Jed Hancock Brainerd as Straw, Andrew Iacovelli as Brendan, Elliot Peters as Springer, Steve Kidd as Stephen. Under table: Jesse Hinson as Nicholas Barber. Photo: Peter Goldberg.
By Kim Kalunian, WPRO News
“Morality Play” is a refreshing, eclectic, percussive piece of theater that marries mystery, mayhem and masks in a delightful, energetic ensemble show.
Director Tyer Dobrowsky has assembled a multi-faceted cast of 16, including Gamm favorites Steve Kidd, Casey Seymour Kim and Artistic Director Tony Estrella.
And Estrella not only stars in the show, he adapted it for the stage, as well. In his Artistic Director’s note, he details the 15 year process it took to get “Morality Play” from page to stage. The show is based on a Barry Unsworth widely acclaimed novel, and Estrella encountered years of delays as Unsworth’s agents denied him the rights year after year.
“The delay was frustrating but fortuitous,” Estrella wrote. “Ultimately it gifted me with the writer’s very best ally: time. Time to get it right, that is to make it a play.”
And watching “Morality Play” unfold at the Gamm Theatre, I think Estrella did get it right, he did make a play.
Set in the round – yes, they’ve constructed a skinny elevated platform behind the stage to hold a single row of seats – “Morality Play” is an immersive experience. When the audience enters, the actors, many of whom play actors in the show, are milling about, greeting folks finding their seats.
The show, and each scene, begins with some sort of percussive beat, and then a member of the cast announces the scene number, and the title of the scene. It’s an effective way to delineate the passage of time, and the setting.
The rustic, simple set by set designer Michael McGarty and Amanda Downing Carney’s period-perfect costumes provide all you need to fully imagine life in northern England at Christmastime in 1361.
The story is basic, but still enthralling. All mysteries are, right? A group of ragtag actors stumble upon a town where a deaf-mute girl has been accused of murdering a 12-year-old boy. Why? The actors ask. And then, they do something that seemed unfathomable before: the turn the true-life mystery into a play.
It’s these plays within a play where we get to see Eric Bornstein’s masterful masks with hooked noses, gaping mouths, and shocking grimaces. Keeping true to the Commedia Dell’Arte style of yore, the Gamm brought in expert Kali Quinn to help with the actors’ movements. The result is a compelling display of physical theater.
And there are moments of that outside of the plays-within-a-play, too, including one nearly dialog-less scene between Estrella, the troupe’s leader, and Clara Weishahn, the deaf-mute Jane Lambert.
Eventually, the actors probe too deeply into the mystery, becoming entangled in a complicated investigation they thought they had all the answers too, but clearly did not.
Although the play’s resolution was a mix of “I saw that coming!” and “Wait, who was the murderer?” I still felt satisfied, and more importantly, like I had just seen a terrific performance.
Newcomer Jesse Hinson was a standout as Nicholas Barber, a priest who joins the troupe; as were Estrella as the overzealous Martin Bell, and Seymour Kim as the conflicted Margaret.
Overall, the show is engaging: the masks are visually captivating, the mystery is one we all yearn to solve, and the talent on stage shines as bright as ever.
“Moralty Play” runs now through Feb. 1 at the Sandra Feinstein Gamm Theatre at 172 Exchange Street, Pawtucket, RI. For show times, details and tickets, click here.
|
Kim Kalunian
