The Left Hand of Darkness (Lifeline Theatre)

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The Left Hand of Darkness was a 1994-95 theatrical adaptation / production of Ursula K. Le Guin's groundbreaking science fiction novel, The Left Hand of Darkness. Directed and adapted by Meryl Friedman, the novel was adapted for production by Lifeline Theatre, Chicago, Illinois, and produced on their "Mainstage".

• director: Meryl Friedman
• adapted: Meryl Friedman
• set design: Rebecca Hamlin
• actors: David Coronao (Genly Ai), Genevieve Ven Johnson (Estraven), Karen Tarjan (Faxe). Elizabeth Laidlaw.
• other: Elaine Dame

Performances

• November 1994 - January 1995; Jan. 20 - March 19, 1995, Lifeline Theater, Chicago, Illinois

Reviews, discussions, etc.

• Lawrence Bommer, "Sci-fi Tale Has Chills: Lifeline and Le Guin Build Another World", The Chicago Tribune, Feb. 7, 1995. "Lifeline Theatre's premiere, meticulously adapted by director Meryl Friedman, takes us on an absorbing 180-minute journey through this complex and corrective society. Our guide is Genly, an envoy from Earth who hopes to persuade the nation of Karhide to join the Ecumen, a league of productive planets. ... Friedman conjures up an engrossing, neo-medieval world where a weaver becomes a whirling dervish spinning into the future, planetary wastes are conveyed by swirling draperies (spectrally lighted by Peter Gottlieb), and all our terrestrial assumptions are intricately subverted. Because much of the action consists of enlightened talk, the Lifeline performances often strive for an import that seems greater than the situation. Though it skirts the edge of camp, the intensity often works, as in Karen Tarjan's wise and charismatic seer Faxe. Adding comic relief, Kevin McCoy exploits the Swiftian possibilities of the pompous and paranoid monarch Argaven. Anchoring the adventure is David Coronado's engaging Genly, an explorer who can look within as well as around him. He keeps a diffuse tale rooted in one man's astonishment, so much so that the love story that becomes the second act engages us as much as the struggles of this undifferentiated planet. Purists may find Lifeline's version different from what they imagined, but that's one more tribute to Le Guin."

• Joe Pixler, "New Offerings Make for Winter of Content", The Chicago Sun-Times, Jan. 20, 1995. "MORE DARKNESS: The concepts of gender, sexuality and society are explored by a traveler from a distant galaxy in "The Left Hand of Darkness," a stage adaptation of Ursula K. Le Guin's 1969 sci-fi novel premiering at the Lifeline Theatre. David Coronado stars as Genly Ai, the envoy on a mission to convince the nation of Karhide to join the Ecumen federation. Genly finds a wintery land where there is no gender (the father of one may be the mother of another), no domination, no assumptions -- another culture that Genly, with the audience along for the ride, eventually comes to understand. Meryl Friedman directs her own adaptation, created with Le Guin's input. "The Left Hand of Darkness" previews at 8 tonight, Sunday and Tuesday and 3:30 p.m. Sunday, opens at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday and runs through March 19. Regular performances are at 8 p.m. Thursday through Saturday and 3:30 p.m. Sunday. Lifeline is at 6912 N. Glenwood. Tickets: $ 7 for previews, then $ 10-$ 15 (312-761-4477)."

• New City

• MatriFocus: "In 1994, Lifeline Theater of Chicago made a play out of Ursula Le Guin's science fiction novel, The Left Hand of Darkness, in which all the characters are sex-neutral except when in heat. I sat in the theater, really longing to suspend disbelief. The excellent cast, makeup, and costumes did everything possible to create and maintain the illusion. Yet as each character came on stage, I unwillingly but unerringly "sexed" the actor. This interfered with my experience of the play, but I couldn't help it. I'd read that humans are hard-wired to identify another person's sex before any other quality, but now I'd experienced it first-hand. If we can't help making sex distinctions, no wonder our species is so primed for us/them thinking and its bloody outcomes."