Solo Shows at Long Wharf Theatre and Ivoryton Playhouse
If you ask me…
By Tom Holehan
Connecticut Critics Circle
Unbecoming Tragedy and Tea at Five, two plays currently on the boards at the Long Wharf Theatre and Ivoryton Playhouse, share nothing in common except that each is a solo show giving one actor the opportunity to stretch their acting muscles. Both actors here can be praised for their performances. One of the plays offers a little more than that.
Written and performed by Terrence Riggins, Unbecoming Tragedy is subtitled A Ritual Journey Toward Destiny. That tagline serves as a warning that this author may lean a tad towards the pretentious. Set in an unnamed prison and based on the playwright’s own experiences, Unbecoming Tragedy spends time in solitary confinement with Riggins as he reflects on his life and the circumstances that landed him behind bars. Inside prison Riggins educates himself about the plays of August Wilson and when the drama extols the virtues of how art can humanize the individual, it is on solid, if familiar, ground. Unfortunately, the play then dissolves into some confusion about his inner conflicts, drug usage and a fixation with his beloved mother. This particular plot point arrives late in the play and takes on a significance that seems unearned.
Riggins, however, is a charismatic performer throughout and, under Cheyenne Barboza’s thoughtful direction he finds the vulnerable core of his character. But the writing lets him down as we are led to assume many things about his drug use, family life and incarceration. He informs us about his work on several August Wilson plays and we are reminded that any of those celebrated works would be a better vehicle for his talents than this unfocussed drama.
Tea at Five, Matthew Lombardo’s warm and moving tribute to film legend Katharine Hepburn, covers two periods in the actor’s busy life. In the first act, set in 1938, she is on the downslide of her career having had seven film flops in a row and labeled “box office poison.” The second act, in 1983, gives us an older Hepburn using a cane and showing signs of Parkinson’s. Based on Hepburn’s memoir, Me: Stories of My Life, Lombardo covers well-trod territory but it all seems thoroughly fresh in the hands of the wonderful Carlyn Connolly playing the great Kate. Striking in Hepburn’s trademark slacks, her lockjaw firmly in place, Connolly is funny, sardonic and, in the end, very touching. The emotional abuse she endured from both her father and actor Spencer Tracy is strong stuff and delivered, thankfully, without excuses or apology. I do find it curious that the openly gay Lombardo does not discuss Hepburn’s long-rumored bisexuality, but perhaps he was stymied by the actor’s estate.
Jacqueline Hubbard’s graceful direction works hand in hand with her star. Scenic Designer Starlet Jacobs recreates Hepburn’s famed family home, Fenwick, which is filled with mementoes from the actor’s illustrious career. Budget limitations, though, probably resulted in a nearly identical setting in the second act even though we learn that Fenwick was completely destroyed in a storm and had to be rebuilt. Sean Spina’s costuming outfits Connolly in perfect Hepburn garb. In all, this is a most enjoyable visit with a celebrated film icon.
Unbecoming Tragedy continues at Long Wharf Theatre through June 1 at the Off Broadway Theatre of Yale, 41 Broadway in New Haven. For further information call the theatre box office (203.693.1486) or visit: www.longwharf.org.
Tea at Five plays at the Ivoryton Playhouse through June 8 at 103 Main Street, Ivoryton. For further information call the theatre box office (860.767.7318) or visit: www.ivorytonplayhouse.org.
Tom Holehan is one of the founders of the Connecticut Critics Circle, a frequent contributor to WPKN Radio’s “State of the Arts” program and the Stratford Crier and Artistic Director of Stratford’s Square One Theatre Company. He welcomes comments at: tholehan@yahoo.com. His reviews and other theatre information can be found on the Connecticut Critics Circle website: www.ctcritics.org.
