There's a sort of joyous twang that is synonymous with the slow-as-molasses tenor of the Southern colloquial language that can be both sweet yet biting at the same time, no matter what the circumstances may be. If there is anything Southerners have mastered during their region's long rich history is their ability to laugh at the foibles of life, in order to make day-to-day experiences seem endurable. Country music composers have put their tragedies to song ("My man left me..." or "my neighbor shot my dog") while other authors like Margaret Mitchell highlighted the melodrama. But for playwright Beth Henley, tragedies, disappointments and scandal become the surprisingly funny source material for this slice-of-dysfunctional-life play that revels in its own charming eccentricities. The resulting work of delicious genius is her 1981 Pulitzer Prize-winning debut play CRIMES OF THE HEART, now playing at South Coast Repertory thru June 6.
Centering on the seemingly endless rampage of struggles for the Magrath sisters, this hilarious revival, directed by Warner Shook, plops the audience lovingly in mid-1970's Hazelhurst, Mississippi, where a scandal is rocking the small town. We first meet plain-looking Lenny Magrath (Blair Sams)-the oldest of the three Magrath sisters-alone in a clean but age-weathered kitchen, pathetically piercing a single birthday candle on a sad little cookie, only to find it repeatedly crumbling to pieces. But she perseveres, singing "Happy Birthday to Me" a few times (multiple tries means multiple chances to make birthday wishes, of course). Resigned to a life of an old maid, her palpable sadness that is masked by a bittersweet smile finally elicits a heavy sigh of surrender. And with that-plus the news that her cherished childhood horse had just died via lightning strike-it becomes all too clear that Lenny's had one too many disappointments in life. And she's only hit 30.
We soon learn from Lenny's snooty blabbermouth cousin-next-door Chick (scene-stealing Tessa Auberjonois) that the town scandal actually centers on Lenny's youngest sister, Babe (Kate Rylie). It seems Babe has just been jailed for shooting her husband, simply because she "didn't like his looks." Yes, it's an odd justification to shoot someone, but somehow such an absurd reasoning seems strangely believable within the context of this quirky tale. The shooting incident also brings home middle sister Meg (Jenn Lyon), returning home with the attitude (and hair 'do) of a Hollywood starlet. But Meg has her own disappointments: after moving West to pursue her dreams of stardom, she suffers a nervous breakdown. She defiantly admits later that she's set aside her acting and singing gigs for an entry level job at a dog food company.
Now out on bail, Babe returns to her childhood home and reunites with her two sisters, and nervously prepares herself for her day in court with the help of her young lawyer Barnette (Kasey Mahaffy), whose devoted willingness to help Babe stems from his budding crush on his lively client and his unwavering thirst for revenge against Babe's allegedly corrupt husband Zachary Bottrell, the richest, most powerful man in town. Also thrown in the mix is local heartthrob Doc Porter (Nathan Baesel) whose aww-shucks swagger puts a spell on former flame Meg-despite the fact that he's married and a father to two children.
Their "crimes" are all self-sabotaging wounds that have caused them much heartache (and in Babe's case, a stint in jail). The possibility for love and eventual happiness has eluded all three sisters-all caused by their own actions.
For Henley's part, the writer mines generous laughs from a wicked combination of realistic interactions and outlandish behaviors; the play easily straddles the darkly comic to the absurdly screwball. And never does the audience feel like they're laughing at the sisters' sad tragedies. Often, we're laughing along with them in a collective embrace. Instead of slapping you with its humor, CRIMES OF THE HEART tickles you enough to cause a hearty belly laugh or two (or a hundred) in strategic places throughout the two-hour-and-ten-minute performance. Only a successfully hilarious play like this can manage to find humor in the strangest of things like dead horses, abusive husbands, and people that have either been shot, have committed (or attempting) suicide, or have fallen into a deep coma.
There's plenty of sardonic wit here that is breezily wrapped in Henley's dialogue, which is served well by its incredibly talented cast. Sams' tragicomic turn as Lenny anchors the play with its heart and soul, while Lyon's vulnerable bombshell and Rylie's naive spitfire complete the fine trio of central performers. Auberjonois provides some of the play's loudest bursts of deliberate laughter, thanks to her hurricane-like entrances and pitch-perfect timing. Both Baesel (seemingly sewn-in a tad too tightly into his jeans) and Mahaffy provide complimentary supporting turns as well. Shook's direction keeps the pace moving in appropriate doses, all the while inside Thomas Buderwitz's wonderfully period set (the aging wallpaper and the curtain-covered trash nook are terrific details).
If the play's characters seem vaguely familiar, it is perhaps because the play itself has seemingly affected plenty of material that has followed it: everything from Robert Harling's
Steel Magnolias to Del Shore's
Sordid Lives and even the hit comedy
Designing Women. Henley herself wrote the screenplay adaptation of this play into an Oscar-baiting film in 1986 that starred Diane Keaton, Jessica Lange, Sissy Spacek (who received a Best Actress nomination), and Tess Harper (who received a Best Supporting Actress nomination).
These sisters have certainly endured a lot. Along with an unseen deteriorating grandfather permanently convalescing in the town hospital, we also learn that their mother had committed suicide in the basement of their home years ago-a revelation that becomes an interesting worst-case scenario solution. Are they doomed to be as sad and depressed as their mother? With such an onslaught of miserable things that keep happening to them, we are left to ponder how these three ever managed to cope with life at all. Easy. In the South, you just do. You laugh it away. As clichéd as it sounds, when life gives you lemons, you make a whole pitcher-full of lemonade-with lots and lots of sugar (as Babe would surely make it). To put it simply, CRIMES OF THE HEART is a wickedly sweet, confectionary delight.
Score: 9 / 10*
Photos of the cast of South Coast Repertory's CRIMES OF THE HEART by Henry DiRocco/SCR.
Top: Jennifer Lyon, Kate Rylie and Blair Sams.
Bottom: Blair Sams and Tessa Auberjonois.*Broadway World's new score card system. For details, click here.-----Tickets to see CRIMES OF THE HEART, with performances continuing through June 6, are priced between $20-$65 and can be purchased online at www.scr.org, by phone at (714) 708-5555 or by visiting the box office at 655 Town Center Drive in Costa Mesa. Discounts are available for full-time students, patrons 25 years of age and under, educators, seniors and groups of 10 or more. There will be also be an ASL interpreted performance for the deaf community on Saturday, June 5, at 2:30 pm.POST-SHOW DISCUSSIONS: Wednesday, May 19 and Tuesday, May 25
Discuss the play with members of the CRIMES OF THE HEART cast during post-show discussions led by South Coast Repertory's literary team.
INSIDE THE SEASON: Saturday, May 22 at 10:30 am - 12:30 pm
Inside the Season is a series of interactive classes that provide a comprehensive inside look at the theatrical production process. Each two-hour class features creative personnel from South Coast Repertory's current production. Tickets are $12 each and can be purchased online, by phone, or at the box office. (Tickets to CRIMES OF THE HEART are sold separately).For more information, visit their website at www.scr.org.
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