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Picnic
By William Inge
Directed by David Cromer
At Writers’ Theater
325 Tudor Court
Glencoe, IL
Call 847-242-6000, www.writerstheatre.org
Tickets $50 - $65
Tuesdays & Wednesdays at 7:30 pm
Thursdays & Fridays at 8 pm
Saturdays at 4 & 8 pm
Sundays at 2 & 6 pm
Wednesday matinees at 2 pm Oct 22, 29, Nov 12
Running time is 2 hours, 30 minutes with 2 intermissions
Through November 16, 2008
Nice production of William Inge’s “Picnic” features several new faces.
Writers’ Theatre has had much success mounting Inge’s works. Their terrific “Bus Stop” was a hit and this production of “Picnic,” with director David Cromer’s workable casting on Jack Magaw’s intimate set (with reconfigured audience seating), “Picnic” unfolds as a subtle drama of small town American life. Cromer’s production doesn’t take chances nor cover new ground but does capture the submerged sexuality and deep seated loneliness of the women trapped in a life with enough men. That is enough to make “Picnic” worth seeing.
When a young drifter arrives in a small Kansas town on the eve of Labor Day, the simmering sexual repressions of the women come rapidly to a boil. Hal Carter (the buff but stiff Boyd Harris) should be a charismatic free-spirit but Harris’ Hal is longer on looks and shorter on sensual spark. He sure does evoke physicality but he never produces enough spark to get Madge Owens (Bridgette Pechman) to instantly fall for him.
The women here are lonely—especially the older Helen Potts (Annabel Armour) and Flo Owens (Natasha Lowe). Flo has two daughters—Millie (Hillary Clemens), the smart one and Madge (Bridgette Pechman) the pretty one; bother long for companionship. Madge is dating Alan Seymour (Robert Fagin), the son of a rich man. He is a bland nice guy. Millie, ever the tom-boy, has trouble communicating with boys. Hal Carter disrupts life as he aggressively represents confidence, independence and the optimism of youth. He renews hope for the future in the women. He flirts with Madge behind Alan’s back during the picnic. The men in “Picnic” seem unsure of what they desire in life.
William Inge’s themes about family relationship that find the mother trying to arrange her daughter’s lives so that they can escape the stifling loneliness she suffers together with dramatizing the effects of alcohol and sexual repression dominate “Picnic.” We see the unwed teacher Rosemary Sydney (the bouncy Hanna Dworkin) so lonely that she seems desperate to snare her longtime boyfriend Howard Bevans (Marc Grapey), himself a lonely middle aged storekeeper. Rosemary flirts with Hal and ultimately attacks him when Hal rejects her sexual advances during a dance exchange.
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Without giving away too much, let me say that the sexual tensions rise as Hal and Madge and Rosemary and Howard have a fine time at the Labor Day picnic. Lives are changed as personal discoveries are made that day. The need to escape and go for a better life emerge. “Picnic” is a timeless work. Cromer’s cast mostly carry the depth of subtly of the writing. I liked Hillary Clemens’ Millie, Hanna Dworkin’s Rosemary and Marc Grapey’s Howard.
Recommended
Tom Williams
Tom99@chicagocritic.com for comments
Talk Theatre in Chicago podcast
Date Reviewed: September 24, 2008
Jeff Recommended
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