Reviews & more: Cape Cod theaters show never-seen plays, and why you should watch 'Our Town,' 'Shirley Valentine,' 'Pack of Lies'
As the live theater scene gets busier, we have reviews of shows that opened last weekend: "Our Town" by Eventide Theatre Company and "Shirley Valentine" at Cotuit Center for the Arts. See why you should go see these classic stories. Coming up, the British thriller "Pack of Lies" begins a three-week run at Barnstable Comedy Club.
Plus there are chances to see new (and sometimes really new) plays. Provincetown Theater reopens indoors with its popular "24 Hour Plays" production, for which new plays are written, rehearsed with actors and directors, then presented within that one-day period. The Academy of Performing Arts in Orleans' offerings include new one-acts and a one-woman play as a month of "March Mayhem" begins.
Here's what's happening:
What's new
Provincetown Theater reopens with 24-hour challenge
After two years of virtual, then outdoor theater, Provincetown Theater will return to its indoor stage this weekend with its 12th production of "The 24 Hour Plays" on Saturday and Sunday.
Produced in conjunction with the Provincetown Playwrights’ Lab, "The 24 Hour Plays" will bring six playwrights, six directors and more than a dozen actors together to write, rehearse, stage and perform a series of brand new 10-minute plays all within the confines of 24 hours.
Writers set to create world-premiere works include Mary Chris, Linda Fiorella, Bob Kerry, Steven Myerson, Candace Perry and Bronwen Prosser. The show will be produced by Nathan Butera, Dian Hamilton, and Frank Vasello, with stage management by Ellen Rubenstein.
In-person performances to showcase the final results are at 7 p.m. Saturday and 2 p.m. Sunday. Tickets, $20: provincetowntheater.org. The Saturday show will be livestreamed on the website for the same ticket price, following success last year with holding the tradition virtually.
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It's 'March Mayhem' at the Academy
The Academy of Performing Arts in Orleans is filling the month with the "mayhem" of community-created theater premieres, offering a variety of show options.
Starting this week is "One Act Wednesdays," which offer different short plays by local writers at 7 p.m. March 2, 9 and 23. Among them: "Creation Myth" by Rachel Hischak, about a man and woman who must negotiate the future of the human race in a post-apocalyptic universe"; Bragan Thomas' "Black Coffee," about two characters blurring dream and reality in a Surrealist dialogue; "Fracking with Walt Whitman" by Gregory Hischak, with a plot described as "after a series of unfortunate accidents, surviving officials must select a new President of the United States"; Alison Hyder's whimsical skit "Any Port in A Storm," about three couples meeting on a life-changing cruise; and Thomas' "A Bitter Cup," about "murder most English" among 1930s London aristocracy.
At 7 p.m. March 5 will be "Sweater-Worthy: A One Woman Show," written and performed by Aimee Vient as "a love note to herself." The play is described as "a woman's journey of self-worth through knitting as she figures how to live with grief, heartache and depression in a pandemic." Knitting or crocheting is encouraged during the performance.
An original play was also due to be performed at 7 p.m. March 6, but the title was not announced at presstime. All shows are at the Academy Playhouse, 120 Main St., Orleans. Tickets and information on these and other March shows: https://www.academyplayhouse.org/.
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Reviews
'Pack of Lies'
By Sue Mellen
Written by: Hugh Whitemore, presented by Barnstable Comedy Club
What it's about: You know your neighbors really well. After all, they’ve lived just across the street for years, and you’ve spent holidays and vacations together. You’re especially fond of your flamboyant female friend, who knows and loves the real you and has a knack for making your teenage daughter feel special. But maybe — just maybe — you don’t know them at all. This show is about the Jacksons, a family just like yours (well, except for living in Britain in the 1960s) that discovers the life of their favorite neighbors is a carefully constructed lie. As the truth is gradually and painfully revealed, here’s the question they face: Do these revelations obliterate the feelings they have for their one-time friends, or are there places in their hearts where it is possible to still love the things they shared?
See it or not: Go for the expert portrayal of the deep and troubled relationship between the two female leads.
