Review: EAST LYNNE
Directed by Luke Dennis
Isabel Carlyle…..Sally Oldham
Archibald Carlyle…..Dan Ring
Francis Levinson…..Graham Outerbridge
Cornelia Carlyle…..Tracy Brady
Barbara Hare…..Jillian Balser
Richard Hare…..Bill Price
Joyce…..Christine Stuart
Mr. Dill; Mr. Wilson; Mr. Severn; Mr. Hare…..Michael Buckley
Randy…..Jon Kaczorowksi
Officer Perry…..Jack Byrne
I would like to proclaim, in town crier fashion, “Next week – EAST LYNNE!” regarding the first production of the newly-formed Alarm Clock Theatre Company, but it – like its sorely tested heroine – has already expired after five performances. I had never seen an old-time melodrama performed before, but now I have and, yes, for the record, I shed a few tears.
For every gain, there is something lost, and the theatre is no exception: when Realism came to visit and ended up staying, Melodrama’s stock characters of good and evil, its thrilling chases and rescues, its absurd coincidences and heart-on-sleeve dialogue came to be mocked for not being True to Life. Of course, many of the old potboilers were indeed trash, but when Realism drove Melodrama out into the cold, cold snow, the theatre lost a good deal of its excitement; its theatricality – as much as I love Chekhov, there are times when I would gladly trade all of his plays for David Belasco’s THE HEART OF MARYLAND (1895), where the Southern heroine, in order to save her Yankee lover, leaps up and clings to a bell’s clapper to keep it from ringing while he escapes (“The bell shall not ring!” she cries, prior to leaping). If any melodramas are performed today, they tend to be camped or hammed; years ago, however, one of my professors told me he had once seen a production of THE DRUNKARD played with such conviction that its audience wept buckets – so there may be life in these chestnuts after all; the trick is to get them back onto a stage. Why Alarm Clock Theatre chose EAST LYNNE for its maiden effort, I don’t know – but I’m glad they did.
The plot is simplicity itself: Lady Isabel, orphaned and penniless, marries country lawyer Archibald Carlyle, who has recently bought East Lynne, her family estate (ah, Chekhov!). Francis Levinson, the rogue/rake/cad/villain who lusts after Isabel, drops hints that Archibald is really in love with Barbara Hare, his childhood friend. Inflamed with jealousy, Isabel elopes with Levinson and soon spirals downward. She humbly returns to East Lynne disguised as a governess to be with her children; on her deathbed, Isabel reveals her true identity to Archibald, who forgives her just before she dies. Get out your handkerchiefs.
Like UNCLE TOM’S CABIN, there are numerous dramatizations of EAST LYNNE, both legitimate and hackwork (this was before the days of copyright laws, remember). Director Luke Dennis explains, “The version of the script we used was undated, and the adaptation itself was unattributed. It was published in Boston before the turn of the century – it could be as early as 1863, the date of the first Boston performance. This is my educated guess, anyway, after reading about a dozen of the 17 known published versions of the play. This version was set in the outskirts of London, as is the novel - we made the decision to change the locale [to Massachusetts].
“There are several quite recent adaptations of EAST LYNNE that are very tongue-in-cheek – like ‘Ha-ha, look at us: we're doing a melodrama; aren't old plays funny and quaint?” I didn't like any of these. I chose this version because I wanted to attempt to recreate what audiences may have seen 125 years ago, with some slightly modern twists. What was it about this play that drew thousands of people into the theatre, week after week, year after year? How did an actress like Lucille Western make a career out of the play, performing it some 6,000 times? (Her estimate, but it can’t be that far off the mark.) So, I chose a straight version and directed it straight, finding – I hope – what was honest and moving and true behind the over-the-top moments in the script.”
What a pity that Mr. Dennis didn’t choose the T. A. Palmer dramatization (1874): the villainous Levinson appears right at the start, and the scenes where (a) Barbara Hare’s brother Richard is unjustly accused of a murder that Levin commits and (b) one of the Carlyle children dies in Isabel’s arms are acted out in full before the audience. In the “Anonymous” version (Mr. Dennis’ revision?), Levinson appears too late into Act One to make a lasting impression (what a pest he now becomes!); and Richard and Isabel simply narrate their tales of woe. Plus the Palmer version opens with a classic one-man Dusting Scene, supplied by the benevolent Mr. Severn (Isabel’s guardian): “[LORD MOUNT SEVERN discovered at table R.H., looking over papers.]
