[NEohioPAL]Berko review: OUR TOWN (Porthouse)

[Roy Berko]

‘OUR TOWN’ is effectively and uniquely staged at
Porthouse

Roy Berko

(Member, American Theatre Critics Association)

--THE TIMES NEWSPAPERS--

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


I consider ‘OUR TOWN,’ which is now being performed at
Porthouse Theatre, on the grounds of the Blossom
Center, to be one of the greatest plays of the 20th
century.  It not only won the Pulitzer Prize in 1938,
has become one of the most performed and studied plays
in the English language. 

On the surface the play appears to be a rendition of
the daily activities found in small town America in
the first third of the twentieth century.   In
reality, it is a tribute to basic humanistic views of
life.   Each time I see, direct, teach or have
appeared in the play I bask in the after-glow and find
myself a better person.  

Playwright Thornton Wilder, who was brought up in Hong
Kong and China, was imbued with an Asian perfectionist
attitude.  His education at Oberlin and Yale centered
on the classics.  These influences are deeply imbedded
into the ‘OUR TOWN’ script.  The stage manager
represents the classical Greek chorus and the guide in
Asian theatrical forms.   The direct speeches to the
audience create a theatricalism that stops the viewers
from transferring their thoughts to the play’s
characters and focuses their thoughts on themselves. 
He is exact in his descriptions of the sun rising and
setting and where stores and houses are placed on the
stage, yet these places only exist in our minds.

Interestingly, the exactness is misleading.  Wilder
states that Grover’s Corners, New Hampshire, where the
play takes place, is located at 42 degrees, 40 minutes
latitude and 70 degrees, 37 minutes.  Exact?   Hardly.
 That would not place the town anywhere near New
Hampshire.  In another scene, Mrs. Webb and Mrs. Gibbs
are stringing beans.  Sorry, but beans don’t grow in
New Hampshire in May.   Why does Wilder do this?  He
wants the play to carry a universal message.  This is
not about the existence of those in Grover’s Corners,
it is about all of us, all of our lives.

Wilder writes exact stage directions in the script.  
No scenery, the lines say, but some suggestions are
made.  Usually two trellises, two ladders, and chairs
and tables are used.  The New England dialect is
another specific device.  The “ay yehs” and other area
sounds are on the printed page.  It is here that you
must be warned about the ‘OUR TOWN’ at Porthouse. 
Matthew Earnest, the show’s director, has thrown much
of the traditional Wilder devices to the wind.   No
ladders, no trellises, no New England accents. He has
given the show a whole new feel.  Instead of slowly
paced, the actors and scene people charge around the
stage, the stage manager is a theatre stage manager,
not a town spokesman, per se.  He plays for laughs,
but doesn’t lose the pathos.

If you are a Wilder traditionalist, it’s going to take
you a while to adjust to Earnest’s concept.   I
wiggled through much of the first act as the barefoot
actors ran hither and yon.  But then I found myself
fascinated by how the interpretation, instead of
ruining my experience, heightened it.  I finally
concluded that this production worked, and worked
well!

Wilder divided the play into three segments, each with
a clear title:  Act I:  Daily Life, Act II:  Love and
Marriage, and Act III:  Death.   Earnest has
highlighted the differences by pacing them to fit the
specific actions of the act.  Again, very creative.

The cast is excellent.  Monica Bell and Elizabeth Ann
Townsend are superlative as Mrs. Gibbs and Mrs. Webb. 
Rohn Thomas has the right touch for Doc Gibbs.  His
father-son talk with his son George (Ryan Stutz) was a
delight as was the scene between George and his
father-in-law (Christopher Seiler).  Lenne Snively was
endearing as Mrs. Soames, the town busy-body.

John Woodson gave a whole new interpretation to the
role of the Stage Manager.  He did it effectively with
creativity and confidence.  

Emily Pote was physically picture-perfect as Emily and
did a creditable job, though  I would have preferred a
less cocky attitude.  Her “goodbye to life” speech in
the third act was a little fast, not getting the
emotional feel out of the scene.  This is one of the
most plaintive scenes in American theatre.  How can
anyone not be touched by her plaintiff question, “Do
people ever really appreciate life when they’re living
it?” Or, the answer, “Some,  saints and poets, maybe.”
 

Stutz was very good as George, though he didn’t fit
Wilder’s description of a “great gangling thing;” 
but, his acting was right on and his boyish innocence
worked nicely.

Harlowe R. Hoyt, in his review of a production of ‘OUR
TOWN’ at the Jewish Community Center, stated in the
April 25, 1958 Plain Dealer, “The burgeoning of love
at the soda fountain between Ilene Latter and Roy
Berko is one of the most delightful scenes of the
play.”  About the Pote and Stutz enactment of the same
scene I say, “ditto!”

I was disappointed in the lighting by well known
designer Severn Clay.  There were dark spots on stage
and actors sometimes were in the dark or partly in the
dark for no theatrical reason.  This was very apparent
in Act III.

S. Q. Campbells’s costumes were era correct, though
all the white was sometimes distracting.

CAPSULE JUDGEMENT:  If you’ve ever seen a traditional
production of ‘OUR TOWN,’ you are going to have to
leave your pre-conceptions at the theatre’s entrance
or you’ll fight with the interpretation.  Just sit
back, take director Matthew Earnest’s concept as a
legitimate alternative, and you’ll enjoy it.  If you
haven’t seen the play before, and need a good shot of
appreciation for life, go see the Porthouse
production.

‘OUR TOWN’  continues at KSU’s Porthouse Theatre,
through July 22.   For tickets call 330-672-4102 or
800-304-2363.


Roy Berko's web page can be found at www.royberko.info.  His theatre and dance reviews appear on NeOHIOpal, an on-line source.   To subscribe to this free service via the World Wide Web, visit http://lists.fredsternfeld.com/mailman/listinfo/neohiopal.

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