Associated Press, August 11, 2005
Symbolism of Tennessee Williams Celebrated
By: Michael Kuchwara
Sometimes, believe it or not, heavy-handed symbolism can bring out the best in directors and actors.
Such is the case with two haunting, yet wildly different productions currently on view in Canada: Tennessee Williams' "Orpheus Descending," playing in repertory here at the Stratford Festival; and Henrik Ibsen's "The Wild Duck," running in rep at Soulpepper, an enterprising Toronto theater company. Both plays are awash in overt, often overwhelming theatricality.
Let's start with "Orpheus," a high-cholesterol, Southern Gothic melodrama, first seen on Broadway in 1957. At times, the play echoes themes found in some of Williams' best work, such as "A Streetcar Named Desire" and "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof."
Yet director Miles Potter and an exceptional cast, headed by Seana McKenna and Jonathan Goad, have tamed its excesses, creating a tough-minded yet emotional evening of theater. Potter has rooted Williams' often overripe tale in a tenuous reality that carefully balances the play's considerable poetry with a clarity of character and story.
Like several of Williams' other heroines, McKenna's Lady Torrance is a frustrated, lonely, middle-age woman trapped by life. She helps her dying, tyrannical husband run a small-town, dry-goods store. McKenna plays this Italian immigrant with a sense of defiant sadness. Lady, the victim of a tragic, unsettling past, is suspicious of everybody yet aching to connect.
When a mysterious stranger, not unlike the mythical Orpheus, arrives in town, she does just that. A handsome, guitar-strumming fellow, Valentine Xavier wears a snakeskin jacket and proudly proclaims his temperature is always a few degrees above normal. Hot-blooded he is, yet coolly aware of where he has been and where he is going. Goad portrays this intruder with confident charm. No wonder the man provokes such a strong reaction among the town's womenfolk, from gossipy biddies to even more unusual ladies.
Chief among these is Carol (a sensual Dana Green), the resident bad girl. Carol is a self-proclaimed exhibitionist, a free spirit who also has the clarity to see that bad things are going to happen. And then there is the sheriff's fidgety wife (Sarah McVie), a painter who has visions, too, but mostly of a spiritual nature.
Williams' language is filled with imagery, especially when Lady and Val are forming their volatile friendship. At one point, for example, Val talks about a bird with no legs, one that is always in the air, "living their whole life on the wing." Could he be talking about himself? Potter's superb production, running through Sept. 25, and Goad's compelling performance make you believe it wholeheartedly.
A winged creature of another sort takes center stage in "The Wild Duck," Soulpepper's emotionally draining production of Ibsen's brutal domestic drama. It's on view at Harbourfront Centre Theatre in Toronto through Sept. 3.
"The Wild Duck" pits the righteousness of truth against the accommodations, not to mention the lies, that sometimes are created to survive. Ibsen's classic play, directed in a clean, straightforward manner by Laszlo Marton, tells the story of one family torn apart by the truth.
That the truth-teller is a well-meaning best friend makes the story even more compelling. Brent Carver, who next year will star in the Toronto stage version of "The Lord of the Rings," portrays the messenger, Gregers, with calm certainty. Carver gives a careful, nuanced performance, a man genuinely bewildered by the devastation he causes.
Yet Gregers' morality is unbending and absolute. He despises his father (David Hemblen) not only for the older man's questionable business dealings but for his relationship with a female servant. The woman (Maggie Huculak) later marries Gregers' good friend, Hjalmar, portrayed with tremulous rage by Diego Matamoros.
Their child � or is it? � becomes the guardian of that wild duck, a wounded bird living in the unhappy household. As the girl, Martha MacIsaac is sensational, an assured young actress who has the stuff of stage stardom. She anchors the play with her sweet-tempered performance, giving the evening a dramatic kick that makes the ending all the more tragic.
"The Wild Duck" is a difficult play to pull off, often collapsing into hysteria. Not so here. Marton and company have given us a revival that genuinely takes flight.