Shakespeare Theatre Company’s Wallenstein: Don’t forget, he has a board game named for him

Shakespeare Theatre Company’s current production of “Wallenstein” is based on a Robert Pinsky adaptation of Friedrich Schiller’s three-part drama set in the middle of the Thirty Years’ War. For those of you who failed World History 101, the Thirty Years’ War lasted from 1618 to 1648, during which the entirety of Europe was devastated, and ended with the Treaty of Westphalia, which established the modern concept of a sovereign nation-state. A refresher is provided by way of rolling text at the beginning of the performance, and a haunting song performed in German by Colin Carmody reminds us all that the true costs of war are calculated using more than just financial metrics.

General Albrecht Wallenstein, who is played by the appropriately bellicose Steve Pickering, is so famous that there is a strategy board game named after him: indeed, Wallenstein himself reminds us of this in one of a series of monologues. Director Michael Kahn and Pickering employ this technique masterfully, drawing the audience into an intimacy with the character which belies the audience’s omniscient knowledge of other schemes afoot. In these moments, Wallenstein provides access to his innermost thoughts and explains his semi-altruistic motivations; the audience is left wondering who, exactly, Wallenstein is trying to persuade.

Wallenstein commands the loyalty of his soldiers through their admiration of his legacy and skill as a leader, but even before his ultimate demise, his influence is weakened by the countervailing actions of Octavio Palladini (Robert Sicular), on behalf of the Holy Roman Emperor. The loss of power is revealed starkly by Wallenstein’s inability to influence his troops to join him against the Holy Roman Emperor to whom they’ve ultimately sworn allegiance: Pickering puts on a good show of vacillating between über commander and cajoling traitor.

Utilizing the same set as STC’s “Coriolanus,” this performance also benefits from the bleak environment imposed by the stark stone facade. The functionality of this backdrop is enhanced by clever engineering: it smoothly transitions from one scene to the next with a mere opening or lifting of its components, creating multidimensional spaces from which the intrigue unfolds. Set Designer Blythe R.D. Quinlan truly outdid himself.

The themes of this nineteenth-century German work continue to be seen in modern security politics: they surface in discussions of just war and in Bradley Manning’s defense of his actions in the Wikileaks incident. Featuring (dark) humor, intrigue, war, and even a tragic (though unnecessary) romance (Schiller was a romantic, after all), “Wallenstein” has a bit of something for everyone, and Shakespeare Theatre Company once again showcases the talent that earned them a 2012 Regional Theatre Tony Award.

“Wallenstein” runs through May 31: get tickets now at http://www.shakespearetheatre.org/.

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