“LORD M. Well, well; there’s no help for it, I must go to town at once and see Warburton about these mortgages. I would my unfortunate cousin had not died in the prime of life, leaving that poor girl Isabel penniless, through his reckless extravagance, and burdening me with the accession to title and estates so hopelessly involved that I hardly know what is mine and what belongs to his numerous creditors. (Rings bell. Enter SERVANT, L.H.) Tell Barton to put the horses to directly, I wish to catch the express to London. (Exit SERVANT. LORD M. goes to window, looks off to L.H.) Ah! there’s Isabel with Levinson again. I hope she will not lose her heart to him, he’s a bad, bad man, vain, idle, and unprincipled, and were he not my wife’s cousin, should not be suffered here, to trifle with Isabel. I wish my lady could be made to see his faults and behave more kindly to that gentle girl, fatherless as she is, with no home but ours.”
Happily, “Anonymous” has left Isabel’s death scene intact, and that’s the icing on this crumbly little cake.
Alarm Clock’s shoestring budget resulted in a bare bones production that consisted of a couch, a table and two chairs (the actors wore costumes plucked, no doubt, from their own closets), and Mr. Dennis did indeed stage EAST LYNNE “straight” – as a play for our own times? (Is there still such a creature as a “fallen woman”? If so, she tends to be wooed, not reviled, by today’s society and the press.) Though much of the acting was amateurish and the direction was slack when it should have steadily tightened in suspense, this production held my attention throughout; not only for the opportunity to see EAST LYNNE (and weep) but also to watch these young people putting on a show and learning their craft through trial and error. EAST LYNNE was a wise choice for Alarm Clock’s debut; its simple, direct story went hand-in-hand with the simple, direct emoting (an audience of schoolchildren would have been enchanted).
Tracy Brady was the leading contender in terms of giving a performance: as Cornelia Carlyle, Archibald’s tart-tongued, old-maid sister, Ms. Tracy was a comic string bean, buttoned up from head to toe (forever patting her upper chest in silent disapproval), yet dressed in the modern manner, i.e., for the boardroom. Sally Oldham’s Isabel was hazy throughout much of Act One, but when bad things started to happen (plotwise) in Act Two, she came into focus and was truly moving when at Death’s Door. A trained singer, Ms. Oldham cleverly “sang” Isabel’s speech about her son’s death; shaping here, shading there – it was fascinating to watch this young woman take on old-style barnstorming (a style so alien to today’s closed-mouth youngsters) and steering it through to the end. If Ms. Oldham continues to perform Isabel, in time her heart may come into play, too – which is what Melodrama is all about, folks – tugging at our hearts. Dan Ring made a stiff but charming Archibald, though I suspect comedy, not pathos, is his truer outlet (he has a collapsible walk à la Groucho Marx).
Coating this production through most of the evening was live musical accompaniment – I repeat, LIVE musical accompaniment, which was part of Melodrama’s appeal. No, it wasn’t “Hearts and Flowers” or “Traumeri”, but original music composed and played by Buddy Habig on two keyboards: one digital piano and one synthesizer, and his gliding, gently ominous backgrounds proved not only invaluable in setting a mood but also for filling in the many silences between entrances, exits and scene changes. One priceless moment: in Act One, “Archibald” asked “Isabel” to sing for him. Mr. Habig rose and retired behind the curtains, and Mr. Ring (a composer himself) sat down in his place. Launching into the introductory bars of a sweet song he wrote for this production (“You’ll Remember Me”), Mr. Ring flashed Ms. Oldham a killer smile, cocked a thumb and forefinger at her as in “Take it, honey”, and EAST LYNNE gave way to Happy Hour at the Leopard Lounge – and Ms. Oldham sang Mr. Ring’s song quite prettily, too; had she and Mr. Ring chosen to entertain us this way for the remainder of the evening, I wouldn't have kicked up a fuss – provided they ended, of course, with Isabel’s death scene. Give the customers what they’ve come for, I always say.
Now – can Ms. Oldham picture herself swinging from a bell?
