Photos by Alexandra Scoville
“The Seven Layers of Bastian Bachman” is an experimental, immersive play that draws audiences deep into the mind of a man trying to hold on to his unreliable memories while making peace with the people in his life.
The original concept for the production, which opened Wednesday night, was conceived almost three years earlier from a class prompt during director Megan Weaver’s first year of graduate school at ASU’s Herberger Institute for Design and the Arts. Of about eight projects she came up with during that class, “Bastian Bachman” was the most expansive. It was a dream project, the kind of performance you imagined when you were told you could “do something, do anything.”
Of course, money and practicality often get in the way of doing anything. But Weaver was still able to translate what she and her fellow students dreamed up from their minds to the pages of real life.
Weaver said she and her peers wanted to explore the experiences of an individual with a mental disorder such as dementia, Alzheimer’s disease or a brain tumor, looking at the cognitive degeneration from both inside and outside the head.
After deciding to perform “Bastian Bachman” at the Icehouse, they were able to utilize different rooms and levels of the building, letting the audience move between locations such as a hospital operating room and a music studio. The space was “compartmentalized,” Weaver said, adding to the effect of being inside someone’s brain as pieces of it fall apart.
“I think it’s incredibly hard,” Weaver said. “I have a lot of compassion for the human experience that we don’t really like to acknowledge, the way that we decline. The way that health right now is sort of the middle stage, the way that health is sort of considered the standard, but it’s actually just the middle part of a standard human life cycle.”
Most of the production was set in stone at the beginning of 2014, but it was only about a week ago that everything was finalized, theater senior Jenny Strickland said.
But the cast of “Bastian Bachman” joined the production before it even had a script.
As they improvised within the framework that the performance’s creators made, the actors shaped the trajectory of the story. Their characters created themselves, spinning their relationships with each other out of conversations, feelings and memories.
Months ago, they were just faces on a page, but after dozens of rehearsals, the characters feel like real people, too. When the performers speak about their characters, it’s as if they’re telling a story about a friend.
Their goal was to make audience members relate to the play’s characters — to have compassion for them but not pity them. The audience members become part of the performance itself, acting as memories in the main character’s mind. Because the production is immersive, the audience is free to wander through different rooms and experience different scenes, interacting with performers along the way.
Weaver said that at times, their efforts to put themselves in the place of people with brain disorders “felt audacious.” They discussed the ethics of their characters throughout the production’s creation, ensuring their portrayal wasn’t exploitative.
Several of the performance’s original creators were inspired by the experiences of family members.
Weaver’s mother died about a year before she started work on the production. Her uncle had a glioblastoma tumor like the performance’s main character, Bastian Bachman. Lighting designer Adam Vachon’s mother died a couple years before Weaver’s, and Strickland, who plays Bachman’s daughter Juliana, lost her father when she was 12.
Strickland said she was immediately drawn to the character of Juliana because she was a “goth, punk, eff-the-system feminist.”
“Her story really compelled me,” Strickland said. “Being able to reimagine the act of losing your father but taking it 10 years in the future. As a child, it’s an entirely different thing than being an adult. That precipice of adulthood, there’s a lot more angst and anger and really confusing emotions.”
All of these experiences came together to form the story of Bachman and how his memories fade and return during his last hours of life. A talented musician and composer in the prime of his life, Bachman was a composite of several famous musicians. The music that shaped his life weaves through the performance.
Weaver said she didn’t want to make Bachman a victim; rather, she wanted his character to be one the audience respected.
“I think in making him such a strong character with such a clear aesthetic and principles and values and a presence, it doesn’t make him a victim,” Weaver said. “I think that was what was really important, that Bastian isn’t somebody that you feel sorry for.”
“Bastian Bachman” marks the second immersive play from the Herberger Institute to run at the Icehouse, following “Asylum” in late November 2013.
Theater senior Chelsea Jauregui said the performance was moving but also exciting and fun, even with its serious content. She said the immersive nature of the production gave each audience member a unique experience.
“I don’t think anyone saw the same story,” Jauregui said.
“The Seven Layers of Bastian Bachman” runs through Sunday at the Icehouse. Performances begin at 7:30 p.m., and audience members are let in every 10 minutes. The performance is pay-what-you-can, with a suggested donation of $7. For more information, see the Facebook event page.
Contact the reporter at kimberly.koerth@asu.edu
