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Three Tall Women Also see recent reviews of Abyssinia, The Goodbye Girl, and Zombie Prom Edward Albee's Pulitzer Prize winning play Three Tall Women is witty, hilarious, haunting, and swims in the dark pools of the human heart's most inner secrets. The first act presents a lawyer, a caregiver, and a rich, bitter, and angry elderly matron. In act two their true identities are revealed, and it is breathtaking to witness, to say the least. Circle Theatre seems to bring out the best work from its guest women directors, recently with Linda Leonard's amazing work in The Memory of Water, and now Susan Sargeant's trail blazing direction of Three Tall Women. Sargeant has cast her production with three magnificent actresses and one male actor who also earns kudos. Sargeant's blocking is strong, as her women flow with softness, you never hear their high heels click on the wooden floor, but instead they glide with grace and purpose - even though they may be saying things that rip open the soul of another character on the stage. Sargeant keeps the pace moving with honesty. She pushes her cast to get past the exposition quickly, at times even having her muses of theatre overlap their lines. This adds so much to the dramatic pauses which allow the audience to drink in and react to a comment that stings the heart. Some say there is a rule in theatre that the brilliance of a director can be seen through his/her casting - if that's the case, then Sargeant truly reflects this rule. This is a very wordy script, full of colorful dialogue and long monologues. I honestly feel that in the wrong hands (both in direction and acting) this could be a very dull and long evening. That is not the case at Circle Theatre. These actresses (Jeanne Evans, Nicole Case, and Anne-Lynn Kettles) relish in their monologues and emotions from the pages of Albee's autobiographical script. The script is an actor's buffet, with equal servings of comedy and dark pathos of dramatic intensity, and these three thespians go back for several helpings. Plays and musicals often fall short on success because of a lack of chemistry among the cast. In this production, all three women play off of each other with amazing brilliance. In act one, Jeanne Evans has the difficult task of making an extremely angry old woman, who happens to say off hand hurtful racist comments, liked by the audience. Nicole Case (who I adored in The Memory of Water) adds another bravura performance to her resume as the lawyer who just doesn't know how to take this wealthy old woman and her ever disappearing and wondering mind of endless blather. Anne-Lynn Kettles' act one role is of the caregiver. In act two, the audience finds they did not really see a lawyer, a caregiver, and an old rich lady. The three characters are three different periods of life for one woman. Case plays the young version, Kettles represents the middle portion of her life, and the old woman (Evans) is the vision of who these two will become. They talk and fight with each other, trying to find out why they turned out to be so alone and angry. Case is a beautiful actress who possesses a vast acting craft that is quite enjoyable to watch. Case brings out her character's fear of becoming this elderly cynical woman (now in a coma in act two); she wants answers that her two other "selves" do not want to reveal to her. It's easy to empathize with her character's conflict. Case takes the role and shows where her character is coming from and where she wants to go in her life. Case truly wins you over, she is remarkable. Kettles has one of the most heart wrenching scenes of the evening, with her character making difficult decisions and giving unpleasant reactions to what has happened to her life, as well as to what she does to her only child (Tim Demsky). Kettles uses the apex written in her role to its fullest extent. Her emotional breakdown is difficult to watch as a human life and emotions are crumbling to pieces. Kettles is truly magnificent in the role. Evans gives the kind of masterpiece performance that all actors aspire to achieve. In the first act she is old, brittle, and feeble. But in act two she is strong, cold, and so straightforward to her other "selves" that it as chilling as block of ice. But Evans also has strong comedic timing and pace. She is blessed with some hysterical comic monologues and one liners that add warmth to her character as the flip side of the humor sadly emerges. None of the three women ever let the energy or pace drop or sag. They each pass to the other a strong thread of connection and organic acting that works on many levels. This is heightened by the fact that all three actresses actually look like each other in various ways. As the sole male actor of the cast, Tim Demsky has the hardest performance to achieve. His character, who turns out to be the gay son of these "three tall women", has not one line, not one monologue. Thus Demsky can only rely on his face and body to convey emotion, which he does with total success. He shows love, compassion, and sadness for his mother lying in her coma. But there is a scene within act two where this cold mother delivers such harsh words to her only child that he breaks down in agony on her deathbed. Demsky is splendid in this scene, conveying his lost and dark pathos of pain. This is truly an amazing evening of theatre. The superior work of this cast is felt long after the curtain drops. Three Tall Women closed October 7, 2001 Three Tall Women CAST |
