Intention and Effect in The Hairy Ape

Abstract

American plays do not always travel well. A recent performance in London of George C. Wolfe's The Colored Museum was misunderstood by an audience which did not possess the kind of knowledge of black American life and culture to allow it to recognise caricature and parody. In the hands of the Schaubiihne Company from West Berlin, O'Neill's The Hairy Ape — shown at the National Theatre in May 1987 — was a production in which the play became the victim of distortions imposed by the actors, the director, and the designer.