Shakespeare & Company in Lenox
Co-produced with Great Barrington Public Theatre
Written by Jim Frangione, directed by Judy Braha
“Nobody escapes this family unscathed.”
It has been a season of plays about abusive couples. This one is different: They are not married. They are brother, and sister and they have their problems, which include a missing daughter, a second sister, and a deceased mother’s peculiar legacy. They are Cape Codders, complete with accents and attitudes. Act One is set in a hospital room dedicated to mental patients, and Act Two is in the patient’s home. Both are appropriately designed by Patrick Brennan. The cast is also appropriately designed: Allyn Burrows is Thomas Callaghan; Corinna May is his sister Sheila Callaghan. Perfect casting!
Sheila has had an accident—not her first—and Thomas is visiting her, against his better judgement and her wishes. The act is devoted to back story as much as it is to the ongoing plot and problems. There is almost too much of the former, and the latter feels a bit intrusive. It all pays off in Act Two, however, when both aspects of their lives converge in odd conversation and hesitation in planning solutions. This is especially true when Thomas talks about his relationship with a Monarch Butterfly which represents the soul of their long-dead mother (plot-point #38 maybe).
Corinna May is just plain brilliant in this play, and Allyn Burrows is right up there with her. Their Cape Cod accents are almost perfect (his slips occasionally), and their familial attitudes couldn’t be better. Sheila is a slattern, and Tom is a man-of-all-work with little work to do. A perennial busy-body, he intrudes on her life and life decisions. Burrows handles these aspects of his character flawlessly. She is an independent thinker who acts according to her mood: She doesn’t make decisions; she lives them instead. May brings an amazing style and credibility to Sheila, and that gives the play its credible ending. The flight of the monarch is its mufti-generational death trip, and that becomes a motif for the play, the players, and the unseen characters in Jim Frangione’s fascinating play.
Costumes have been designed by Christina Beam, and lighting by James Bilnoski. Sound is courtesy of Stage Manager Rachel Harrison. The production in the Bernstein Theatre works very well. All of the above is the product of hard work by Director Judy Braha who been involved in developing the Frangione play, taking it through multiple endings and rewrites through the rehearsal period. This is old-fashioned theater work, and it works as well now as it ever did to provide an end product that is informing, entertaining, and engaging. Shakes & Company has given this creative team the time to develop the regional premiere (really a world premiere) of an interesting and difficult play, one that should have a delectable future.
“Flight of the Monarch” plays on the Elayne P. Bernstein Theatre at Shakespeare & Company, 70 Kemble Street, Lenox, MA, through August 25. For information and tickets, visit Shakespeare & Company’s website or call (413) 637-3353.
