Review: Good Theater's THE MAY QUEEN Journeys from the Mundane to the Poetic

Good Theater's Executive/Artistic Director Brian P. Allen has a remarkable sixth sense about choosing plays whose situations and characters resonate with originality and empathy. The latest production, Molly Smith Metzler's The May Queen, is an engaging portrait of five small town characters who all work in the local insurance agency and whose lives and paths remain interconnected because of their shared high school past. Metzler's comedy explores the surface banality of these characters, as it slowly and skillfully makes its way toward revealing some deeper poetic truths.

Now in middle age, the four characters (and their supervisor) who work in Kingston, New York's Vaillor Insurance Agency in routine jobs they detest remain bound together by their memories of high school relationships and the small town May Queen festivities. But just as these memories of teenage fun remain vibrant, so, too, do the wounds associated with the events - wounds which each of the principal characters must come to terms with and learn the truth in hindsight. Metzler captures perfectly the mundane gossip of these colleagues with wit and a genuineness, at the same time that she punctuates the script with passionate outbursts that are simultaneously amusing, manic, and touching. She paces the action to begin with deceptive blandness and build slowly to a deeper revelation, and the final moments of the play are truly affecting.

Director Brian P. Allen creates the rhythms of the piece with a deft hand and sure ear, and he imbues the work with just the right low-key naturalness to make it genuine. The cast works exceptionally well together as an ensemble. Thomas Ian Campbell is a nerdy, yet endearing Dave; Laura Houck is a colorful, zany Gail, and Hannah Elaine Perry brings to the rigid office manager Nicole a quirkiness that has its own pathos. As the central pair, Abbie Killeen (Jennifer) and Rob Cameron (Dave) prove to be excellent foils for each other. Cameron is all blustering extrovert - a mask which hides his own vulnerability, while Killeen captures Jennifer's brokenness of spirit as well as her unquenched yearning for the poetry of a lost moment.

Craig Robinson (and Cheryl Dolan, props) provides the appropriately tacky office setting with its "pod" of cubicles and over the top touches such as Gail's Hawaiian themed décor. Iain Odlin contributes the spot on lighting design, and Steve Underwood creates the period soundscape. Justin Cote's costumes round out the colorful ambiance.

With its stories of friends, colleagues, old chums, of unforgotten pasts and secrets which need to be exorcized, The May Queen is a work to which audiences can easily relate. In this moving, winning production, the Good Theater once again demonstrates the intelligence, subtlety, and vitality of its programming.

Photographs courtesy of Good Theater, Steve Underwood, photographer

The May Queen runs from January 25-February 26, 2017 at The Good Theater, 76 Congress St. Portland, ME 207-885-5883 www.goodtheater.com

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