Tennessee Williams is a master at describing sensual desire - both repressed and realized. And
Zeitgeist Stage Company Artistic Director David Miller is a master at interpreting the works of Williams, especially some of the playwright's lesser known works. Last season, he dazzled audiences with eight short plays by Williams in
"Eight by Tenn." This season he builds upon that success with the innovative
"Desire." These six one act plays have been based on short stories by Williams and adapted into stage plays by well known playwrights. The result is an electrifying evening of theater at the
Plaza Theatre at the Boston Center for the Arts that should not be missed.
As you might expect with material originated by Tennessee Williams, there are mature themes of sexuality that are explicitly depicted, but never in a way that is gratuitous or that does not serve the theme and action of the play. Director Miller has cast a terrific ensemble of nine actors, each of whom has a chance to bask in the spotlight in one or more of these plays.
"The Resemblance Between a Violin Case and a Coffin" by
Beth Henley
- This play treats several of Williams' familiar themes: illness, consumption, neurosis, hypochondria, death, and repressed desire. Margaret McFadden is fragile as Roe, a young piano prodigy who loses her nerve when she is paired with the handsome young violinist, Richard Miles (Sam Terry). She is madly in love with him, and her unspoken desire paralyzes her as a girl and as a musician. Her awkward brother, Tom (Jon Vellante) seems to have resentment and his own unspoken desire for Richard. The family is mortified when Roe's star turn in the recital is cancelled. There is no happy ending here.
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Sam Terry, Eric McGowan
Margaret McFadden, Alexander Rankine
"The Resemblance Between a Violin Case and a Coffin"
"Desire"
Zeitgeist Stage Company
Plaza Theatre at the BCA
Through May 20th
Photo by Richard Hall/Silverline Images |
"Oriflamme" by
David Grimm
- Anna (Lindsay Beamish), a lonely and sexually repressed single woman comes to an isolated park wearing a bright red gown. She encounters Rodney/Hooch (Damon Singletary) sitting atop a park bench and sipping from his hip flask the amber liquid from which he derived his sobriquet. The teasing, flirting, and seductive posturing lead to an inevitable sexual confrontation that ends in Anna not knowing if she wants to go through with the encounter or not. Beamish and Singletary both shine in this high voltage gem.
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Damon Singletary and Lindsay Beamish
"Oriflamme"
"Desire"
Zeitgeist Stage Company
Plaza Theatre at the BCA
Through May 20th
Photo by Richard Hall/Silverline Images
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"Attack of the Giant Tent Worms" by
Elizabeth Egloff
- A couple vacationing on Cape Cod confront an infestation of tent worms, but it is more than insects that have invaded their domesticity. Clara (Margaret Dransfield) is frustrated with her writer husband, Billy (Alexander Rankine). Alcohol fuels their disdain for one another and their mania. Complications ensue!
"You Lied To Me About Centralia" by
John Guare
- This intriguing little drama takes a page from "Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead," in that it takes a minor character from a major work, and builds a sequel around it. In this case, Jim (Eric McGowan) is the Gentleman Caller from Williams' masterpiece, "The Glass Menagerie." And Betty (Katie Flanagan) is the fiancee he alludes to in "Menagerie." In "Centralia," the couple are arguing because she went off on a wild goose chase to try to extract money from a distant relative, while leaving Jim waiting at the wrong track of the railroad station. Flanagan perfectly exudes St. Louis faux Southern gentility as she recounts the humiliating visit to her relative, where something is not quite right is afoot between her older male relative and his live-in male secretary. She is appropriately scandalized by suspicions of a lewd nature.
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Katie Flanagan and Eric McGowan
"You Lied To Me About Centralia"
"Desire"
Zeitgeist Stage Company
Plaza Theatre at the BCA
Through May 20th
Photo by Richard Hall/Silverline Images
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"Desire Quenched by Touch" by
Marcus Gardley
This play is the most shocking and riveting of the sextet of dramas. It features Williams dipping his toe into the murky waters of sado-masochism, and features nudity. It is not for the faint of heart, but is engrossing. The play opens with Fountaine Le Grand (
Damon Singletary), a well known masseur in New Orleans in the 1950s, being questioned by Detective Bacon (
Alexander Rankine). It seems that a young man has gone missing, and he was a regular client of Le Grand, so the masseur is a
"person of interest" in the case. Mr. Singletary is the very essence of
sang froid as he handles the questions from the increasingly suspicious detective. The action toggles back and forth between the interrogation room and flashbacks to the Turkish bath where Le Grand plies his trade. His client is Anthony Burns (
Sam Terry), who desires deep massage that will inflict pain. At first Le Grand responds reluctantly, but takes more and more pleasure in the exchanges that pass between him and Burns. As written, Anthony Burns is a complex character full of contradictions. Mr. Terry plays him like a finely tuned violin that eventually produces cacophonous screams. I know of very few actors who could have handled this role as deftly as Mr. Terry, who is fast becoming one of the most accomplished young actors to work on Boston area stages. His connection with Mr. Singletary's character in this play is the highlight of the evening, with each actor at a fever pitch of artistry and passion.
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Sam Terry and Damon Singletary
"Desire Quenched by Touch"
"Desire"
Zeitgeist Stage Company
Plaza Theatre at the BCA
Through May 20th
Photo by Richard Hall/Silverline Images
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"The Field of Blue Children" by
Rebecca Gilman
As is often the case with Tennessee Williams' writing, in this story he is working out some of his own demons and personal animus. He writes this tale as almost a parody of college life in Alabama, with brutish male athletes and insipid and vacuous sorority sisters in thrall over the upcoming football game. Layley (
Margaret Dransfield) is dating the neanderthal Grant (
Eric McGowan), but decides to expand her horizons by joining a poetry group. She is out of her element, but is encouraged by sensitive young poet Dylan (
Jon Vallante). They go on a picnic, during which Dylan demonstrates that he can provide Layley with more pleasure and satisfaction with his pen and with his tongue than Grant could ever conceive. She must choose between these two antipodes of masculine expression. Ms. Dransfield, Mr. Vallante, and Mr. McGowan are strong in these roles.
This nonet of fine actors are helped by the simple, yet versatile, set by Mr. Miller, as well as by his flawless direction. Adding to the total pleasing theatrical effect are the period Costumes by
Elizabeth Cole Sheehan, Lighting by
Michael Clark Wonson and Sound by
Jay Mobley.
Performances of these rarely performed works will continue through May 20th. I am hoping that this thorough description of my reaction to these works of art will plant in you a
"desire" to make your way to the South End and the Plaza Theatre.
Zeitgeist Stage Website
Enjoy!
Al
