My Own Take: Off-Broadway's 'Bughouse,' Staged By Martha Clarke

The show: “Bughouse” at off-Broadway’s Vineyard Theatre.

What makes it special?: It’s a world premiere of a new work conceived and staged by Martha Clarke, scripted by Beth Henley (Pulitzer Prize for “Crimes of the Heart”) and starring performance artist John Kelly, based on the life and work of outsider artist, Henry Darger.

Who’s he? Never heard of him: He was a reclusive janitor who lived in a cramped Chicago apartment. When he died at the age of 81 in 1973 an extraordinary amount of artwork and writings was discovered, including a 15,000-page, intricate fantasy tale about children and their adult enslavers and which he illustrated. Also a meandering 5,000-page autobiography and other writings and drawings.

He was particularly obsessed with a child who was, in real life, abducted and killed in 1911 and who inspired Darger’s rebel heroine in his epic work: “In the Realms of the Unreal” aka by its full title: “The Story of the Vivian Girls, in What Is Known as the Realms of the Unreal, of the Glandeco-Angelinian War Storm, Caused by the Child Slave Rebellion.” That title will give you a clue about the man and the challenge in crafting a work that reflects his mad and fantastical mind.

Do you have to know about him before you see the play?: In most cases I’d say see the play fresh — but for this show I would suggest boning up in the dramaturgy offered in the lobby or in the program.

So what happens in this solo show? Whar’s it about an what does it mean? Those are two separate questions. The sheer mystery of the man is the driving force in this meditative piece on art, isolation and obsession. There are glimpses of bio info: We learn in Henley’s deliberately enigmatic script that echoes Darger’s stream-of-conscious voice that his childhood was spent in the Illinois Asylum for Feeble-Minded Children, as an adult, he took on menial jobs in hospitals.

What it means is something else. In this claustrophobic apartment he works and shares snippets of his life, his writing and his art — to us, to himself, to unseen spirits? Not sure. What does it add up to and what is its significance? Well, there’s the challenge. What drove him to his writings and art and storytelling and obsessions? We get suggestions that might lead to some understanding but — like his own dark mix of words and images — we have to suppose most of the psychological manifestations on our own and in Kelly’s mesmerizing and haunted performance of a mad — in both senses of the word — artist.

It’s a journey into the deep and dark recesses of a deeply disturbed artist’s mind. It’s more like entering a dreamscape that one wanders about, led by an eccentric guide who is grappling with with his own fantasies and demons. This very much lived-in world is artfully created by Clarke, the dance-theater artist drawn to unusual subjects and best known for her “Garden of Earthly Delights” and “Vienna: Lusthaus”. (She last worked with Kelly in “God’s Fool” about Francis of Assisi.) She is greatly assisted here by her design team: Christopher Akerlind’s lighting. Neil Patel’s setting, John Narun’s projections, Fred Murphy’s cinematography and Ruth Lingford’s animation.

Who will like it?: Those familiar with Darger, fans of outsider art, those who like unconventional theatre.

Who won’t?: Theatergoers who prefer a clearer type of bio work.

For the kids?: Though the theater recommends the show for those 16+, it would have to be young people who have great patience.

Info: The work is approximately 70 minutes with no intermission. The run continues through April 5 at the Vineyard Theater, 108 East 15th St., near Union Square.

The theater also has an advisory warning for ‘Bughouse’: “The writings and paintings of Henry Darger often feature child protagonists, and in the context of imaginary battles and other scenes, some depict harm against children. There are also paintings in which children are depicted without clothes. Some of these images are included in brief moments.’