BWW Reviews: Theatre Memphis Spit-Polishes THE HEIRESS

THE HEIRESS, Ruth and Augustus Goetz's 1947 adaptation of Henry James' WASHINGTON SQUARE and currently occupying the Lohrey Stage at Theatre Memphis, has had a long and steady run on stages throughout the world - and why not? Tightly corseted, polite to a fault, and observing proprieties, this intelligently written script captures the essence of the James source material without the convoluted, complex sentences that, alas, repel many readers. As tautly drawn as the material on one of the samplers for which its heroine is noted, when one of the characters punctuates the prevailing politeness with a barbed or telling line of dialogue, it's as if a sharp and jagged blade suddenly ripped through the fabric of the needlework itself. All this play needs for a successful run is a handsome set, period costumes - and four or five gifted players.

I have long enjoyed and treasured this work (I remember a particularly successful staging on this same stage a number of years ago), and the films that have been made from it. Certainly, there's the classic William Wyler version (1949), which garnered an Academy Award for Olivia de Havilland (and netted a well- deserved nomination for the supercilious Ralph Richardson) and which also intriguingly cast Montgomery Clift and Miriam Hopkins. (Wendy Hiller and Basil Rathbone had assayed the parts of "Catherine Sloper" and her father "Austin" in the original Broadway production, and wouldn't that have been an interesting evening in the theatre?) Then, there was the appropriately titled WASHINGTON SQUARE (1997) with Jennifer Jason Leigh and Albert Finney.

Like a visit with a really good friend one hasn't seen in a very long time, THE HEIRESS is once again enthralling audiences who revel in its theatrical virtues. Part of the reason is the complexity of the characterizations. As a novelist and short story writer, Henry James was a master of ambiguity; and that gift is well on display in this adaptation. Is the imperious Dr. Austin Sloper as impervious to feeling as he seems to be? Is the ostensibly dotty "Aunt Penniman" as complete a romantic as she appears to be? Is the almost-too-good-to-be-true suitor "Morris Townsend" truly selfless in regard to Catherine's welfare? Spun in the right directorial direction, these questions, in my estimation, should never be resolved to the satisfaction of the viewer; rather, the viewer should be left to examine the possibilities presented at the play's conclusion.

In a way, "Catherine" is very similar to the heroine of Daphne du Maurier's REBECCA (and, of course, Alfred Hitchcock's film version starring Joan Fontaine and Laurence Olivier). The second "Mrs. de Winter" is a clumsy replacement for the first, whose portrait is a constant reminder of the former's superiority in beauty and authority. So it is with Catherine: She is a distant "also ran" to the memory of her mother, practically deified by her widowed, worshipful husband, who has never quite forgiven his daughter for the void left behind by the passing of his wife. Neither Catherine nor the second Mrs. de Winter could hope to replicate the original - as Ralph Waldo Emerson would state, "imitation" is a form of "suicide." Both characters will hope to build upon their own strengths - not the strengths of others; and in both works, they do.

There are all sorts of mental "cat and mouse" maneuvers between pairs of characters here. Dr. Sloper is the realist, always (like a doctor) probing beneath the surface of the situation - determined, as it were, to find fault or weakness. His opposite is the hopelessly romantic "Aunt Penniman" (Ann Sharp, that purveyor of optimism and lightness of touch in many a musical past, is perfect casting here); she sees the glass as mostly full, while the Doctor's glass is positively empty. Then, there is the conflict between Dr. Sloper and the unctuous Morris, who, like a sparring pair of cats, paw at the poor ball-of-yarn-heroine caught between them. Catherine will emerge from all these tugs-of-war with a few scars, a "sadder but wiser" woman, stoically accepting of her fate and willing to make the most of her strengths.

In her debut performance at Theatre Memphis, the gifted Michelle Miklosey undergoes her character metamorphosis with subtlety and skill; this "ugly duckling," however, develops not into a swan, but a toughened scar of a woman, putting her hurts behind her with a steely determination to accept what lies ahead. By the play's end, she is very much her father's daughter.

The other members of the cast have brilliantly risen to the occasion. Despite his excellence in previous roles, Barclay Roberts would not immediately have come to mind in the role of "Dr. Sloper"; I associate him with roles less subtle (he can be brilliantly brusque). Yet, he not only "nails" the character, but powerdrives it. His elegant, perpetually disappointed "Dr. Sloper" seems more propelled by duty than a genuine love for his daughter.

As the suitor with "champagne tastes and a beer budget," Evan McCarley has more than enough charm for the character; he looks striking in mid-nineteenth century fashion (hats and hoop skirts off to Costume Designer Andre Bruce Ward for those artful recreations). He signals early on that he is too good to be true, enjoying the doctor's brandy and smoking his expensive cigars. His real challenge is convincing not only Catherine, but us, that there is the slightest possibility that he truly cares for her and has done what he must to protect and spare her.

Christina Wellford Scott is a worried voice of reason as the doctor's "other" sister, "Elizabeth" (Ms. Scott was a memorable "Catherine" herself on this same stage some seasons back); and, in her one meeting with Dr. Sloper, Andria Wilson impresses as Morris' generous, but impoverished, sister. Her admonition that Dr. Sloper "perhaps" expects too much from others is a Cassandra-like warning that he should have heeded.

Director Tony Isbell not only has an intuitive understanding of this fine play, but experience with it as well: He played "Morris" in that earlier, acclaimed production. He evidently has had great affinity with these actors, and they are all at "the top of their game" here. The handsome set is by Jack Yates. Through November 2.

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