Lenox — Familiar rituals greet us as we expectantly file into the Elayne P. Bernstein Theatre with our tickets in our hands to witness our first performance of Shakespeare & Company’s version of Steven Dietz’s “Private Eyes.” Once inside, I notice the tables on the spartan set are far away from each other, as far away as the director Adrian and the auditioning actress Lisa are at the beginning of the play. More people take their seats, the house lights dim, and the stage lights pinpoint Adrian’s table, his seat of power, and he shouts, “Next.”
The music, the actors, the words draw us into their world. We laugh, sometimes explosively, at the sharp, surprising banter. And I am right there, thinking this must be a portrayal of reality. And it is… somebody’s reality. Then the psychiatrist named Frank appears, and I think she and her client, Matthew, Lisa’s husband, are telling the real story. Matthew, Lisa and Adrian act out Matthew’s memories of the opening scene, and they are different from the first telling. Is this love triangle — a young married couple and a seducer from across an ocean — a tragedy in the making? Then why is “Private Eyes” so funny?
But this play, an American romantic comedy set in the 1990’s isn’t simply funny. It’s also touching and provocative. By intermission, the audience knows nothing on that stage can be taken at face value. Out in the lobby, people disagree about it — sometimes with raised voices — as they order snacks and drinks. We return to be surprised by Frank, who breaks the fourth wall, and steps out of the story to tell us how infidelity happens, and how it does not. She tells us that wondering where is a big step toward deceit, and muses about the whys of it. She seems still surprised that one of her patients said her infidelity was caused by “the curvature of the earth.” And yet that seems as good a reason as any.
At the tech rehearsal (See Preview Part I), I had heard a bit of several scenes done over and over again in different locations, with different exits and entrances. I watched the crew, the cast, and the director figure out that the overstuffed chairs that indicate the shrink’s office could be most unobtrusively dragged on and off-stage by having handles sewn to their backs. I watched those scenes lit from different angles in different colors. Once or twice an actor would have to call the prompter for a line. It was engrossing, but I did not experience the entire play, fully memorized, and flawlessly choreographed. Now I was part of an audience-ready experience. I surrendered to not being certain of what was before me while I completely believed everything I witnessed was, might, could be true. Because it could be, might, often was true in life, and the actors were completely convincing.
Jonathan Croy, the director held a brief talk back at the end of the show, and asked specific questions about the locations of certain props and furniture with a view toward making it clearer and more enjoyable to an entire house. Those who had stayed were forthcoming in their suggestions about sound and sight lines. And Jon seemed genuinely interested in their answers, their affirmations and complaints. He solicited their solutions and discussed them, as respectfully as he had the offerings of those who surrounded him during tech week. He is a genuine collaborator. The light, sound, and set directors paid attention, and some continued to make notes. One thing the director did not ask was which of the realities the audience had seen was true. Was it the play, the rehearsal, or the recollection?
It is accepted that an audience becomes an integral part of a play. Each member of that Preview audience had seen her or his own “Private Eyes.” And each of us had added our emotions and memories to the performance through our reactions, our physical and mental engagement, perhaps even our body temperatures and projected inner thoughts. “Private Eyes” is not a linear story, told in linear time or space. It is much more real than that. It is like life going on.
Jon Croy knows the truth he wants to tell. The players know the truth they want to tell. I believe I know the truth they told. And as I leave the theatre, still enjoying, still thinking, occasionally shaking my head and laughing or frowning, I see many of my fellow audience members standing and sitting in knots of conversation, unwilling to go home without expressing what they know is the truth. Back on stage with all of us witnesses out of the way, the company is undoubtedly gathered for more discussion. They will plan more work, more rehearsals to make everything even more true, and more false for the next audience.
Shakespeare & Company’s seductive, delicious “Private Eyes” opens on Saturday, September 27th at 7:30 p.m. at the Bernstein Theatre on Kemble Street in Lenox. It will be performed every weekend through November 9th. For tickets and information, go to the Berkshire Edge calendar, contact Shakespeare.org or call (413) 637-3353 for tickets
