[NEohioPAL]Berko review: TWO HEADED (TITLEWave/CPT)

[Roy Berko]

Insightful, effective ‘TWO HEADED’ at TITLEWave

Roy Berko

(Member, American Theatre Critics Association)

--THE TIMES NEWSPAPERS--

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

September 11 will long be noted as a day that changed
America and its attitude toward “foreigners.”  No,
this isn’t the 9/11 of  2001, this is the September
day in 1857 when 127 California bound men, women and
children from Arkansas and Missouri were killed by a
group of zealous Mormons.  

The Mormons, who practiced polygamy, were reacting not
only to the “gentiles” crossing their territory, but
to the fact that in 1844 Mormon prophet Joseph Smith
and his son were killed in a Carthage, Missouri jail. 
The mass killing was a way to “revenge the death of
the Mormon prophets and punish non-believers.”

Until the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing, and then the
World Trade Center attack, the Mountain Meadows
Massacre was the largest civilian atrocity of
non-Native Americans, on US soil.  Only one man, John
Doyle Lee, was ever put on trial for the massacre. 
After two trials he was executed some 20 years after
the event.
 
Though Julie Jensen’s play, ‘TWO HEADED,’ concerns the
massacre, it is only one of many topics dealt with. 
The play, in five scenes, each spanning 10 years,
examines the lives of two Mormon women, Lavinia and
Hettie, from the time of the massacre.  Jensen
showcases the impact on the choices the women make and
those made for them in the male-controlled culture.

As one reviewer states, “The perspective forces the
audience to imagine what it was like to be a Mormon
woman in the nineteenth century and thus understand
how we all circumvent speaking freely about a lot of
things.  It transforms docudrama into the saga of a
friendship pieced together like one of the women's
painstakingly sewn quilts threatening to fray, but
invariably patched together again.” 

In this era of a serious bid for the US presidency by
Mitt Romney, a devote Mormon, it is a perspective that
may help some to understand the concepts of his
religion, even in this era when the views toward
pluralistic marriage have altered.  

It should be noted that the author has a “deep,
abiding hatred of the Church of Jesus Christ of the
Latter Day Saints” and her ‘TWO-HEADED’ is considered
by believers to be a ferocious attack upon the church.
 Jensen sees Brigham Young’s creation as an “edifice
for the sexual gratification of lecherous men.”  This
concept is clearly showcased in the play’s final
moments when Hettie asks Lavinia about the two-headed
calf that supposedly was hidden in a cellar.  Lavinia
states that it was a lie which she made up. It is
clearly author Jensen’s analogy for the Mormon church
and its hidden rituals.

Jensen's straightforward writing embraces humor as
well as sadness.  Each of the five scenes carries us
further into an elliptical story of the machinations
of each of the women, with comments about the church. 
Each segment is bridged by a religious or
philosophical song.   

TITLEWave’s production, under the steady direction of
Greg Vovos, gets everything possible out of the
script.  The characterizations are clearly etched, the
underlying concepts revealed..   

The strong-willed, often maniacal Lavinia is
well-portrayed by Holly Holsinger.  At the start it is
a little difficult to believe that she is 10-years
old, but once the idea sets in, the ideas flow.   The
character’s strong personality and her obvious lesbian
love for the never seen Jane, receive a strong and
textured development.

Chris Seibert, as the sensitive, trusting and naive
Hettie is believable from the start.  She gives the
role a child-like presence throughout, even as a
mature woman.  It is easy to accept that she is a
willing participant in her fate.

Lydia Chanenka’s set design, mainly consisting of a
gnarled tree from which the massacre is viewed by
Lavinia, remains, like Jensen’s view of the Morman
church, strong, but misshapen.   The backdrop of
burning red colors symbolically remains throughout the
presentation to remind us of the overlying effect of
the massacre.

Capsule judgment:   ‘TWO HEADED’ is a vivid play which
holds our attention for its hour-and-a-half
intermissionless presentation through fine acting and
a consistent concept.

‘TWO HEADED’ runs through June 16 at Cleveland Public
Theatre.  For tickets call 216 631-2727.


Roy Berko's blog, which contains theatre and dance reviews from 2002 through 2007, as well as his consulting and publications information, can be found at http://royberko.info
      
Roy's theatre and dance reviews appear regularly 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.  His reviews also appear on www.coolcleveland.com


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