Crimson Tide

By Dan Collins

The promotional materials developed by Center Stage for their current production of 17^th century poet and playwright, John Ford's "Tis Pity She's Whore," equates the work with Shakespeare's Romeo & Juliet...but with a twist Quentin Tarantino would surely have appreciated.

And perhaps Sam Peckinpah as well, considering the rather violent and bloody second act that rings more of "MacBeth" than the famed tale of star-crossed lovers (beware those who sit in the front row).

While in Romeo and Juliet, the lovers' deadly fate is sown in the fact that they are from rival houses, in "Tis Pity," the Angel of Death comes, quite literally, complete in black vow and feathered wings (Elizabeth Oller), as Giovanni (Colby Chambers) and Annabella (Kristen Sieh) are from the SAME house--brother and sister.

 There may be no worse taboo in our society than that of incest, and if the buzz around me in the theater was any indication, Center Stage might wish to revert to more traditional fare...Moliere perhaps. And if so, this reviewer would be greatly disappointed..

  Despite the unsavory subject matter, this work by the somewhat mysterious John Ford (the program notes that our knowledge of Ford is sketchy at best) is engaging, shocking, disturbing, and in its moments, quite comic, filled with themes that resonate as sharply today as they must have nearly 400 years ago-traits worthy of the Bard.

   Described as a "revenge play," "Tis Pity" is set in the town of Parma in northern Italy, a land infamously (if not stereotypically) known for vendetta. Hippolita (FeliciTy Jones) has an affair with Soranzo (Eric Feldman), only to be spurned by her lover and robbed of her husband whom she believes dead. Or is he? Hippolita plots her revenge on Soranzo with the aide of Soranzo's servant, Vasques (Reese Madigan), who reminded me of a loyal Iago if such a thing is possible, a Spaniard who bests the Italians at revenge. Vasques will undo his master...or will he? Toss in some mistaken identity, a few prating fools like Richard Ruiz's delightfully clueless Bergetto, a scorned soldier (Jacob H. Knoll) and a less than holy Cardinal (John Ramsey) with one eye on the heavens and one on the gold, and what's not to like?

    What's particularly intriguing about this anti-Romeo and Juliet is its effect on the audience. With Shakespeare's play, we are all undoubtedly in the lovers' corner, hoping against hope that somehow that they will live happily ever after. In "Tis Pity," this same hope makes us...rather uncomfortable...the lesson being that sometimes love should NOT triumph. 

      Though there are some savage scenes, such as the undoing of Annabella's guardian, Putana (Carmen Roman), they are balanced with the humorous turns of Ruiz's Bergetto, his servant, the mandolin-strumming Poggio (Peter Mark Kendall), and the always-sure-to-steal-the-scene Laurence O'Dwyer as the Friar Bonaventura--who strives to drive apart Giovanni and Annabella and save their souls as strongly as Friar Lawrence strove to bring together the children of Capulet and Montague.

      Center Stage director Irene Lewis, Tony Straiges (scenic designer), Candice Donnelly (costumes), J. Allen Suddeth (fight director), and the rest of the artistic team do an exemplary job in bringing the opulence, finery and swordplay of the Renaissance to the stage. The opening image of a bed hanging in the air and visited upon by Death sets the tone for the entire play and provides a lasting image, when the sheets are soaked in gore, at curtain's fall.

         "Tis Pity She's a Whore runs through April 5^th at Center Stage, 700 N. Calvert Street, in the Pearlstone Theater. Tickets are $10-$60 and are available at www.centerstage.org or call 410-332-0033.

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