Highlights: Janet Geist Moore is full of joie de vivre as Helen Kroger. She sashays across the stage, filling the set with a feeling of life and vitality. This is the perfect counterpoint to the simple and staid setting — the Jacksons’ traditional British sitting room designed and constructed by Dennis Marchant. Helen is a woman ahead of her time, fantasizing about dalliances with young men and openly displaying emotion.
Miranda Daniloff Mancusi’s Barbara Jackson is the very picture of British reserve and propriety — until she’s faced with the “pack of lies” darkening her once well-ordered life. Mancusi slowly builds the drama around her discovery of her neighbors’ lies, eventually turning a slow simmer into a boiling pot of emotions. In the end, the play is about the deeply emotional relationship between these two women.
Fun fact: The play is based on the real-life story of the family that lived across the street from a couple named Morris and Lena Cohen, who were key members of the notorious Portland Spy Ring. In fact, they were American communists who had worked for the Soviet Union for decades and had passed on details of the first atomic bomb. As it turned out, they had befriended the Jacksons because Bob Jackson (Rick Martin) worked in flight technology research. How do you cope with that kind of betrayal?
Worth noting: The male members of the cast — Martin, Stuard M. Derrick as Peter Kroger and Bob Shire as British intelligence agent Mr. Stewart – build a sure and steady support system around the two female leads. (This is undoubtedly due to the fine hand of experienced director James F. Ring.) Shire is especially effective as the calm and authoritative Stewart, slowly dismantling the structure that was the Jacksons’ life.
One more thing: In the original 1983 production, Judi Dench and her husband Michael Williams starred as the Jacksons. There was also a 1987 TV movie, featuring Ellen Burstyn and Teri Garr as Barbara and Helen, and Alan Bates as Stewart.
If you go: 7:30 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays and 2:30 p.m. Sundays March 3-20 at the club’s theater at The Village Hall, 3171 Main St. (Route 6A), Barnstable. $25; $23 for age 65+ and students. Reservations: 508-362-6333. Information: www.BarnstableComedyClub.org. Proof of COVID-19 vaccination is required and masks must be worn.
'Our Town'
Written by: Thornton Wilder, presented by Eventide Theatre Company
What it’s about: This 1938 Pulitzer Prize-winning play is set in 1901, spans about 15 years, and is constructed in three separate acts: “Daily Life,” “Love and Marriage” and “Death and Eternity.” Each act — presented simply, with minimal props and ongoing narration by the Stage Manager — depicts life in the small town of Grover’s Corners, New Hampshire, but it’s also a view of our own lives, as they unfold for us all in one way or another.
See it or not? Under Toby Wilson’s direction, with a uniformly fine cast, the play’s simplicity and genius still delivers the level of power and resonance that first brought it awards and accolades. Wilder’s story is timeless, and in this thoughtfully revived production, we again succumb to its magic.
Highlights: The Stage Manager role is superlatively acted by Stephen Rourke, last seen at Eventide as Atticus in “To Kill a Mockingbird.” Rourke’s performance here is pivotal to the drama and perfectly embodies the characteristics and garrulous charm of a master storyteller. With his natty bowtie, brown suit and pocket watch, he wanders the set, directing the action and delivering many of the show’s iconic lines. Rourke’s Stage Manager gets to the heart of the seemingly easygoing but pierced-to-the-heart characters and scenes that define life in Grover’s Corners.
Fun fact: In “Our Town,” director Wilson has noted, “The audience is (frequently) reminded that they are, in fact, watching a play. Characters address the audience directly; the fourth wall (separating audience from actors) is constantly broken.”
Worth noting: The scenes and characters are deceptively simple, as the Gibbs and Webb families (including Susanna Creel, Andrew Caira, Dan Wenhcke, Kathleen Day Larson, David Simpson and Cathy Ode) act out the small dramas of their lives. There are choir rehearsals, bowls of string beans, the milkman and the paperboy, blue gingham dresses and ice cream sodas. The people often appear to be content with their lives, but we see that young and old are occasionally ravished by the moonlight, and there’s ample time spent staring out of windows. Acts 2 and 3 add growing up, love, marriage and death to the story.
