By ALICIA BLAISDELL-BANNON
STAFF WRITER
CHATHAM – How satisfying, to spend a summer evening in a charming theater,
while a talented cast performs a tightly paced thriller, the exact ending of
which is in doubt until the final words are spoken.
With the possible exception of serving daiquiris on silver trays at
intermission, it’s hard to imagine the Ohio University Players doing anything
more for their Monomoy audience than presenting this
enjoyable little drama, "Kind Lady."
It’s always hit or miss with these "Gaslight" -type
mystery-melodramas that made their mark in the 1920s and ’30s. ("Kind
Lady" ran on Broadway in 1935 and was twice made into a movie, one with
Basil Rathbone, the other with Maurice Evans.) Some
are able to time travel with ease; others seem so rooted in their era they are
almost caricatures.
"Kind Lady," with its smart dialogue and increasingly creepy moments,
is in the former category. In fact, in some ways, the play is quite modern,
based on the at-one-time-unusual conceit that an elderly woman might be utterly
isolated despite the fact that she is not without family and friends. That’s
not as difficult to imagine today, with families living so far apart and
neighbors who don’t even know each others’ names.
Mary Herries is the "Kind Lady" here,
inviting into her lovely home a young man of questionable character who appears
merely down on his luck. He admires her paintings and sculpture. He is an
artist, too – perhaps she would like to buy one of his paintings. And perhaps
she’d like to meet his wife and baby. And his friends.
Soon enough, Mary is, literally, surrounded by house guests who are, well,
unsettling.
But are they threatening? And, with her reputation as an eccentric, independent
woman who doesn’t need people, can she rely on family and friends to rescue her
from her own home?
As Mary, veteran English actress Illona Linthwaite exudes the perfect combination of strength and
weakness: She is blindsided by her own nature, which is both kind and foolish,
but she has enough moments of utter clarity, realizing the peril into which she
has put herself, to chill us to the bone. (At one point, she acknowledges that
she has a problem with "my heart swamping my good sense." Too right.) Stephen Dale, so convincing as Sergeant Trotter
in a previous mounting of "The Mousetrap" at Monomoy,
is equally good here in the role of Henry Abbott, the man who weasels his way
into Mary’s home, and life.
Also squirmingly fine are Alex Dittmer and Ann Marie Siegwarth as Mr. and Mrs. Edwards, friends of Abbott’s who
solidify the circle of strangers surrounding their unwitting hostess.
The pacing of "Kind Lady," which comes in slightly under two hours
with intermission, is first-rate, and perhaps that’s not surprising,
considering director Max Montel is the grandson of
Edward Chodorov, who wrote the adaptation of the
play. Montel obviously gets it about this play, and
this genre. There are no awkward silences, while prophetic sentences are
allowed to sink in (way, way, in), and all the physical bits – swiping a
cigarette case, writing a check, furtively handing someone a letter – are woven
nicely into the forward action of the play. No speed bumps here, as the mystery
gathers steam, propelling it to its exciting conclusion.
The set, designed by Natalie Taylor, is warm and cleverly changed between scenes
(keep your eyes on the pictures). Kudos also to the sound
designer, Greg Wenz. The music, with its
dramatic intros to and exits from scenes, adds to the play’s fun, especially
when Fred Astaire sings the opening lines to
"Let’s Face the Music and Dance" :
"There may be trouble ahead."
He sure got that right.