| How To Kill A Mockingbird | | Print | |
| Written by Mike Diana | |
| Thursday, 08 March 2007 | |
 Recipe for killing a mockingbird:Start with a wonderfully written novel and render through a colander until the barest bones of the book are left behind. Set aside waste and save for later (see recipe for 'Mediocre Screen Play'). Once the bare bones have been reassembled in some patchwork of the original story, preheat lights at half for 30 minutes, then slide under the proscenium and onto stage at full for two and a half hours, turning once at the one hour mark. If the scenic designer and director's concept don't get in the way and the cast's performances bubble to the surface, halfway through the first hour you might have a chance of avoiding serving up a half-baked production of Harper Lee's much loved To Kill A Mockingbird. No such luck For Virginia Stage Company Friday night at the Wells Theater in Norfolk.
High concept in lieu of townsfolk, set pieces and even the ominous eyesore of a home belonging to one Arthur (Boo) Radley did little to create atmosphere, much less bring to life the childhood memories of Jean Louise Finch that summer in 1930s Maycomb, Alabama.
Where was the street? Where were the neighbors or the garden of Mrs. Dubose? The sparse stage was dressed with a wrought iron railing and gate down right, a platform with wooden railings up left of center and a great big tree center right (it was a deciduous tree of unknown origin which, if I recall the book, should have been a magnolia).
Director Edward Morgan blocked the actors into positions where they upstaged themselves and/or crippled dramatic impact. One scene comes to mind. Sheriff Heck Tate (William Zielinski) calls Atticus from the house and walks down center to wait. Atticus comes out and, instead of going to him, moves down left of center leaving an uncomfortably wide space between them for the conversation (aesthetic distance can be a bitch). Heck could have shouted his news from the porch. Nitpicking? Maybe...but it robbed the moment of dramatic impact. There was no emotional connection made when Heck delivered the gut wrenching news of Tom Robinson's death. Most character interaction wound up taking place down center (that big old tree was in the way) and in essence became exposition. Lord knows, there was soliloquy enough provided by the adult Jean Louise (Kate Udall). Poor thing. She lurks about the stage for two and a half hours "remembering." Not her fault...thank playwright Christopher Sergel for the only way he could write himself out of a narrative box. Everyone is supposed to remember Scout at 9 and she is only a memory of the adult Jean Louise.
Bill Clarke's scenic design created more opportunities to ramp up the disconnect. Another concept was to cast the audience and to call them to Macomb jury duty. It certainly kept the stage from becoming overly cluttered and simplified blocking, but the effort to bring the audience "in" resulted in more emotional disconnect on stage. Mr. Clarke not only made Mrs. Dubose homeless, but placed the pride and joy that was her garden somewhere in the audience. The change thereby eliminated a poignant scene in which Jem destroys the garden in revenge for her hurtful words.
Calpurnia needs to be old enough to have known Atticus when he was a boy. She was cast awfully young and quite pretty in this production. Perri Gaffney certainly has the acting chops to play the role, but it was hard to buy her references to Atticus as a youngster when she appeared to have been a mere babe at the time. (Hint...see the original script for missing character) As Tom Robinson, Stephen Tyrone Williams delivered a credible performance and might have knocked it out of the park had Mayella Ewell (Natalie Knepp) been believable from the witness chair. I don't know what part of the 'south' she was from, but it sure didn't sound like she spent much time around her daddy. Bob Ewell, the representation of all that was evil in the deep south of the depression era was brought to life by Dan Patrick Brady. The menace and hatred for "negroes" and those that championed them was palpable. And Boo Radley...poor
Enough already...I know. We need to get the toothpick ready (you bakers out there help those that aren't). I have seen TKAMB several times at local theaters over the years. One might have had a better set and another might have had a better cast, but Friday night's performance as presented by The Virginia Stage Company (aside from the obvious pro level production values) needed a tweak in recipe and a tad more time in the oven. |
Mrs. Dubose (Marty Terry) apparently lived just off the curtain line in a wheel chair. Boo and his family owned the wrought iron gate and the Finch family made their home beyond the platform that, when lit, showed a bit of facade, a screen door and a kitchen window. When Scout and Atticus needed a porch swing for what should have been a wonderful moment between father and daughter, the audience watched as one flew in downstage from the fly gallery...talk about a mood killer. Now, I know I'm going on and on about the staging, but that's where things began to break down, ultimately leading to a disconnect between the characters, the actors and myself.
Kevin Cutts' Atticus was rather one dimensional. 
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I rarely respond to comments made but I think both of you have made wonderful arguments...jumping off points for a stirring discussion. Great discussion guys. You obviously live inside a very small box, Sir. The BEAUTY of the theater is that it allows one to opportunity to use his or her imagination. The theater does not impose upon the audience, and thus allows it to interpret as well as participate in the performance. Unlike film, where music and detail dictate when and how the audience should feel, the theater is a free environment that which allows the mind to be exercised, which, given your comments, something you most likely would not understand. Do not bring the perspective of a movie goer to an experience at LIVE THEATER. One puts five houses, a garden and a jury box on stage using the very imagination you comment about. It can be done - excuses only fuel the fire that some say runs thorughout the community theatre circuit - details are not important. They carry the utmost of impotance - if you use a window there best be a window sill - you use a town ... make a town. The reviewer may have been unduly harse, no arguement there - let's just try to give the audience what they came to get - a place where you take them for two hours - not for them to imagine but for them to actually be taken there. How abouit you go back to kindergarden and get an imagination. HOw can we have a garden, three houses, and a jury box all on stage. If you didn't pay attention the audience is the jury. |