Because we all have parents and many of us have children, plays about adults’ impact on their offspring typically resonate with audiences. The results can be for better or for worse, as evidenced by two plays currently on Cincinnati stages.
In the case of the Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park’s production of an adaptation of Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird, we view the story of parents and children through a dual filter of memory and youth. Scout — the precociously insightful daughter of principled attorney Atticus Finch, who defends a black man unjustly accused of attacking a young white woman in a small Alabama town in 1935 — has two onstage incarnations, with young actress Brooke Chamberlin playing her at age 9, constantly questioning adult behavior, and veteran performer Dale Hodges giving us her perspective after years of adult life. This intriguing duality provides a deep, multifaceted reflection of the complexities of human adult behavior.
Cincinnati Playhouse associate artist Eric Ting has inventively shaped this production with a concept reminiscent of the modest staging typically employed for Thornton Wilder’s Our Town. There’s no scenery and few props. Laura Jellinek’s deceptively spartan scenic design focuses attention on the interaction and motives of the characters, subtly underscored with atmospheric light and shadow and barely heard sound effects.
As the virtuous Atticus, John Feltch has not tried to recreate Gregory Peck’s masterful, memorable cinematic performance. He is more raffish and loose-limbed, bemused by observations from Scout, her brother Jem and their smart-aleck friend Dill; he’s always seeking teaching moments. Feltch’s quiet reflection of Atticus’ sense of justice and his bemusement at the railroading during Tom Robinson’s trial add facets to the story that makes the man all the more human.
Ting’s production has both subtlety and power: When Atticus addresses the jury, he speaks directly to the audience — drawing us into the play’s drama and reminding us how the story’s injustice remains with us today. To Kill a Mockingbird offers a still-powerful lesson for our time, and this production distills a lesson about justice and dignity that needs to be embedded in our own memories. The Playhouse clearly has a winner with this production.
• The Beauty Queen of Leenane at Falcon Theatre offers no such powerful lessons or sterling role models. Instead, it is a cautionary tale about the potentially toxic influence of a parent on a child. Martin McDonagh’s crackling script is a dark Irish tale of a mother and daughter locked in deadly mortal combat. Their battle is an emotional rollercoaster that careens between dark humor, self-centered aggression and abuse. Performed with authentically rehearsed Irish accents, the show, staged by local theater veteran Ed Cohen on Falcon’s small Newport stage, has a visceral, heart-rending impact.
Mag Folan (Tracy M. Schoster) is an embittered woman in her early 70s living in a remote cottage on the west coast of Ireland; her spinster daughter Maureen (Tara Williams) is trapped in the tiny home, resentful of spending her life as her mother’s caretaker. Selfish Mag wants to keep things as they are, so when Maureen has a moment of possible romance, Mag does everything she can to ruin it. Maureen responds with the vindictive behaviors she has learned from her mother — perhaps tainted by some touches of mental illness — and a battle of wills ensues.
Relief from the dramatic tension is provided by Ray Dooley (Simon Powell), a brash young neighbor, and Pato (Craig Branch), his older brother, who is Maureen’s brief suitor. Ray is full of blarney and impatience; Pato is more genuine and less self-assured.
Schoster and Williams are pitch-perfect as the central combatants. Mag and Maureen know precisely how to get on each other’s nerves, and Cohen has staged their disputes so our sentiments slide back and forth as they argue. Both are truly lonely and bitter, and with some justification, but neither one deserves to be forgiven for her behavior. By play’s end, it’s tragically evident that Maureen has absorbed her mother’s disposition and many of her unsavory qualities. We’re left to ponder what will become of her subsequent life. It’s not a pretty picture.
TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD, presented by the Cincinnati Playhouse, has been extended through April 10. THE BEAUTY QUEEN OF LEENANE, staged by Falcon Theatre in Newport, closes on April 2.
This article appears in Mar 23-30, 2016.
