'A Moon for the Misbegotten' at MRT

A Moon for the Misbegotten

By Eugene O'Neill

Directed by Edward Morgan; Scenic Designer, Bill Clarke; Costume Designer, Jeni Schaefer; Lighting Designer, Beverly Emmons; Sound Designer, Michael Boso; Stage Manager, Emily F. McMullen

CAST:  Josie Hogan, Kate Udall; Mike Hogan, Karl Baker Olson; Phil Hogan, Gordon Joseph Weiss; James Tyrone, Jr., Michael Canavan; T. Stedman Harder, John Kooi

Performances through May 17 at Merrimack Repertory Theatre

Box Office 978-654-4MRT or www.merrimackrep.org

Merrimack Repertory Theatre concludes its 30^th anniversary season with A Moon for the Misbegotten by the venerable American dramatist Eugene O'Neill. It is being produced in conjunction with Norfolk's Virginia Stage Company, where it ran for three weeks earlier in the year. The principals from that cast are joined by two local actors, Karl Baker Olson and John Kooi in supporting roles. Edward Morgan directs in his MRT debut.

Designer Bill Clarke sets the scene outside the 1920's Connecticut farmhouse of tenant farmer Phil Hogan with a ramshackle cottage, its front porch slightly askew, and a large rain barrel placed at the corner. A big flat rock sits in the middle of the yard and a hand-hewn stone wall separates it from the nearby fields. The blue background is the canvas for a sky that changes hue from midday to sunset to sunrise the next day, artfully lit by Beverly Emmons. The spare set suggests the hardscrabble existence of the inhabitants before we even see them. Thanks to the designs of costumer Jeni Schaefer, when they enter in their soiled, well-worn work clothes, showing the fatigue of a hard life's work, the picture is complete.

After his sons have run off to seek better fortunes, Hogan and his daughter Josie eke out a living by farming the land owned by James Tyrone, Jr. He inherited the property and is frequently absent, so the Hogans hope to purchase it one day. His return on this September afternoon portends the possibility of a sale, so father and daughter plot a way to learn of Tyrone's intentions involving alcohol and seduction. Accustomed as they are to lying and chicanery, it never seems to occur to them to attempt a straightforward business deal. For his part, Tyrone is a good time Charlie who wants to please, but he is forgetful at best and dissembles, at worst. Since the death of his mother, he has been a lost soul and fell hard off the wagon. Phil Hogan has a strong connection with the bottle as well, and he plans to use it as a carrot to lure Tyrone to Josie's web. The character-driven play focuses on the dysfunctional relationships among these three, each a victim of circumstance, each a survivor.

While Moon is arguably the tragi-comic tale of the ill-fated love of James Tyrone and Josie Hogan, the latter is the more interesting character in my opinion. Why is she the last of the siblings to remain on The Farm with Phil Hogan? How does it serve her to be subjected to his drunken spells and general orneriness, as well as live with her reputation as the town tramp? Knowing what she does about Tyrone, why does she hitch her romantic wagon to his fading star? He hides an inner life that he reveals in fits and starts late in the second act, but much of his torment seems self-imposed and alcohol induced. As a sometime actor on Broadway, Tyrone is not without talent, and as a property owner, he is not without means, but he has surely wasted both. Josie's is a sad life and what makes it sadder still is her choice to be Tyrone's woman and knowing that she believes she can do or deserves no better.

At MRT, this is Kate Udall's play and she is up to the task. O'Neill describes Josie as "oversized for a woman...large-boned and not thin...She is all woman."  Udall is dressed and made up to downplay her attractiveness, and when she extends to her full height, spreads her feet apart, and puts her hands on her hips, she takes command of the stage and all those around her. Her Josie is the purveyor of tough love to her departing younger brother Mike as she sends him on his way into the world, and she manipulates her father like a lion tamer, alternately stroking and poking at him. When it comes to her relationship with Tyrone, she straddles a line between demure schoolgirl and sensuous woman, alternately childish and calculating, trying on behaviors like different pairs of shoes. Udall gives us a fully-realized Josie with all of her cocksureness, insecurity, joy, sorrow, torment, and empathy.  

Michael Canavan seems out of place at best and miscast at worst in the midst of the ignoble Hogans. With his urbane bearing he comes across as the uncomfortable city slicker afraid of stepping in something rather than The Farm boy returning home in fancy clothes. His characterization of James Tyrone is remote and, although the part calls for a certain amount of glibness, he hangs his hat on that aspect and doesn't go deep enough when his secret is finally exposed. He flips a switch to show a flicker of his dark side, but the feeling is neither convincing nor sustained. Ultimately, his Tyrone is not sympathetic, merely pathetic.

Gordon Joseph Weiss provides much of the comic relief in the play as the exasperated father of a diminishing clan, scaring off those he loves with his blustery, boozy, demanding ways. Weiss lets us see the softie underneath, the guy who ultimately fears losing everything and everyone. Karl Baker Olson is only on stage for a short scene before Mike's leave-taking, but he conveys the boy's high moral standards and distaste for his father, as well as a sense of urgency to make his exit in haste. As disgruntled abutter T. Stedman Harder, John Kooi gets across the feeling of how unfortunate it must be to have the Hogans as neighbors.

The sounds of A Moon for the Misbegotten go beyond the evocative train whistles heralding Tyrone's arrival (designed by Michael Boso). The cast members speak with Irish accents, providing an appropriate lilt to O'Neill's lyrical dialogue, and the feeling of time and place is augmented by pennywhistle music playing under some of the scenes. Unfortunately, despite the quality of the writing and the caliber of the production, it failed to launch me into orbit.

  

Photo Credit: John Kooi, Kate Udall, Gordon Joseph Weiss, Michael Canavan (by Meghan Moore)

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