MCT's "Underneath the Lintel" is an Exquisite Search for Meaning

Milwaukee Chamber Theatre’s current production, Underneath the Lintel, is a smart, funny, maybe even profound look at how professional interest can turn into a personal obsession, and how a small collection of facts can lead to large leaps of credulity, and perhaps eventually leaps of faith. The provocative and captivating show by playwright Glen Berger is available virtually through May 2.

It begins with a chalkboard, a slideshow titled “An Impressive Presentation of Lovely Evidences,” and a trunk of artifacts, carefully labeled and numbered. What follows is a scholarly but passionate lecture by an initially prim Dutch librarian (an enchanting Elyse Edelman), who is somewhat disappointed that more people did not show up for her presentation.

But the story really begins with a book, returned to a library drop box in The Netherlands 113 years after its due date. The last known borrower of the volume is listed simply as “A.” Overdue books are normally no laughing matter for our speaker and her somewhat petty, fastidious coworkers. But this book and this mysterious patron capture the librarian’s imagination. Armed with a knack for research, an indefatigable curiosity, and a date stamper hung around her neck with a ribbon, she sets off on a quest to find the person who has reappeared after more than a century, only to disappear once again, leaving barely a mark.

Traveling the globe like a bookish Carmen Sandiego, the librarian abandons her claustrophobic, narrow life, chasing the minutest clues to England, Germany, America, China, Australia, and all points in between. Relying on train tickets, marginalia, etymological similarities between house pets and house plants, clothing pieces, ancient coins, and an overwhelming desire to find the person whose curse is to leave no trace, she believes that she has accidently discovered the legendary Wandering Jew. At the same time she unearths a great deal about herself and some heartbreaking truths about the human condition.

Under MCT Artistic Director Brent Hazelton’s seamless direction, Elyse Edelman shines in this enormous role. Her transformations from straitlaced sleuth to fringe theorist to eternal wanderer are imperceptibly smooth and impeccably done. Edelman infuses the librarian’s presentation with funny, self-aware moments; bitter realizations about her past; and small record skips when she exposes herself as an unreliable narrator. Wearing a maroon sweater, pleated black skirt, slouching socks and wire rimmed spectacles, it is easy at first glance to think you know this woman. After she is finished with her tale, it is clear you know even less, but you want to believe more.

A replacement in the MCT season for Paula Vogel’s Indecent, Underneath the Lintel is well-suited for socially distanced, filmed theater. With no set changes, few stage effects, and only one actor, the focus is on spellbinding narrative by the main character, aided by a couple of diagrams, props, and projected photos used to help the audience track the expansive tale. Exceptionally well filmed (once again) by Studio Gear, the composition and sound design by Josh Schmidt and lighting design by Noele Stollmack provide lovely underpinning for the production, particularly framing the last scene in a gorgeous moment of focused stillness.

So what is it about Underneath the Lintel that is so magical and necessary in its storytelling that two different artistic directors at the same theater company decided to mount the one-person show, just nine years apart? According to Hazelton’s director’s notes, it’s the play’s message of persistence and perseverance. Berger’s notes in the play’s afterword track with that sentiment. Primarily influenced by music, he explains that Underneath the Lintel was inspired by an old klezmer/Yiddish melody from the 1920s. “The ‘jaunty melancholy,’ the ‘dancing-despite-it-all’ quality it contained, the defiance even—a certain ‘finding-joy-despite-all-the-evidence-to-the-contrary’ quality in the music—compelled me to try to express it as a play,” he wrote.

This tale of stubborn resilience and search for meaning in small things is certainly apt after a year of COVID-19 quarantining. And MCT’s excellent production makes an undeniable mark on audiences, successfully scrawling “I was here” in our memories.