One more thing: Ironically, “Our Town” really comes alive in the third “Death and Eternity” section. In it, one character realizes the painful truth: that people don’t see the beauty of life while they’re living it. The story weaves together best in retrospect, as we view it backwards. All those early-on and deceptively mundane lines achieve a collective brilliance once you view them from the endgame of death. We, too, have been lulled into thinking that all the mundane stuff of our lives is just that when really it's the heart of everything.
If you go: Shows are at 7:30 p.m. Thursdays through Saturdays and 2 p.m. Sundays through March 14 on the Gertrude Lawrence Stage at Dennis Union Church, 713 Main St. (Route 6A). Tickets: $31; eventidearts.org, 508-233-2148 or at the door (cash only). Proof of COVID-19 vaccination and masks are required. The March 6 performance will feature a post-show talkback with Wilson and cast members, led by new artistic director Donna Wresinski, who says she hopes to make the discussions a regular tradition.
Barbara Clark
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'Shirley Valentine'
Written by: Willy Russell, and presented by Cotuit Center for the Arts
What it’s about: Some might say the one-woman play is about a bored British housewife who breaks free from her mundane existence. While that summary is entirely true, this is also an excellent, insightful story and comedy that explores a middle-aged woman’s deep dive into the murky depths of where she stopped being the vivacious young woman she once was. Still, there are no downers here, only levity. Half a year with Shirley Valentine is a short course in learning how to zig when everyone around you zags.
See it or not? I’ve seen three presentations of “Shirley Valentine.” The first was with Loretta Swit at the Cape Playhouse in the ‘90s, then the movie with Pauline Collins reprising her London stage role, and now with Kristin Stewart. Directed by her husband, Jay Stewart, Kristin doesn’t need to take a back seat to any other performance, and seeing this show is a gift to ourselves. Kristin is great and endearing, and presents Shirley with gusto and enthusiasm. Shirley says, “If you described me to me, I would think you were telling me a joke.” Who among us hasn’t thought the same thing at some point in our lives? The unsettling concept that we are all Shirley Valentine — sometimes — is presented so disarmingly and lovingly, we barely feel it.
Highlight of the show: Kristin delivers a consistently entertaining and moving monologue for two hours with a short intermission. Using a heavy, but easy to understand, British accent, she impersonates at least 12 other characters with funny facial contortions, postures and voice changes and it doesn't matter that they aren’t physically in the room. When the lights go down on Shirley — with her wit, psychological baggage and inner dialogue turned outward — the obvious question is “Wait! What happens next?”
Fun fact: Kristin went to clown school and later married one of her instructors — Jay Stewart — and both were clowns with the Ringling Bros. and Barnum and Bailey circus. They are both members of The Laughter League, a group of artists, entertainers and clowns who bring joy to kids in area children’s hospitals.
Worth noting: Shirley’s musings and reflections are heard by her constant companions "Wall" and "Rock," and these objects become characters and sounding boards in her delightfully introspective search for meaning. One can imagine the wall splashed with waves of sticky notes, each holding quotes to live by. But Shirley isn’t the sort who strives for an organized method of self-analysis. Her world, however small, produces gift after gift, but only recognized as such in her fertile mind that sees the mundane with new eyes. This is wisdom that speaks to maturity rather than to youth, though I was still moved by the writing in my 20s.
One more thing: Jay Stewart deserves kudos for his direction, keeping Kristin moving and stopping in all the right places while she keeps us spellbound and wishing for a third hour. There’s so much to digest here — and it’s so gently and humorously presented. It’s like a big group therapy session with a lot of laughs and good feelings when it’s done.
If you go: 7:30 p.m. Thursdays through Saturdays and 2 p.m. Sundays through March 18 in the Morton and Vivian Sigel Black Box Theater at Cotuit Center for the Arts, 4404 Falmouth Road (Route 28). Tickets: $25/$20 for members; 508-428-0669, artsonthecape.org. Proof of COVID-19 vaccination or a negative test is required.
Shannon Goheen
Contact Kathi Scrizzi Driscoll at kdriscoll@capecodonline.com. Follow on Twitter: @KathiSDCCT.
This article originally appeared on Cape Cod Times: Cape Cod theater: new plays, reviews of 'Our Town' & 'Shirley,' mayhem
