A Tale Told By an Idiot

The title of William Faulkner's seminal work "The Sound and the Fury" comes from Shakespeare's "Macbeth": "[Life] is a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury signifying nothing." It's about Benjy Compson, 33 years old in 1928, who has the mental abilities of a three-year-old. His memories overlap — the past is barely distinguishable from the present. His mind is full of thundering noise. And often he watches the strange rituals of other people, unable to make sense of anything they do or say.

It is an astonishing theatrical feat to take on a work like that, but Elevator Repair Service did — and now they've done it again, remounting their 2008 work at the Public Theatre. A cast of 12 play over 20 characters — to make things more confusing, more than one actor takes on each role, although Benjy is mostly played by Susie Sokol. Director John Collins immerses us in Benjy's world. It is loud, chaotic and often frightening. Like Benjy, it's often hard for us to follow what's going on, though we get the gist; especially when we're helped along by projections of Faulkner's words.

ERS is best-known for "GATZ," their 2006 production that read F. Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby verbatim. Similarly, the first section of Faulkner's novel is read word-for-word, with the actors handing off copies of the book. All the "he said"s and "she said"s are distancing; and certainly two hours of madness with no intermission can sometimes feel like an endurance test. Yet designer Matt Tierney has created an astonishing, riveting score of layered sound that plunges us into Benjy's head. We are startled by the thwack of golf balls hit in a field, soothed or discomfited by music, and reassured by mooing of cows and ringing of bells. Everything is too loud. Most noises are unexpected. It is a strange, eerie, scary thing to be Benjy. This production helps us understand.