The Light of Hope Shines in 'The Corn Is Green'

The Corn Is Green

Written by Emlyn Williams; directed by Nicholas Martin; scenic design by James Noone; costume design by Robert Morgan; lighting design by Frances Aronson; sound design by Drew Levy; dialect coach, Stephen Gabis

Cast in order of appearance:

John Goronwy Jones, Roderick McLachlan; Miss Ronberry, Kathy McCafferty; Idwal Morris, Jared Craig; Sarah Pugh, Bobbie Steinbach; A Groom, Patrick James Lynch; The Squire, Will LeBow; Bessie Watty, Mary Faber; Mrs. Watty, Kristine Nielsen; Miss Moffat, Kate Burton; Morgan Evans, Morgan Ritchie; Robbart Robbatch, Dan Lovely; Glyn Thomas, Michael Moran; Will Hughes, Brian Vaughan; John Owen, Danny Bryck; Old Tom, Stephen Gabis

Performances: Through February 8, Huntington Theatre Company, Boston University Theatre, 264 Huntington Avenue, Boston
Box Office: 617-266-0800 or www.huntingtontheatre.org

Boston is enjoying a revisit to director Nicholas Martin's splendid revival of The Corn Is Green, Emlyn Williams' semi-autobiographical masterpiece which was given a beautiful mounting at the Williamstown Theatre Festival in the Berkshires during the summer of 2007. Once again starring the luminous Kate Burton as the indomitable English schoolteacher Miss Moffat, this second staging is even more vibrant and moving than the first.

Lighter, funnier, crisper and even more nimble on its feet, this reinvigorated rendition crackles with the power of determination over adversity. Burton's Moffat is a force of nature whether prodding, haranguing or inspiring her young Welsh prodigy Morgan Evans, played winningly by her own son Morgan Ritchie, to realize his true potential, or cajoling and hoodwinking her nemesis The Squire (a delightfully blustering and dimwitted Will LeBow) into sponsoring the young boy's application to Oxford - even though that very act of charity may weaken the stronghold he so cherishes as owner of the village's coal mine. For education, or the lack thereof in 1895 Britain, is what keeps the Welsh miners and their children enslaved to a life of backbreaking labor and poverty while the English landowners who exploit them live in arrogant luxury. In The Corn Is Green it is Miss Moffat's singular mission to dismantle those tyrannical class barriers, one promising student at a time.

Such ambition places a heavy burden on one's star pupil, however, and Burton and Ritchie maneuver the tricky currents of their mentor/protégé relationship skillfully. Early on Evans is a willing subject, enjoying the attention and success he achieves under Moffat's driven tutelage. As the years pass, however, he balks at the unrelenting pressure, afraid of the new world that college will open to him. Reverting back to his old rowdy ways of drinking and dallying with the locals, he succumbs one night to the charms of the cook's daughter Bessie. Nine months later, after passing his exams and receiving notification of acceptance, he's suddenly and unexpectedly faced with a life-altering decision.

What is remarkable about The Corn Is Green, written in the late 1930s and set in a time of Victorian prudery, is that its people face their daily challenges without sentimentality. Miss Moffat, unabashedly independent and educated, defying male authority and flaunting female convention with an air of great self satisfaction, advises Morgan to be heroic by being selfish. Morgan, clearly appreciative of his teacher for helping him develop his gift for writing, is nonetheless conflicted and at times releases his frustrations through hurtful rebellion. Moffat's best friend, her cook Mrs. Watty (a wonderfully comic Kristine Nielsen), is a reformed Cockney pickpocket who now collects donations honestly as a sergeant major in an evangelical corps. Watty's daughter, Bessie (a coolly seductive Mary Faber), is an unapologetic flirt, restless, petulant, opportunistic, and bereft of any maternal instinct, a trait she has undoubtedly inherited from her less than nurturing mother. Miss Ronberry (the prim but kindly Kathy McCafferty) and the minister Jones (the sincere but slightly addled Roderick McLachlan) - enlisted by the persuasive Miss Moffat into helping her teach the local schoolchildren - reveal charming insecurities beneath their Puritanical beliefs. All glide through Williams' lyrical prose and Martin's melodic direction as if dancing to a traditional Welsh folk song.

The elegant but rustic country house designed by James Noone - exquisite in its vaulted beams and painted barn board detail - provides a grand frame for the transformation from dusty estate to bustling classroom. Its open ceiling and upper back wall let Frances Aronson's evocative lighting move from the white/blue cold of winter to the honeyed warmth of an afternoon in July. Robert Morgan's lush period costumes perfectly suit each character's personality and mark the class differences between English gentry and Welsh colliers. Drew Levy's sound design heightens the rhythms of the Welsh dialect with vibrant musical interludes.

The shimmering beacon in any production of The Corn Is Green, of course, is Miss Moffat, and the magnificent Kate Burton is incandescent. Fiercely determined when it comes to her students and gleefully aware of her own incongruity in fitting with the mores and sensibilities of the times, Burton is a woman who doesn't just hope for change but works tirelessly to create it. She refuses to let Morgan's future be a continuation of his past, and when faced with her own second chance at fulfilling a stifled dream, she embraces the opportunity with courage and a spark of grateful joy.

In The Corn Is Green, heroism is marked by personal choices. Through simple acts of grace and humanity, the power of hope is born.

PHOTOS: Kate Burton as Miss Moffat and Morgan Ritchie as Morgan Evans; Mary Faber as Bessie Watts, Roderick McLachlan as John Goronwy Jones, and Kristine Nielsen as Mrs. Watts; Kate Burton

 

To post a comment, you must register and login.