The Third Stage
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| Stephanie Reibel | Brian Eric Johnson | Alexandria Pappas | Dana White | Helen Siff | Roger Gutierrez | Anne Clare Graham | Jackson Kuehn |
This production has a double edge - - - it’s almost unbearable to watch as horrific events develop, but you remain riveted to the action, as if transfixed with anxiety at what may happen next. Incest is never a pleasant area to explore, but it does happen and sometimes when one least expects it. This production shows us an uncomfortably realistic depiction of one case where playwright Robert Locke has developed characters that bristle with tension, fear and confusion. Their problems are just like anyone you might know, and the way they resolve them is with an equal incompetence, just as many of us would, being in the same circumstances.
We are introduced to Laird and Deborah, a couple with issues of spousal abuse, where Laird’s short temper often leads to verbal harassment and even violence against her. Adding to their tensions, Laird’s father, Byron, estranged from his wife after years of drinking and neglect, is staying with them through the Christmas holidays, “until she calls and asks me back”, he claims. Young daughter Susan is spending a great deal of time with grandpa and a downstairs neighbor is spending a great deal of time with new girlfriend Darlene. Jim, a long time friend of Laird’s comes in from out of town to spend the holidays, and becomes embroiled in the drama and crisis that soon follows.
It all starts when Susan tells her mother that she and Grandpa share a secret, and even though she’s not supposed to tell, the kid is bursting to tell someone. When gently quizzed by the mother, she says that Grandpa has been touching her and she doesn’t like it. The mother doesn’t like it either, but is confused and not sure what to do next. Confiding in friend Jim, (a doctor), she resolves that grandpa must go and confronts the husband with an ultimatum.
Denial, disbelief, anger and accusations are just a few of the emotions flung by the excellent cast that depicts the situations so realistically you often get the feeling you’ve walked into a neighbor’s house.
You want to hate the grandfather for his monstrous act, but Dana White first introduces the character as such a lovable old codger, you have to wonder if the accusations are true. How could such a sweet old man be so perverted, one asks. His denials seem plausible, and his attitude of shock and surprise at being accused is truly convincing, leaving you to wonder where the truth really lies.
You want to hate Laird for being so abusive towards his wife, and Brian Eric Johnson makes it easy to dislike him, in a tense and moody delivery that is brilliantly scary. You wonder about best friend, Jim, the doctor, and when you learn his motives for being close to the family, you see how Roger Gutierrez brings the character around as if executing a hesitant plan which is doomed to failure from the start.
Beautiful Stephanie Reibel gives us a gripping portrait of a woman at the crossroads of a marriage, filled with anger, disappointment, and concern for her daughter, afraid to confide in the husband, and feeling betrayed by the person whom she trusted most.
Helen Siff as Laird’s mother cuts across the spectrum from a sweet motherly type to a vicious, hateful mother-in-law who’ll stop at nothing to help her son. Alexandria Pappas is believable as the little girl who needs to share the ugly secret with her mother. Anne Claire Graham and Jackson Kuehn as the couple-in-progress really don’t add much to the story, except a few light moments.
Director Dennis Curry guides this super taut drama with studied deliberateness, allowing some light scenes to cushion the heavy drama and tension that surrounds the play. The small set with the Christmas tree and presents strewn around seems almost claustrophobic – as if attempting to squeeze out the truth from a situation that has filled everyone with uncertainty, anger and revulsion, but like many of these circumstances, no definite resolution is reached, and the truth is never really discovered.
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