delivers a speech aimed at inspiring Michael

Stuhlbarg, left, to join him in conquering the wilderness in the world

premiere of Howard Korder’s “The Hollow Lands” at South Coast Repertory.

WHAT: “The Hollow Lands”WHERE: South Coast Repertory, 655 Town Center

Drive, Costa Mesa

WHEN: Tuesdays through Fridays at 8 p.m., Saturdays at 2:30 and 8 p.m.

and Sundays at 2:30 and 7 p.m. through Feb. 13

HOW MUCH: $28 to $47

PHONE: (714) 708-5555