"East Lynne" (8 - 17 August)
ALARM CLOCK THEATRE COMPANY
Arlington Center for the Arts, 41 Foster Street, ARLINGTON, MA
1 (781) 391-6145
Isabel Carlyle…..Sally Oldham
Archibald Carlyle…..Dan Ring
Francis Levinson…..Graham Outerbridge
Cornelia Carlyle…..Tracy Brady
Barbara Hare…..Jillian Balser
Richard Hare…..Bill Price
Joyce…..Christine Stuart
Mr. Dill; Mr. Wilson; Mr. Severn; Mr. Hare…..Michael Buckley
Randy…..Jon Kaczorowksi
Officer Perry…..Jack Byrne
I would like to proclaim, in town crier fashion, “Next week – EAST LYNNE!” regarding the first production of the newly-formed Alarm Clock Theatre Company, but it – like its sorely tested heroine – has already expired after five performances. I had never seen an old-time melodrama performed before, but now I have and, yes, for the record, I shed a few tears.
For every gain, there is something lost, and the theatre is no exception: when Realism came to visit and ended up staying, Melodrama’s stock characters of good and evil, its thrilling chases and rescues, its absurd coincidences and heart-on-sleeve dialogue came to be mocked for not being True to Life. Of course, many of the old potboilers were indeed trash, but when Realism drove Melodrama out into the cold, cold snow, the theatre lost a good deal of its excitement; its theatricality – as much as I love Chekhov, there are times when I would gladly trade all of his plays for David Belasco’s THE HEART OF MARYLAND (1895), where the Southern heroine, in order to save her Yankee lover, leaps up and clings to a bell’s clapper to keep it from ringing while he escapes (“The bell shall not ring!” she cries, prior to leaping). If any melodramas are performed today, they tend to be camped or hammed; years ago, however, one of my professors told me he had once seen a production of THE DRUNKARD played with such conviction that its audience wept buckets – so there may be life in these chestnuts after all; the trick is to get them back onto a stage. Why Alarm Clock Theatre chose EAST LYNNE for its maiden effort, I don’t know – but I’m glad they did.
The plot is simplicity itself: Lady Isabel, orphaned and penniless, marries country lawyer Archibald Carlyle, who has recently bought East Lynne, her family estate (ah, Chekhov!). Francis Levinson, the rogue/rake/cad/villain who lusts after Isabel, drops hints that Archibald is really in love with Barbara Hare, his childhood friend. Inflamed with jealousy, Isabel elopes with Levinson and soon spirals downward. She humbly returns to East Lynne disguised as a governess to be with her children; on her deathbed, Isabel reveals her true identity to Archibald, who forgives her just before she dies. Get out your handkerchiefs.
Like UNCLE TOM’S CABIN, there are numerous dramatizations of EAST LYNNE, both legitimate and hackwork (this was before the days of copyright laws, remember). Director Luke Dennis explains, “The version of the script we used was undated, and the adaptation itself was unattributed. It was published in Boston before the turn of the century – it could be as early as 1863, the date of the first Boston performance. This is my educated guess, anyway, after reading about a dozen of the 17 known published versions of the play. This version was set in the outskirts of London, as is the novel - we made the decision to change the locale [to Massachusetts].
“There are several quite recent adaptations of EAST LYNNE that are very tongue-in-cheek – like ‘Ha-ha, look at us: we're doing a melodrama; aren't old plays funny and quaint?” I didn't like any of these. I chose this version because I wanted to attempt to recreate what audiences may have seen 125 years ago, with some slightly modern twists. What was it about this play that drew thousands of people into the theatre, week after week, year after year? How did an actress like Lucille Western make a career out of the play, performing it some 6,000 times? (Her estimate, but it can’t be that far off the mark.) So, I chose a straight version and directed it straight, finding – I hope – what was honest and moving and true behind the over-the-top moments in the script.”
What a pity that Mr. Dennis didn’t choose the T. A. Palmer dramatization (1874): the villainous Levinson appears right at the start, and the scenes where (a) Barbara Hare’s brother Richard is unjustly accused of a murder that Levin commits and (b) one of the Carlyle children dies in Isabel’s arms are acted out in full before the audience. In the “Anonymous” version (Mr. Dennis’ revision?), Levinson appears too late into Act One to make a lasting impression (what a pest he now becomes!); and Richard and Isabel simply narrate their tales of woe. Plus the Palmer version opens with a classic one-man Dusting Scene, supplied by the benevolent Mr. Severn (Isabel’s guardian): “[LORD MOUNT SEVERN discovered at table R.H., looking over papers.]
