Bridge Street Theatre in Catskill, N.Y.
Written by Ernest Thompson
Directed by John Sowle
“Norman! Oh, my god!”
On Golden Pond, Norman and Ethel Thayer take up their usual summer residence in the historic family home prepared to celebrate Norman’s 80th birthday. Ethel has invited their 44-year-old daughter, Chelsea, to join them even though she and her father are emotionally destroyed. Her arrival sparks a new relationship for Norman, one which revolutionizes the older man’s life. So much for the plot of this play. What is essential for you to know is how the play has been produced by Bridge Street Theatre. Norman and Ethel are being played by two of the finest actors in our region: Steven Patterson and Lora Lee Ecobelli. Neither of them is old enough to become their characters, but both play them with so much sincerity and reality that we can actually believe they are the best possible choices for these roles.
Lora Lee Ecobelli delivers her lines with authority and a sense of humor that keeps Ethel both real and definitively alive. I do believe that if Ecobelli took on the role of Hamlet, she would make him a perfect picture of confused masculinity. She is such a good actress that nothing is beyond her capabilities. As Ethel Thayer, she injects the play with a humanity that is almost too much to bear as Norman, who is slipping into old age without much personal concern, begins to lose his mind. Her loving wife is almost too tolerant of his inability to deal with reality. We want to reach out to her and slap her now and then and whisper, “wake up. He’s leaving you.” The actress brings more warmth to the role than I have ever seen before, and it is wonderful.
Patterson delivers an image of old age that is, frankly, scary to this writer who is the same age as Norman. There were moments in the play when I thought, “Is this who I am becoming? Do people see me this way?” And though I am sure I am not Norman, I may be him sometime soon, and thankfully, I will have Steven Patterson’s performance on which to base my own future character. Patterson’s triumph in this part starts early and grows with the play’s plot.
Estranged from his only offspring, Chelsea, he confronts her in his usual way, and she challenges him to see her as she sees herself. She is played by Caitlin McColl, who started out alienating us as well as Norman but, in the second act, won us over playing the woman for all of the good things about her. This character growth was both natural and right—a job well done.
Her current boyfriend, Bill Ray, was very nicely played by Zack Gibson, whose dialogue with Norman was amusing and very telling about his character. It made me wish he had more to do in the play. His son Billy was perfectly played by Brody Shaver. It is hard to make a 13-year-old character likable, but he succeeded.
The sixth character, postman Charlie who has long loved Chelsea, was given a very honest and believable interpretation by Nico Ager, whose Maine accent added immeasurably to the play’s reality. Little else, other than sound effects and the visuals of Carmen Borgia’s excellent set, grounded us in rural Maine. Directed with finesse by John Sowle, the combination of visuals, sound, lights (beautifully designed by Jo Averill-Snell), and the acting made “On Golden Pond” into a treasured production, one which will be long remembered with fondness. Sowle seems to have understood the important differences between tenderness and reality, between honesty and those human fictions that we all live by and through. I have seen multiple productions of this play, and this is the one that will survive in my memory. More than that I cannot say, nor should I, shall I Norman? Oh, wait, Norman is a character and not a friend. It just doesn’t feel that way any longer.
“On Golden Pond” plays at Bridge Street Theatre, 44 W. Bridge Street, Catskill, NY, through November 23. For information and tickets, visit Bridge Street Theatre’s website.
