[NEohioPAL] Review of "There Is a Happiness That Morning Is" at Cleveland Public Theatre

[Bob Abelman]

Cleveland Public Theatre's "Happiness" offers a marvelous take on William Blake

 

Bob Abelman

News-Herald, Chagrin Valley Times, Solon Times, Geauga Times Courier

Member, International Association of Theatre Critics 

 

This review will appear in the News-Herald on 5/24/13



 

The ancient Greeks believed that poets are inspired by muses.  They remove from the artist all human senses and replace them with divine inspiration.  Playwright Mickle Maher's muse must have stopped off at Dionysus' place for a few drinks, for his work is infused with a delightful, drunken nonsense rather than no sense, and is inspired by the poetry of others.

Case in point:  Maher's 1999 play "An Apology for the Course and Outcome of Certain Events Delivered by Doctor John Faustus on This His Final Evening."  This comedy is based on the German legend popularized by Marlowe and, later, by Goethe, about a man who sells his soul to the devil in exchange for power and knowledge.  Rather than exploring the tale's grand themes, Maher has Faust spend his final hour on earth speaking to a group of strangers about nothing in particular.  

 

In Maher's 2001 play "The Hunchback Variations," Beethoven and Quasimodo pair up to conduct a panel discussion about an obscure stage direction mentioned in Chekhov's "The Cherry Orchard."   This play was recently turned into an opera.

 

"The Strangerer" takes place during the 2004 presidential debate between George W. Bush and John Kerry.  The two politicians are so bored by the proceedings that they spend the evening devising ways to murder PBS moderator Jim Lehrer and raise the same moral questions addressed in Camus's "The Stranger."  

Which brings us to Maher's riveting and wonderfully ridiculous comedy "There Is a Happiness That Morning Is," currently on stage at Cleveland Public Theatre.  The muses must have been  on quite a bender. 


Written in the rhymed verse of William Blake, "Happiness" features two professors whose area of expertise is Blake's 18th century poetry.  They have recently engaged in a scandalous display of public lovemaking on the main lawn of their rural New England campus - a natural and joyful act Blake himself would have appreciated - and must now apologize to their students to save their jobs.

 

Bernard (Brian Pedaci) employs Blake's "Songs of Innocence" - a collection of poems that reflect the innocent, pastoral world of childhood - to explain his jubilant behavior.  "I'll show that what we did beneath that tree/relates directly to Blake's poetry," he says.  Ellen (Derdriu Ring), a reputable scholar on Blake's darker "Songs of Experience," uses this collection of poems and the foreboding "The Sick Rose" in particular to justify her actions and rail against the school's inept administrator (Matthew Wright).  

 

The actual printed volumes of Blake's poems contain engravings and verses by the author that are inextricably intertwined, part of a singular vision where neither image nor word dominates the other.  The same can be said for this play and director Beth Wood's playful staging of it.  This production flows beautifully and provides just enough activity to balance out its astounding verbosity.

 

Poetry on the page in one thing, but effectively communicating it aloud to an audience is quite another.  Ring and Pedaci have mastered rhyming pentameter to the point where it sounds like natural speech.  Ring's poignant performance also reveals the play's occasional dark places and gently unveils its weighty themes, while Pedaci's impishness radiates throughout the production and captures all that is alarmingly charming in Maher's and Blake's writing.

 

All the rhyming ends when the college president - a deeply troubled, humorless and unpoetic fellow - enters two-thirds through the play.  This is also where the play's comedy shifts into overdrive, the result of Wright's astounding ability to turn himself inside-out emotionally and physically.  His pathetic presence is felt even before his entrance, as President James Dean loiters in the audience while uncomfortably, painfully eavesdropping on Bernard and Ellen's lectures.  Wright is a treat.

 

So too is Todd Krispinsky's set design.  Krispinsky has created the kind of ecologically friendly classroom one envisions Henry David Thoreau lecturing and living in, where the blackboard and podium are supported by tree stumps and surrounded by wild grasses.   All this is complemented by Stephanie Fisher's costume design, J. Scott Franklin's original compositions, and Benjamin Gantose's subtle lighting.

 

Still, as in Maher's other plays, the characters in "Happiness" spend 90 uninterrupted minutes explaining themselves, which may not be everyone's idea of a good time.  For those who enjoy language, don't mind a smattering of well-placed poetic profanity and recognize the earlier references to Camus, Chekhov and Goethe, it most certainly will be.  This is wonderful piece of theater, full of worthwhile risk-taking and incredible craftsmanship.

 

The regional premiere of "There Is a Happiness That Morning Is" continues through May 25 in Cleveland Public Theatre's James Levin Theatre, 6415 Detroit Avenue in Cleveland's Gordon Square Arts District.  For tickets, which range from $10 to $25, call 216-631-2727 or visit www.cptonline.org.


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