BWW Reviews: Mildred's Umbrella and the Grim Sister Wives of 'DROWNING GIRLS' Reinvigorate the Stage

The Magic of Theater

As a college student, I was employed as a film projectionist for a small cinema. So I spent far too many nights holed up in the projectionist's booth-a dark, hot place with eye searing lights and constantly malfunctioning machinery-cutting 35mm film by the frame, accompanied only by the symphony of whirs and clanks generated by the cinema's aging film projector. I loved every minute spent in the booth. So did my predecessors. To the right of the film rewind table, crudely but sufficiently rigged by yours truly, a dictum scribbled in chalk nearly a decade before, read "That's the goddamn magic of film."

That is what I sought on stage in Mildred's Umbrella Theater Company's THE DROWNING GIRLS. Ever the pragmatist, I assumed chances of finding that were small. The last moments of Margaret Lofty, Bessie Mundy, and Alice Burnham, each a victim of bigamist, conman, extortionist, and serial killer George Joseph Smith are unfathomable. The shock of sudden submersion. Breathlessness. Suffocation. Death. And the capstone to this calamity-is that as each woman slips swiftly out of consciousness, a white foam of spit frothing the contours of her lips, she sees her beloved husband hovering over her in exertion. His silvery grey eyes that once robbed her of her will with their amorousness are now steel grey as he robs her of her life. She loses innocence along with being. It is unfathomable, yet Mildred's Umbrella brings you within an inch of understanding in its staging of THE DROWNING GIRLS.

That's the goddamn magic of theater.

The Magic of THE DROWNING GIRLS

Canadian playwrights Beth Graham, Charlie Tomlinson and Daniela Vlaskalic have created a bewitching play of remarkable theatrical inventiveness, thematic depth and range, and mesmerizing characters. More than that, their script is a triumph of aesthetic form and proof that visuals and emotions can propel a story just as well as plot.

Moreover, THE DROWNING GIRLS fully exploits theater as a creative medium, traveling through time and space as well as art form with ease. (It spans four decades and myriad locations: a rented room in Blackpool, a park in Bristol, a modest house in London's East End, a register's office in Weymouth-the afterlife.) It is cinematic, balletic, operatic, poetic and theatrical all at once. It demonstrates the continued relevance-and magic, of course-of the stage play. It uses all of this to bring misogyny and its violent and deadly outcomes to light.

At the start of THE DROWNING GIRLS, we have arrived to the future of theater by revisiting the past. The so-called "Brides in the Bath," victims of serial bigamist and killer George Joseph Smith, rise from their watery graves coughing, hacking, and swinging. This docudrama is reclamation art, a revision of the "Brides in the Bath" story told and enacted by Margaret Lofty, Bessie Mundy, and Alice Burnham, the brides themselves.

The Magic of Mildred's Umbrella

The Mildred's Umbrella production is subtle yet dramatically intense and moody. This is due in no small part to the sophisticated direction by Jon Harvey. Modern horror movies should take notes. The staging uses common, overused horror techniques like blinking lights (aided by light designer Greg Starbird) and characters singing creepily in unison and somehow makes them fresh.

It is not a given that a DROWNING GIRLS production will succeed as completely as Mildred's Umbrella Theater's has. Harvey's choices make all the difference. For example, other theaters' runtimes ranged from 70 to 80 minutes. As a result, the local critics called the script and portions of the performance dull and meandering. Harvey's runtime is 65 minutes, making for an impeccably paced, enthralling experience.

It is evident that the production was lovingly prepared. Perhaps this is because Harvey and Artistic Director Jennifer Decker were forced to wait several years to bring the play to Houston. Both were impressed and enamored with the play five years ago, but were forced to wait for production rights to become available in the US to acquire them.

The production is buoyed by the inspired performances of cast members Miranda Herbert Aston (Margaret Lofty), Patricia Duran (Bessie Mundy), and Courtney Lomelo (Alice Burnham). The three are integral to the play, more so than usual. There are only three actresses and, easily, more than 15 roles. If the actresses don't properly portray the characters, the audience is lost. If they lack passion, the play falls flat. Thankfully, Herbert Aston, Duran, and Lomelo don't disappoint.

This is most evident in each actresses' portrayal of Smith. Though I know Smith is an abusive serial killer with callous disregard for each woman, I am just as in love and attracted to him as they are. Conversely, I am just as terrified by his abuse.

Herbert Aston, Duran, and Lomelo are also landlords, interrogating officers, lawyers, judges, and witnesses. As ghosts, they deliver poetic dialogue as if it were plain speech. They traverse middle-class to lower-class British accents. Duran has a fairly convincing Scottish accent as well. (Dialect Consultant Lisa Villegas deserves credit for effectively coaching the cast.) And they do it all while drenching wet.

Herbert Aston is incredibly effective as the wide-eyed, naive Margaret Lofty-Smith's final wife and victim while Mildred's Umbrella company members Duran and Lomelo are powerhouses.

As soon as Duran transforms into her murderous husband, Smith, I am transfixed. She so completely inhabits the role that I forgot both that she was Patricia Duran, the actress, and that moments before she was Bessie Mundy. More notably, Duran's performance is as lyrical as the play. She jumps from emotional note to emotional note with unbridled spontaneity. Her trills rival Anna Netrebko's. Moreover, Duran hits each note, high and low, with stunning precision. As a result, her performance is exhilarating. It is a complete aesthetic experience unto itself.

Lomelo is a master craftsman. Her characterization is incredibly informed and precisely performed. She knows how her character walks, talks, and wrinkles his or her nose. In her hands, each character is a fully realized human being.

Though Duran and Lomelo each have their own acting style, each gives an exceptional performance.

The backstage creative crew stands out just as much as the performances. Composer Andy McWilliams' stirring music creates an eerie, stomach-dropping effect. It sneaks up on you, providing just as much fright as the ghostly brides do then leaves just as quietly as it came. Drew Hoovler, responsible for set construction, does an excellent job with the waterworks, which must have been a very complex set-up. Set Designer Jodi Bobrovsky presents rusted claw-foot bathtubs and dead wedding flowers-all gorgeous in their simplicity. Plus, among other productions of THE DROWNING GIRLS, her white palette appears to be unique. Even in simplicity, Bobrovsky leans toward innovation. Costume Designer Lindsay Burns has outfitted Lomelo's Alice Burnham in an oversized, dowdy dress. The dress has the same effect for Lomelo as Nicole Kidman's prosthetic nose does for Kidman in the 2002 film THE HOURS. My favorite detail is the blue stockings the women wear. The stockings very subtly mimic the bluish tint human skin takes on after death sets in. Together, McWilliams, Bobrovsky, and Burns also haunt the stage.

Theater has not stirred these feelings in me in years. Throughout, I brimmed with excitement. When, to my dismay, the performance concluded, there was no doubt that this production deserved all the Houston theater community's applause and accolades.

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THE DROWNING GIRLS staged by Mildred's Umbrella Theater Company runs through August 1. For more information, visit www.mildredsumbrella.com or 832-463-0409.

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