[NEohioPAL]Berko reviews: THREE TALL WOMEN (ENSEMBLE) & VE DAY (DOBAMA)

[Roy Berko]

THREE TALL WOMEN/ENSEMBLE AND ‘VE DAY’/DOBAMA

Roy Berko

(Member, American Theatre Critics Association)

--THE TIMES NEWSPAPERS--

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


‘THREE TALL WOMEN’ THOUGHT-PROVOKING AT ENSEMBLE


In the late 1950s the United States was searching for
a new understanding of itself.  The country had just
been involved in the war to end all warsand was in
ascendence as THE world leader.  The theatre, along
with the other arts, took on the role of creating a
look at what the country was and should be.  Writers
like Tennessee Williams, William Inge and Arthur
Miller brought dramatic arts into the world of
theatrical realism.  By the late 60s, however, with
the birth of movements toward integration, stands
against repression, and frustration with the political
paths taken by the US government, the Theatre of the
Absurd reared its head.  Represented by the likes of
Samuel Beckett and Edward Albee the movement was based
in existentialism asking "Why do we exist?" Albee is
one of the only writers of that era to remain on the
theatrical scene.  He is still writing in the
absurdist mode.  Absurd, in this case, doesn’t mean
ridiculous, it stands for "out-of-kilter." It allows
the writer to pen one thing, while representing
something else, something with deeper meanings.  Think
"Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf." Virginia Woolf
doesn’t appear in the play, her words are not spoken,
yet her philosophy and beliefs are strongly alluded to
in the play’s messages of frustration, impotency,
failure and futility.

One of Albee’s most recent writings, ‘THREE TALL
WOMEN’ continues his absurdist bent.  This play takes
place in the bedroom of a sick and forgetful old
woman, named (A). In the first act she is cared for by
a middle-aged companion (B) and visited by a young
woman (C) sent by the lawyer to settle some financial
affairs. They discuss the human condition with its
love, pain, wit, sex, and inevitable decline. At the
end of the first act, (A) suffers a stroke that leaves
her on the edge of death. The irony of the play
centers in the second act when we realize that A, B
and C are all the same person at different stages of
her life.

As he did in ‘WHO’S AFRAID OF VIRGINIA WOOLF, Albee
lays bare the pettiness and self deception in our
lives.   He asks, "What if you could see and speak to
the person you once were?  What if you were able to
speak to the person you are predetermined to become?"
What difference would it make in your life?  Would you
live life differently?

Albee also adds a twist by having A’s alienated son
turn up at her bedside to say goodbye.  This may have
been Albee’s own way of dealing with his negative
relationship with his adoptive mother.  The son, who
speaks not a word in the play though he is on stage
for almost all of the second act, has tears streaming
down his face as the play draws to a close.   Yet
another question arises. "Is the Albee’s stand-in
crying because of the lack of a good relationship or
finally being able to say goodbye?  What’s the message
for the audience on how to live?  

Interestingly, ‘THREE TALL WOMEN"won Albee his third
Pulitzer Prize even though it never has played
Broadway.

Ensemble Theatre’s production does not quite live up
to the words "witty, hilarious, haunting, and swimming
in the dark pools of the human heart's most inner
secrets," which were used by reviewers of other
productions to describe their theatrical experience. 
Though they tried valiantly, director Licia Columbi
and her cast just couldn’t overcome this very wordy
script, full of shaded dialogue and long monologues
and little action.  

Columbi uses the small intimate space of the Cleveland
Play House’s Black Box Theatre well.  She continues to
create triangles of staging so that all the actors can
easily be seen by the audience which surrounds the
stage on three-sides.  Like the corners of an
equilateral triangle, each character has the same
strength and power.  The reason for this becomes clear
in the second act, when we realize that we are seeing
the same person at different times in her life.

All three actresses are proficient.  Bernice Bolek as
(A,) the old lady, swings from mean to manipulating to
insightful but sometimes misses the extremes of
rationality and irrationality.  Sherri Britton as (B),
though at times appears to be in control of the
character, is somwhat inconsistent, especially in the
first act when she fails to  establish a clear
personality concept.  After a stiff and uncertain
first act, Bernadette Clemens as (C) blossoms in the
second act, allowing for an understanding of why A
becomes irascible in her later life.  Jesse Kamps
portrays the tortured son with amazing control.  He
flows forth real tears at exactly the right moment.

CAPSULE JUDGEMENT:  Ensemble  seems to be doing its
best work since moving to the CPH space.  Though it
does not have the emotional highs and lows of ‘WHOSE
AFRAID OF VIRGINIA WOOLF’,  ‘THREE TALL WOMEN’  does
carry a clear probing set of messages in question
form.  If you love theatre, and can endure a very
talky show, you’ll appreciate the Ensemble production.

