The Lying Lesson at The Atlantic

[WhizzerMarvin TrinaJasonMendel]

Caught Craig Lucas' new play tonight and didn't care for it very much. When I read the synopsis that Carol Kane would be playing Bette Davis I thought, "Well this could a fun, campy evening," but it was 100% camp free.

The plot involved Kane as Davis, but using her birth name Ruth Elizabeth. She is looking to buy a house in Maine, and at the beginning of the play she arrives to examine the property in the middle of a rainstorm. It's then that she meets Minnie, played by Mickey Sumner, who tends the house for the current owners.

Minnie doesn't recognize Davis, and even when "Ruth" reveals herself to be the movie star Bette Davis, Minnie still doesn't know who she is. (In fact Minnie keeps referring to her as Bette David.)

I can't tell more without giving spoilers. The premise sounds intriguing enough, and there are lots of nice references to Davis' films. Kane's dialogue is in the style of Bette's post-Eve pictures, but I don't think the play is really aiming to be an homage/love letter to Davis.

Although the dialogue was often funny it just was not connecting with the audience, I think because there was no dramatic thrust to the plot so it was just 2 hours and 20 minutes of bitchy dialogue.

Kane is good, but it's not a Davis carbon copy performance. I guess she's a hard character to play without slipping into drag queen territory. Sumner's character is much less interesting and her accent is all over the place.

The play needs to be trimmed/focused. There needed to be something more to it. By the time we actually get to the (interesting) discourse on lying I thought, "Damn, that was A LOT of set-up to get us here!" There's just not enough payoff with how it stands now.

[Addison D.]

Forgive me a brief detour:

I can't read the words "Bette Davis" and "Maine" without thinking of 'The Whales of August'--a small movie with more accumulated Hollywood wattage than a month of 'Vanity Fair' Oscar parties.

"Say-rah!"

I haven't owned a VCR in years, but I still have my 'Whales of August' tape. I don't go in the ground without it.

BTW--thanks for the review WMTJM.

[WhizzerMarvin TrinaJasonMendel]

"There is no need to make whoopie every other minute!"

Yep Addison, The Whales of August is a sweet movie.

The Lying Lesson seems to be aiming for a Dead Ringer era Davis. (The play takes place during the Reagan administration, so much after Dead Ringer, but Kane resembles her from that time period.)

[Addison D.]

Is there a spoiler-free way to explain what the point of this play is? It seems so...arbitrary?

The other production that came into my mind as I was reading your review was 'Dirty Blonde'. I passed on that in NYC b/c I thought it couldn't help but veer into--as you say--drag queen territory. Especially given the subject has become such a caricature in our collective understanding.

Happily, I was taken to see it in London and thought it was wonderful--thoughtful, multi-layered and fascinating, thanks to Claudia Scheer's deeply-felt insights.

Craig Lucas is no slouch, but I'm not feeling the point here.

[WhizzerMarvin TrinaJasonMendel]

Unfortunately there is not a spoiler-free way to explain further.

I'll continue with spoilers, so read at your own risk.

*************

The house that Bette wants to buy is owned by a couple named Edna and Francis. Francis and Bette were in love during their youths, but Bette chose to become and actress and Francis wound up marrying Edna. Edna always resented Bette and saved any bad review written about her later films. At the end of act one Bette stumbles upon the pile of bad reviews and notices that some are written by Minnie for the local paper. She's been lying about not recognizing Davis all along.

Act Two begins with Bette making dinner for Minnie and setting traps for her to admit that she was lying. Minnie comes close to telling the truth, but keeps lying. Bette shows some of her film clips and explains her tricks to convincingly play a lying character.

It turns out Minnie is actually Francis' granddaughter and worships Bette. She wants to be taken away from this small town and be her assistant/admirer/Eve Carrington?, but Bette doesn't know if she can trust her after all the lies. Bette finally appears to agree to take her in and Minnie lights two cigarettes at the same time, like in Now, Voyager as the lights go out.

I'm not quite sure what Lucas wanted us to get out of it all. It's part historical fiction (almost like Arcadia because so many of the characters of the play are unseen), part mystery and part homage to Davis. I just didn't get anything out of it, and I'm not quite certain I was supposed to.

[EricMontreal22]

Thanks for the review!

How disappointing--I'm a big Lucas fan particularly of Reckless and Dying Gaul, but as Addy said, it sounds like this play had an initial concept--and not much else.

I don't know much about Bette's later life--is this based on some actual event at all?

[WhizzerMarvin TrinaJasonMendel]

Maybe a Bette Davis aficionado will know if this is based on a true story or not.

I know Davis lived in Maine, or at least had a house there, with Gary Merrill during the 50s, but I never heard about this return visit later in life.