BWW Reviews: A Quiet Grace in Rep's DEAR ELIZABETH

Every now and again it's nice to have an evening with a quiet little play such as the Seattle Rep's current offering of "Dear Elizabeth". A play with no grand reveal, or overarching conflict to resolve. Just a simple story about a relationship. That may sound uninteresting and it could be but in the hands of a very gifted playwright and talented cast and crew this quiet tale still packs a punch.

Sarah Ruhl's play is simply the telling of a long time relationship between poets Elizabeth Bishop (Suzanne Bouchard) and Robert Lowell (Stephen Barker Turner) as told through the letters they wrote to each other from the late 40's through the early 70's. Yes, it's a love story but if you're looking for a sweeping romance you're bound to be disappointed, as the two never really get together in that way. They do meet occasionally but are mostly connected through the letters as they are there for each other through critical successes, births and deaths, loves and loss, and illness. Ruhl has crafted and compiled a beautiful relationship between these two but not created. I say not created as all the words used in the play come from Bishop and Lowell themselves either from their letters or their poetry and not one word from Ruhl herself. But the way she has arranged these moments, whether the letters, the poetry or even simple silence, is nothing short of stunning and quite powerful.

Much of the power and emotion is due to the gorgeous direction from Allison Narver and her exceptional cast. Narver has taken what could be a park and bark of two people sitting espousing someone else's words and infused it with some beautiful staging, keeping the engagement in the relationship and the characters alive. Bouchard turns in a quite raw and vulnerable performance of this woman with a beautiful literary voice but with deep and sometimes overpowering issues. And Turner brings in a perfect counterpoint with crippling issues of his own. And the two together create a lovely yet tragic relationship and evoke tons of chemistry together even though they rarely speak to each other directly.

As I said it's a quiet and simple evening. Did it blow my doors off? No. Was it engaging and emotionally rich? Absolutely. And because of that I give this quiet piece a soft-spoken YAY with my three letter rating system. A quiet story with some powerhouse performances.

"Dear Elizabeth" performs at the Seattle Rep through March 8th. For tickets or information contact the Seattle Rep box office at 206-443-2222 or visit them online at www.seattlerep.org.

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