“LORD M. Well, well; there’s no help for it, I must go to town at once and see Warburton about these mortgages. I would my unfortunate cousin had not died in the prime of life, leaving that poor girl Isabel penniless, through his reckless extravagance, and burdening me with the accession to title and estates so hopelessly involved that I hardly know what is mine and what belongs to his numerous creditors. (Rings bell. Enter SERVANT, L.H.) Tell Barton to put the horses to directly, I wish to catch the express to London. (Exit SERVANT. LORD M. goes to window, looks off to L.H.) Ah! there’s Isabel with Levinson again. I hope she will not lose her heart to him, he’s a bad, bad man, vain, idle, and unprincipled, and were he not my wife’s cousin, should not be suffered here, to trifle with Isabel. I wish my lady could be made to see his faults and behave more kindly to that gentle girl, fatherless as she is, with no home but ours.”
Happily, “Anonymous” has left Isabel’s death scene intact, and that’s the icing on this crumbly little cake.
Alarm Clock’s shoestring budget resulted in a bare bones production that consisted of a couch, a table and two chairs (the actors wore costumes plucked, no doubt, from their own closets), and Mr. Dennis did indeed stage EAST LYNNE “straight” – as a play for our own times? (Is there still such a creature as a “fallen woman”? If so, she tends to be wooed, not reviled, by today’s society and the press.) Though much of the acting was amateurish and the direction was slack when it should have steadily tightened in suspense, this production held my attention throughout; not only for the opportunity to see EAST LYNNE (and weep) but also to watch these young people putting on a show and learning their craft through trial and error. EAST LYNNE was a wise choice for Alarm Clock’s debut; its simple, direct story went hand-in-hand with the simple, direct emoting (an audience of schoolchildren would have been enchanted).
Tracy Brady was the leading contender in terms of giving a performance: as Cornelia Carlyle, Archibald’s tart-tongued, old-maid sister, Ms. Tracy was a comic string bean, buttoned up from head to toe (forever patting her upper chest in silent disapproval), yet dressed in the modern manner, i.e., for the boardroom. Sally Oldham’s Isabel was hazy throughout much of Act One, but when bad things started to happen (plotwise) in Act Two, she came into focus and was truly moving when at Death’s Door. A trained singer, Ms. Oldham cleverly “sang” Isabel’s speech about her son’s death; shaping here, shading there – it was fascinating to watch this young woman take on old-style barnstorming (a style so alien to today’s closed-mouth youngsters) and steering it through to the end. If Ms. Oldham continues to perform Isabel, in time her heart may come into play, too – which is what Melodrama is all about, folks – tugging at our hearts. Dan Ring made a stiff but charming Archibald, though I suspect comedy, not pathos, is his truer outlet (he has a collapsible walk à la Groucho Marx).
Coating this production through most of the evening was live musical accompaniment – I repeat, LIVE musical accompaniment, which was part of Melodrama’s appeal. No, it wasn’t “Hearts and Flowers” or “Traumeri”, but original music composed and played by Buddy Habig on two keyboards: one digital piano and one synthesizer, and his gliding, gently ominous backgrounds proved not only invaluable in setting a mood but also for filling in the many silences between entrances, exits and scene changes. One priceless moment: in Act One, “Archibald” asked “Isabel” to sing for him. Mr. Habig rose and retired behind the curtains, and Mr. Ring (a composer himself) sat down in his place. Launching into the introductory bars of a sweet song he wrote for this production (“You’ll Remember Me”), Mr. Ring flashed Ms. Oldham a killer smile, cocked a thumb and forefinger at her as in “Take it, honey”, and EAST LYNNE gave way to Happy Hour at the Leopard Lounge – and Ms. Oldham sang Mr. Ring’s song quite prettily, too; had she and Mr. Ring chosen to entertain us this way for the remainder of the evening, I wouldn't have kicked up a fuss – provided they ended, of course, with Isabel’s death scene. Give the customers what they’ve come for, I always say.
Now – can Ms. Oldham picture herself swinging from a bell?
"East Lynne" (8 - 17 August)
ALARM CLOCK THEATRE COMPANY
Arlington Center for the Arts, 41 Foster Street, ARLINGTON, MA
1 (781) 391-6145
