Hint:
Don’t read the program notes before “The Drowning Girls” at Cleveland
Public Theatre
A person’s identity is
based on the culture in which s/he was raised. It has been the custom in many Euro-American societies to
raise women with the attitude that they are not complete without a man in their
lives. Unmarried women have been
identified as “old maids,” or “spinsters.” The implication is that these women are less than their
married gender mates. Since many
of our attitudes of self are based on the names we are called, the negative
titles of those husbandless females perceive themselves negatively. This phenomenon often leads to
desperation to get married to whomever offers themselves for matrimony.
“The Drowning Girls,” by Beth Graham, Charlie Tomlinson and Daniela Vlaskalic centers on the lives of three woman who became victims because of their
perceived need to marry. In these
cases, they each unknowingly married a fiend, with little time to really
discover his true self, until it was too late.
Alice Burnham, Beatrice (Bessie)
Mundy and Margaret Lofty, the women in the story, all were what the general
society of the day would call, “getting on in their years.’ Each perceived that they needed to be
quickly married, each was convinced by the same man, using a different name for
his relationship with each woman, to marry. Each had a tidy sum of money, were talked into buying life
insurance policies in their husband’s name, and all met an untimely death in
the same manner. Each was found
dead in a bathtub. Each, it was
assumed, died from natural causes.
The script is nicely
developed, though it may have been dragged on a big too long by extensive repetition. Crum,who is Cleveland Public Theatre’s 2013-14 Joan Yellen-Horvitz Director
Fellow, creatively staged the show. Interesting visual
images abound with the use of three bathtubs on a platform, backed up by a
clothing line. The use of water
for not only each character’s demise, but for anointing, creating of illusions
and analogies is interestingly woven into the production. Sam Fisher, the 2013-14 Kulas Composer Fellow, adds mood enhancing music.
Natalie Green (Alice),
Sarah Kunchik (Bessie) and Jaime Bouvier (Margaret) are entirely convincing in
their portrayals. The meld
together into a cohesive unit.
These are each very impressive performances.
Val Kozienko’s set design
and Ben Gantose’s lighting design both help in creating the correct moods. Fisher’s music aids in heightening and
highlighting the moods.
Normally, I urge
theatre-goers to read the program notes before the show. In this case, I would urge to hold off
until after the production.
Reading the “Note form the Director” and “Following the Story” reveal
too much information and almost makes watching the play redundant. It ruins the heightening of emotions
and takes the mystery out of the production.
Capsule judgement: “The Drowning
Girls” is an intriguing script which gets a fine staging at Cleveland Public
Theatre. Be warned: reading the program notes before the
play may take some of the excitement out of experiencing the production.
“The Drowning Girl” continues at Cleveland Public Theatre through
February 24. For tickets go to: 216-631-2727 or go to www.cptonline.org
CPT’s next
show is ANCESTRA, May 22-June 7.
It is an intimate biography of a contemporary woman which was inspired
by the 1853 National Women’s Rights Convention held in Cleveland Performed from
March 6 to 22 in Gordon Square Theatre @ 7:30.