THREE TALL WOMEN continues at Ensemble Theatre,
located in the Little Theatre in the Cleveland Play
House complex through December 7.  For ticket
information call 216-321-2930.

‘V-E DAY’ IN WORLD PREMIERE AT DOBAMA

In 1992 a box of newsletters written during the Second
World War were dropped off at The Cleveland Jewish
News.  Fortunately, the material found its way to Faye
Sholitan, one of the paper’s writers.  ‘Hello Again,"
the monthly publication was circulated to Cleveland
GIs as a morale booster.  It contained hometown gossip
centering on those who had attended Glenville High
School, ate at Mawby’s on Lee Road, danced their
nights away at the Statler Bar, were tended to in
Mount Sinai Hospital, and attended Silver’s Temple on
Ansel Road and East 105th Street.  It noted the happy
events in life back home.  

Besides being a reporter, Sholitan is a playwright. 
As such, she was moved by the voices whom she later
knew as her parents’ friends.  ‘V-E DAY’ is her salute
to the people who wrote and whose lives were noted in
"Hello Again."   The original publications can be
found at the Western Reserve Historical Society. 
Copies are at the Beachwood Branch of the Cuyahoga
County Public Library.  

‘V-E DAY’ was recently awarded first prize in the
Arlene R. and William P. Lewis Playwriting Contest
sponosred by Brigham Young University which honors
women writers.  

‘V-E DAY’ tells the tale of the now 79-year old Evelyn
Bergfeld, who appears to have spent her happiest years
during World War II.  It reveals how she won and lost
Bernard Cohen, the real love of her life.  It relates
how she went on to marry another man.  How she
traversed through that marriage and motherhood with
little joy.  How she literally and figuratively buries
her life.  How, in her later years, she submerges into
depression, unable to find happiness in anything
except buying unneeded goods on the Home Shopping
Network and harassing her daughter and caretakers. 
Depressed until....(let’s stop there, no sense in
giving away the whole plot).  Let’s just say, it’s
amazing what happens when the potential for happiness,
no matter what age, becomes a possibility.

Sholiton presents the material through a series of
present day happenings and simultatenous flashbacks.  
We meet all the major characters in their present as
well as their early selves.  Several times the cross
fades between this and the past worlds get blurred due
either to lighting errors or a lack of verbal or
physical transitional qualities, but the writing
device generally works well.   The ending of the play
confused the audience.  After what appeared to be an
ending line and a blackout,  and hardy applause, the
lights came up on yet another scene which didn’t add
much to the play’s purpose.

Director Jacqi Loewy honed the performance well.  She
kept the action crisp and left little unclear and
aided her actors to develop realistic characters.  

Set designer Mark Kobak created a workable and
well-detailed set.  The only confusion came with an
imaginary entrance door.  The first arrival through
the invisible entry gave the illusion that the
character might be a figment of Evelyn’s confuision or
imagination rather than a real person.  Since all
other aspects of the set were so realistic, a real
entrance space was needed.

The cast was outstanding.  As Evelyn, Rhoda Rosen
walked the tight-rope between depression and senility
with clarity.  She was absolutely believable in what
could have been a caricature performance.  Talent,
talent, talent!!!!    It was easy to grasp Mitch
Field’s years of longing to have spent his life with
Evelyn.  Jennifer Clifford, Michael John Sestli, and
Holly Humes were totally believable as the young Evie
and Bernie and Bernie’s sister Lil.  Juliette Regnier
was alternately frustrated and empathic as Evelyn’s
daughter Aimee.  Jennifer Salkin was fine as Young
Aimee.

CAPSULE JUDGEMENT:  ‘V-E DAY’ is a lovely little play
filled with humor and pathos.   Its life expectancy
might be limited with all the Cleveland references. 
Local people who lived through the WWII era will
"qvell" over reliving that time.  Others will be
intrigued by this slice of historical life.

‘V-E DAY’ runs at Dobama Theatre through December 21. 
Dobama’s next offering is ‘RAISED IN CAPTIVITY.’  The
Nicky Silver off-the-wall comedy will get its Ohio
premiere from Janaury 16 through February 8.   For
information and tickets call 216-932-3396. 

HOLIDAY GIFT SUGGESTION

In this era of limited resources it is important to
support your local theatres!  Give yourself and the
arts a holiday present...donate to a theatre of your
choice, give a ticket gift certificate to a local
venue, or make a donation in someone’s name!



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