By ALAN SMASON, WYES-TV Theatre Critic (“Steppin’ Out“)
With seven seasons under its belt, the Tennessee Williams Theatre Company of New Orleans, superintended by the diligence of producing artistic directors Augustin Correro and Nick Shackleford, has succeeded in its founding premise: to present authentic works by Williams – especially infrequently produced and rarely-seen pieces – or other plays that resonate with the playwright’s many recurring themes.
On nearly every front they have succeeded, even announcing the return of Kingdom of Earth – their very first production – and the mounting of A Streetcar Named Desire for the first time, as part of their upcoming eighth season.
For the coup de maitre of the company’s seventh season, though, they selected Spring Storm, Williams’ sophomore effort as a playwright. Written while enrolled as a student at the University of Iowa in 1937 and finished in 1938, the play was not well received by Williams’ drama teachers and fellow students at the time, and so it remained unproduced until 1995, some 15 years after the playwright’s untimely passing.
Spring Storm is at its heart a story about two couples, or rather, four individuals who are each attempting to couple. Heavenly Critchfield (Nicole Miller), a young woman from a proper Port Tyler, Mississippi family with little money, is in love with Dick Miles (Matthew Raetz), a field worker who likes to get his hands dirty and more importantly has enjoyed a physical relationship with Heavenly.
Heavenly might be representative of the archetypal girlfriend with whom Williams became infatuated during his college years. Miller is an attractive ginger with regal bearing. Despite a lack of family wealth, she still wears gloves in public and maintains an outward image of affluence during the waning days of the Great Depression. Attending college is out of the question, so she is desperate to become married and is being pressured by her single mother (Margeaux Fanning) to break up with Dick, considered an unworthy suitor for her daughter.
Dick professes his love for Heavenly, but he also expresses wanderlust, a trait of many of Williams’ early characters. He tells Heavenly he wants to work on the nearby Mississippi River in the construction industry or in some other capacity as a way of proving his manhood. For the sake of their relationship, he has taken on a job as a clerk at a drug store, but he feels confined by it and emasculated. When he explains how he feels, Heavenly threatens to turn him over and take up with wealthy heir Arthur Shannon (Matthew Boese), who had been bullied as a young man by Dick and others.
Shannon is a confused young man, who Williams has firmly stated is heterosexual. Boese plays him as a tentative, effeminate male, who is uncertain as to how to approach the opposite sex. Years before, his timid nature and lack of confidence made him the object of attacks by alpha males, who saw his feelings as a form of weakness. Boese might be seen as channeling the spirit of Thomas Lanier Williams, the young man who would evolve into Tennessee, the playwright.
It was only a year later, after his eye-opening move to New Orleans, that Williams began to consider allowing his characters to become more accepting of same-sex attractions, although it was still verboten to write about homosexuality in a positive fashion.
Shannon is the object of desire by Hertha Nielsen (Charlie Carr), the bookworm who works at the town’s library and keeps her eyes buried in books when not staring at him. A product of a modest upbringing and a working class girl, Hertha is not viewed as a suitable candidate for marriage by Shannon. Still, she harbors hope that the two of them may work things out. Unlike Heavenly, who has surrendered to her desires with Dick, Hertha has held on to her chastity and refuses any of Shannon’s advances. Cass plays the role as a deeply divided character, who knows her value as a possible match would be diminished were she to have an affair with him.
Margeaux Fanning turns in a strong role as Heavenly’s meddling mother, while other supporting cast members include the always delightful Tracey Collins as Birdie Schlagmann, Delphine J as Mrs. Peabody and Maile Zox as Lila Critchfield. Together with Mrs. Critchfield, they attempt to find respectable matches for Heavenly and Hertha, lest they become “front porch women,” spinsters who sit in their rockers on their porches politely acknowledging passers by.
Well directed by Salvatore Mannino, Spring Storm is a fully realized production that maintains an eerie, expectant quality. We know that the complicated lives of the four main characters will forever be changed by the choices they will make, but we are not prepared for the dark hole they descend as the play nears its final scenes.
Miller and Raetz, as Heavenly and Dick, respectively, are quite believable as a couple at odds with one another. The two express an undercurrent of disappointment that neither is willing to change enough to allow them to stay together. Miller is captivating as Heavenly, but so, too, is Carr as Hertha, a quiet and sullen figure, who explodes in her eventual confrontation with Arthur. There is more to this plot than a love triangle. It is
Sound designs by Nick Shackleford keep just the right amount of tension throughout the work, while Diane K. Bass’ excellent lighting designs beautifully complement the foreboding nature of the work. Augustin Correro handles the props and serves as the dramaturg, while Eric Porter’s scenic designs are simple, but quite ably represent the river and the sleepy town that is Port Tyler.
Directed by Salvatore Mannino, Spring Storm by Tennessee Williams (1 hour and 50 minutes with no intermission) continues its run with final performances slated for Thursday – Saturday, September 21 – 23 at the Lower Depths Theater on the campus of Loyola University. For tickets, click here.
