[NEohioPAL]KATE IS KATE AT CPH (BERKO'S REVIEW)

[Roy Berko]

KATE IS KATE AT PLAY HOUSE

Roy Berko

(Member, American Theatre Critics Association)

--THE TIMES NEWSPAPERS--

Lorain County Times--Westlaker Times--Lakewood News
Times--Olmsted-Fairview Times	


Every once in a while a theatre-goer has a special
encounter.  It usually takes place when a play or a
performer so enraptures the senses that the viewer
loses track of watching a performance and becomes
enmeshed with the happenings.  This is the case of
experiencing Kate Mulgrew transform herself into
Katharine Hepburn during The Cleveland Play House’s
staging of TEA AT FIVE.  

Matthew Lombardo’s portrait of stage and screen legend
Katharine Hepburn is being showcased at CPH before its
planned New York opening.   Though the subject matter
is supposedly well researched, one wonders how
accurate it really is.  Because of Hepburn’s private
nature, her granting few interviews and making few
public statements the public doesn’t know the real
Kate.  Yes, facts reveal that she was born May 12,
1907 in Hartford, Connecticut, the daughter of
wealthy, progressive parents.  Her movie and
theatrical career was filled with many highs and lows,
including her being nominated for a record twelve
Academy Awards and the winner of four.  She was almost
killed in a car crash in 1984, a center point of the
play’s second act.  She was a woman of great
determination with clear goals as demonstrated by her
statement, "When I started out, I didn't have any
desire to be an actress or to learn how to act. I just
wanted to be famous."   Her trip toward fame started
in 1932 when she starred in her first film, A BILL OF
DIVORCEMENT.  Her final film appearance was LOVE
AFFAIR in 1994.  Now 95 she lives in her family home
in Connecticut.  
	
Questions abound about Hepburn.  Even though she
married, was she a lesbian?   What was the real story
behind her twenty-seven year dysfunctional
relationship with Spencer Tracey,  her tempestuous
equal?  How deeply was she scared by her family’s
history of suicides, including the death of her
fifteen year old brother?  Is she presently the victim
of short term memory loss and non-responsive?  Was she
really caustic and abrasive? The play hints at some of
the answers, leaves others untouched.  Those who are
interested in the real dirt will not find everything
that inquiring minds want to know from TEA AT FIVE,
but there is enough to satisfy most appetites.

Mulgrew, herself, has a long illustrious professional
career.  Probably best know for her role of Captain
Kathryn Janeway on STAR TREK: VOYAGER, she also had
leading roles in TV’s RYAN’S HOPE, KATE COLUMBO,
MURPHY BROWN and CHEERS.   Her list of film and
theatre performances is also impressive.

Ms. Mulgrew’s performance as Hepburn far surpasses the
quality of the material.    Presented as a
conversation with the audience, there are often forced
moments and missing links.  Mulgrew storms right
through these flaws.  Her voice is Hepburn’s, high
pitched, with the familiar crackles in the first act,
deeper and well modulated in the second.  Her
gestures, movements of her cigarette holding hand, her
head tilts, her hair flips, her mouth pursing,  the
Parkinson disease tremors in her speaking and moving
are right on target,.  She traverses the emotional
highs and lows with ease.  This is one talented
actress giving a tour-de-force performance.

Unlike Hepburn, Mulgrew is "unbelievably lucky in
encountering this man (candidate for governor Tim
Hagen) whom I love so deeply and admire so much." The
couple split their living time between their Olmsted
Township home and an apartment in Manhattan.  She
states she is "hoping for a home in Columbus next year
after my husband is elected governor."    

Tickets for TEA FOR TWO, which had a record-setting
pre-opening sale, are scarce, but making the effort to
obtain ducats is worth the endeavor.  Not only is
Mulgrew wonderful, but the production values are high.
 Storm clouds, rain, snow and a complete rebuilding of
the Hepburn house between the first and second acts
grace the stage.

The play will be performed in the Bolton Theatre of
the Cleveland Play House only through September 3.  
Tickets, which range in price from $42 to $49 may be
obtained by calling 216-795-7000 or on-line at
clevelandplayhouse.com.


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