Williamstown Theater Festival, Williamstown, MA
www.wtfestival.org
through Aug. 19, 2018
by Stuart W. Gamble
Carson McCullers’ timeless, poignant drama, “The Member of
the Wedding” (based on the 1946 novel) is given a fresh revival at WTF this
summer. This newly mounted production deserves much praise for its sensitive
performances.
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Photo by Daniel Rader |
Set in the American South in August, 1945 in a small town,
the play unfolds leisurely like a torrid afternoon, whose blazing heat is
tempered by splashes of refreshing humor as cool as a glass of ice cold
lemonade. Berenice Sadie Brown (Roslyn Ruff), the African- American housekeeper
of the Adams family (no, not That Adams family), spends nearly the entire play
cooking in the tiny kitchen trying to quell the pressing anxiety of her charge,
12-year old Frankie (Tavi Gevinson). The youngster is an outsider constantly
questioning Berenice about the inequities and injustices that surround them, in
their small town and in the world. The third member of this
existentially-challenged club is Frankie’s younger cousin and neighbor John
Henry (Logan Schuyler Smith), whose impressionable nature contrasts beautifully
with Frankie’s intellectualism.
This triad of characters provide the heart and soul of
McCullers’ play in balanced and assured performances. Ruff’s portrays a
strong-willed and loving maternal figure; neither too soft or too hard. Her
honesty and warmth are lovingly conveyed to both Frankie and John Henry. Gevinson’s
Frankie at first comes across as abrasive and almost obnoxious, but later she
evolves into a gentle and thoughtful young woman, displaying both her skill as
an actor and McCullers’ perceptive characterization. Finally, Smith’s John
Henry is a joy to behold. A truly natural performer; this young actor
demonstrates great daring and risk, especially in the scenes where he dons
Frankie’s pink fairy costume. Indeed, the story touches on the contemporary
issue of sexual identity, both in Frankie’s boyish behavior (and her navy
crewcut hair) and John Henry’s aforementioned playfulness.
The cast is rounded out by three other central characters:
Berenice’s beau T.T. Williams (Leon Addison Brown), her foster brother Honey
Camden Brown (Will Cobbs), and Frankie’s alcoholic father (James Waterston).
The actors depicting the men offer three faces of Pre-Civil Rights American
South -- the obliging, but no less strong black man (Brown); the fed-up with
racial inequality black man (Cobbs); and the inherently racist white man
(Waterston). All express integrity and honesty in their portrayals of rather
one-dimensional characters. Much praise must be given to Director Gaye Taylor
Upchurch’s skill in eliciting fine performances from all the, which in lesser
hands, could come across as pretentious and overly poetic.
Laura Jellinek’s set design is simple and historically
accurate. The small downstage left kitchen is literally dwarfed by the towering
clapboard backdrop. Metaphorically, this seems to be saying that the outside world
constantly and threateningly looms over the three principal characters’
claustrophobic existence.