CHESTER THEATRE COMPANY
Gulf View Drive
August 11 - 22
Box Office 413-354-7771
The complete Nibroc Trilogy will be presented
on the final two Saturdays of the season (August 14 & 21)
with the presentation of the complete cycle in one day.
Special event tickets for those days
will include an afternoon ice cream social and a country style dinner.
FLAWLESS CRAFTSMANSHIP
Reviewed by Donna Bailey Thompson
Never mind what their genealogy charts say: the cast of Gulf View Drive are related by blood. Yes, the casting is that good. The deceptively simple script by Arlene Hutton is a mini-masterpiece; the direction by Daniel Elihu Kramer is tone perfect. All levels of Gulf View Drive and, indeed, its forerunners in this triology -- Last Train to Nibroc and See Rock City -- exemplify flawless craftsmanship.
Of the three, Gulf View Drive offers the most laugh-out-loud opportunities. The house on the shores of Florida's Gulf of Mexico, 1953, a house Raleigh paid cash for, is ideal for him and May, but it becomes compromised when May's widowed mother moves in, then woefully inadequate when Raleigh's widowed mother arrives and immediately is at war with Florida's climate, sand, and bugs. The frosting on the cake is the arrival of Raleigh's sullen married sister who wishes she wasn't -- married, that is.
Raleigh's writing career has been thriving: the publisher spun off a character from one of his novels into a serialized cash cow whose success is contingent on Raleigh coming up with new story plots. May is a high school teacher. Her mother, the level-headed, diplomatic Mrs. Gill (warmly portrayed by Carole Monferdini) is recovering from mourning her husband and is ready to explore her changed life. Once Raleigh's newly-widowed mother arrives, the caustic, tackless Mrs. Brummett (played with blunt force by Susanne Marley), May's efforts to please her mother-in-law and Raleigh's knack for transforming lemons into lemonade are sorely stressed. He states, "Momma doesn't tell what she's thinking; she just does it."
The ultimate straw is the unexpected arrival of Raleigh's sister Treva, the center of her universe, played with slovenly grace by Sandra Blaney. So naturally does she blend in with the cast that it seemed like she'd been part of the ensemble from the beginning. Not possible, because I enjoyed her performances in this summer's New Century Theatre's Noises Off; To Forgive, Divine; and Intimate Apparel. In Gulf View Drive, Treva is united with Raleigh, her "birth" brother.
Everyone is stressed. Raleigh's writing suffers because the rare quiet spot in the house changes moment by moment. He and May have almost no privacy. The mothers forget when it's their turn to cook. Treva, focused on her own navel, seems oblivious to how insidiously she adds to everyone's stress. And yet, underscoring the chaos is familial love -- parental, sibling, marital -- and because we are not in the thick of the emotional turmoil, we connect with the situational humor.
As did Sound Designer, Thom Shread, more than once, and especially at a scene break by playing Rosemary Clooney's hit song, "Come ona my house, my house-ah come on..." Charles Corcoran's serene set design -- the turquoise Gulf water -- is complemented by Lara Dubin's light design and the appropriate 1953 costumes designed by Charles Schoonmaker.
The two leads, May (Allison McLemore) and Raleigh (Joel Ripka) are a delight. They are so natural that it's easy to forget they are acting. How sweet the memory will be If their photos appear on next summer's brochures.
When playwright Arlene Hutton's Gulf View Drive ends, there's enough material for another play that will certifiably continue to draw audiences ready to reignite their kinship with the characters and identify with their concerns. In other words, the triology is poised on the cusp of a tetralogy. And oh please, do bring it on.
1953. May and Raleigh have moved to Florida, where family pressures and turbulent events in their community threaten the dream of a quiet life together.
Their house seems to shrink as relatives arrive one by one, sharing surprising revelations that bring the nascent civil rights movement right to May and Raleigh's door. Challenged to the very core of their beliefs, they must consider unconventional solutions in order to find peace in a changing world.
"Exquistely quiet, gently reaching...Ms. Hutton knows how to weave the epic and the incidental with the lightest and least obtrusive thread."
-- New York Times
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