Summer and Smoke

Summer and Smoke Begins previous tonight at the classic. Anyone going? Really curious about this one?

Great performances but disappointing and confusing production- not sure if the director ever read any of the stage notes by Tennessee Williams. Instead of great expanses of bright blue sky for day scenes or starry nights for evening scenes we get the same sterile while box from beginning to end. Even the costumes which are supposed to have some pop of color are either white or black. I had an issue here that I had with Sam Gold’s Glass Menagerie where the staging seemed to directly contradict the text. One example is the very beginning when Alma is chiding Johnny for being filthy but he’s wearing a pristine white suit, in another instances Johnny talks about lifting Alma’s veil but she isn’t wearing a veil. I am mixed on this one, the people behind me absolutely hated it. Not the worse thing I have seen at CSC this season but definitely wanted it to be better.

A very cold summer, and one without either fire or smoke. The bare stage and studied staging drain the life from this beautiful play. Truly, I have so had it with self-conscious direction that calls attention to itself at every turn to the detriment of the play.

I thought Nathan Darrow was very good as John. I found Marin Ireland, a gifted actress, more flinty than fanciful here, and more petulant than soulful. I liked Hannah Elless as Nellie and Elena Hurst as Rosa.

A lost opportunity, for sure.

And it's a damn shame.

LightsOut90 said: "absolutely one of the worst things ive ever seen, 3rd rate Williams in a SUPER cheap production, stay away at all coasts"





Amen

I saw it this evening and found it to be a stunning show.

The conception of the piece is the place it in a sterile white box with little color and no life. The life comes entirely from the actors, who make pictures seem like statues and who craft the world around us using their bodies and language. I didn't find I needed to play a game of charades to know what the actors were pantomiming - every one had a verbal explanation. The bare set makes the stage a canvas, upon which Williams' language creates a ravishing portrait. This concept may have been tedious or infuriating in less capable hands, but each actor is so stunning that I rarely felt the need for more.

Although the shows cast list requires many roles (this production features doubling, with a total of 12 actors instead of the original 17), it is essentially a chamber piece. The play rises or falls with its John and Alma, and Nathan Darrow and Marin Ireland do not disappoint. Nathan has a rather dull role to play, but he fills it out wonderfully, allowing the pathos to come through in the second act. Marin is a wonder. There is simply nothing else to say. She is searing in her Alma, an affected girl with a love gnawing at her day after day. Her performance is so ferocious, it threatens to consume the entire production - the set cannot control her, which is the point.

Barbara Walsh is great in a thankless role and Tina Johnson provided some much needed comic relief. Elena Hurst was another standout and gave Rosa a three act arc in the 2 small scenes she had. Everyone else was serviceable, with Ryan Spahn giving the epilogue a nice jolt.

The writing is searing and brilliant, just what you expect from the greatest American dramatist. If the second act gets off to a slow start, the conclusion more than makes up for it.

Michael John LaChiusa's underscoring is effective and approriate, and the direction, by Jack Cummings III, is mostly wonderful. I would love to see this team tackle Suddenly Last Summer.

If you see it, and if you're a lover of theatre you must, you'll smile and know you are in Marin Ireland's more than capable hands. She is the life and - well - soul of the piece. I was a mess throughout the show - I haven't cried like this in the theatre since Fun Home. Alma's decline into sickness and her willingness to give herself to John at the end was a brilliant and heartbreaking scene. Those fifteen minutes alone are worth the price of a ticket. And the Epilogue is beautiful as well. This is a great and beautiful production of a great play. I cannot recommend it enough.