BWW Reviews: Bissell, Gordon, Madigan & Love Underscore RTW's Amazing AMELIA

From Here to Eternity, Gone with the Wind, In Harm's Way, War and Peace...Classic literature and film describing war in any century or country divides families, loved ones and nations. Renaissance Theaterworks opens their 22nd season in the Studio Theatre continuing this compelling tradition with the Midwest premiere of Amelia---Playwright Alex Webb's soul-searching tribute to a woman trapped in America's struggle to end slavery. What began in 1861 as the "Great" Civil War tore homes, the land and lives figuratively and literally asunder for four years while the subtle aftereffects rage hidden in some human hearts 150 years later.

In Webb's evocative retelling of one woman named Amelia's experience, Jason Fassl's superb scenic design accompanied by masterful lighting effects recreate her steps when this rural Pennsylvania dairy farmer travels to America's battle zones unprepared to search for her husband. A determined young woman who begins a perilous journey that carries her through hell's gates, into the throes of the Southern Civil War. Fassl's lush woods outlined by a rustic plank fence features a moving gate that will spontaneously switch between farmhouse door, a horse or prison wall and everything in between. A dynamic set where Fassl's marvelous technical skills remain essential to believing Amelia's incredible story.

At the center of the play, Webb focuses his love story between Amelia and her Ethan, in a performance where three illustrious acting professionals display their love of these characters and theater. Director Laura Gordon casts her inimitable sensitive style on Cassandra Bissell and Reese Madigan with steely and sensuous force. Madigan adopts numerous roles in this production where he transforms into Amelia's father, mother, boyfriend, a slave, robber, or her husband Ethan, to name only several, demonstrating his adept ability in transitioning characters with astonishing fluidity to match Bissell's incredibly "smart" Amelia. On stage, the pair crackles with affectionate chemistry, whether Madigan plays Amelia's lover Ethan, her apologetic older father, or her girlfriend Marie delicately holding a handkerchief.

Bissell, a standout in Peninsula Players Theatre's wonderful OPUS, glows on stage with feminine power while Madigan, who has been cast opposite Angela Iannone in Door Shakespeare's Macbeth or Greta Wohlrabe in the Rep's Venus in Fur, create the two halves of these dynamic civil war lovers. Amelia and Ethan's marriage ripped apart before their life together begins because Amelia asks Ethan to marry her---and he replies yes, Yet, Amelia refuses to say she loves him when he leaves the following day for the first battles in the war, a paradox in Webb's play.

While Ethan enlists for the Northern Army, Amelia remains at home on the farm until his letters stop arriving. Her steps to find him lead down a treacherous trail, which eventually underscores the brutality of the Civil War---the deadliest war in American history---a brutality too common in every war before and since. During the battles, Amelia's courageous search sends her to places emotionally and physically previously unknown, another casualty of any conflict. Questionable actions that appear incompatible to her practical persona. Would she have uncovered alternative ways to find her husband or enter Andersonville prison while still dressed as a man? Would Amelia's "smarts" occasionally overcome her emotional sensibilities and invent another plan to reunite with Ethan or does love overthrow common sense?

Certainly surviving war transforms men and women on the home front, in the trenches and then throughout the aftermath. Perhaps the Civil War remains intensely personal, fought on America's own ground instead of overseas, with tiny battles being waged every day in this country between persons of differing skin colors and regional politics. Places where loves and lives irrevocably change during and after war, certainly contemplated when Webb's riveting play revisits this unsettling territory through Amelia's redeemptive sojourn.

By producing Webb's thought-provoking and heart-demanding drama touched with humor, Renaissance Theaterworks plays to their company's strengths: presenting strong women on and off stage, paired with incomparable men, astutely performed in this amazing premiere Amelia by Bissell, Gordon and Madigan.

A play, at its core, suggesting love in diverse forms overcomes insurmountable difficulties and unsung heroes. A quaility of character when applied over time might reveal the final solution to end all wars. A state of soul whenever accomplished, often only a far off dream, that could redefine that too familiar paradigm: "all is fair in love and war." One answer resounds in the 21st century and to perfection in Renaissance's beautiful production Ameila: "No, all will never, never be fair in love and war."

Renaissance Theaterworks presents the Midwest premiere of Amelia in the Studio Theatre at the Broadway Theatre Center through November 9. For further programming, information or tickets, please call: 414.291.7800 or visit www.r-t-w.com.

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