The Satori Group Tackles Saunder's Winky
Currently tucked away on the fourth floor of Seattle’s “Art Building” in Pioneer Square, ensemble-based theatre company The Satori Group is busy staging the second production of their 2009-2010 Body of Work. Winky, adapted from the short story by George Saunders, is the tale of Neil Yaniky’s quest to grow a set and kick his crazy sister Winky out of his house, a simple task slated to bring him lifelong enlightenment.
Debuting in Seattle in March of 2009, The Satori Group has already begun to create a buzz around its unique brand of Fringe Theater. Satori takes a multi-media, collaborative approach to live theater, working hard to inject the Seattle scene with creative conceptualization and new, original work. Winky is Satori’s first original production in Seattle, an ensemble-developed creation that attempts to translate the themes of Saunders work into impactful theater.
So, we start with a story that is at once very funny and very sad. (Winky can be found in Saunder’s Pastoralia collection or can be read online with a New Yorker subscription). It’s not necessary to prep with the story, but by doing so one can appreciate the original character touches in the adaptation - Tom Rodgers relentlessly grilling Neil for the secret ingredient in his family meatball recipe, Winky talking to the dishes in the kitchen. The play opens with some laughs and the story moves along, but not until the third scene does the company start to show some real inventiveness with the material.
The character of Winky is the sort of souped-up crazy similar to Misery’s Annie Wilkes. Saunders painted Winky’s mental state with the written word, but Satori has figured out how to effectively communicate this visually. The scene is set in a kitchen, and as Winky’s psyche devolves into distraction, the set’s windows snap open, stairs pull back, and shadow puppets pop up, screeching crazily. The play continues its inventive momentum in the fourth scene, a streetscape-slash-flashback arena, covering Neil’s determined march home to purge Winky from his home life once and for all.
Then there is the theater space. Satori's website says, “The space allows our audience to experience multiple worlds in one: moving from a seminar, to a home, to a streetscape within the confines of one gigantic room.” Except the space where Winky is being staged should be more accurately described as a “room so medium-ish in size that Satori’s ability to cram four sets and an audience inside requires nothing less than complete originality and creativity." It’s all somewhat crude - understandable given Satori’s limited budget - but it’s effectiveness they’re after, not polish.
Overall, Winky’s emotional substance is pretty cut-and-dry; the audience is meant to feel a singular way about what they witness. The acting is generally solid - Anthony Darnell’s Neil Yaniky is excellent - but the adaptation of the story’s tragic humor could have benefited from a bit more of the good ol’ fashioned theater arts: more strength in the script and a purer, physical acting presence. Satori tackles staging and conceptuality with impressive creativity and confidence, but their potential in relaying a nuanced, complex message may be “Beginning to Begin” just beginning.
Through April 5, Thurs - Mon (no performance tonight) // Pioneer Square's Art Building, 619 Western Ave. // $15
