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The Scarlet Letter
By Nathaniel Hawthorne
Adapted by Rebecca Zellar and
the Greyzelda Theatre Group
Directed by Rebecca Zellar
Produced by The Greyzelda Theatre Group
At Stage Left Theatre
3408 N. Sheffield
Chicago, IL
Call 773-267-6293, tickets $15
Thursdays through Sundays at 8 PM
Running time is 2 hours with intermission
Through September 16, 2006
Bold stage attempt of a classic novel falls short
The Greyzelda Theatre Group and Rebecca Zellar tried too hard to adapt Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter. The use of techno-rock music, stylistic movement and shadow work together with the 17th Century speech, full of ‘thee’s’ and ‘thou’s’ only worked to muddle the production. I have no clue as to what the opening movement and the early shadow work was trying to convey? Act two opens with more sensual purposeless movement. Add the lack of elocution on the part of several cast members and The Scarlet Letter unfolds as a difficult show to understand.
Ron Kuzava, in the pivotal role of Roger Chillingworth, spoke so fast in a curious accent that had him running words together and slurring many others, that often key plot points were unintelligible. This was a crucial flaw that rendered much of the action confusing.
The Scarlet Letter isn’t the most engaging work for the stage and one wonders why Greyzelda decided to mount this dark piece? I’m not sure who the audience is for such a work? With the artsy movement and modern music and the shadow work, better to have used modern dress and modern English than resorting to Hawthorne-speak and 17th Century dress.
The play is set in Pilgrim Boston circa 1620’s that finds Hester Prynne (Elizabeth Styles) scorned for having an adulterous affair that produced a child, Pearl (Meredith Rae Lyons). The elders punish Hester by having her stand for hours at the stockade wearing a large scarlet ‘A’ on her grey dress. She is pressured to name for companion so he can be punished as a sinner also. Hester staunchly refuses to name him and accepts her punishment and scorn.
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Her husband never arrived with her to the American colony but he emerges to witness her public shame. Bent on revenge, Roger gets Hester to swear to secrecy about him being her lost husband. Roger’s new identify is as a doctor versed in American Indian herbal medicine. He notices that the Reverend Dimmesdale (Toby Minor) is afflicted with a heart condition and he shows signs of guilt-ridden psychological torture. Roger quickly becomes the Reverend’s live in healer. Roger slowly comes to believe that the Reverend’s self-loathing is from his guilt for having passion for Hester. He slowly medicates and plays mind games in his quest for revenge.
Hester and Pearl live outside the village and, over time, Hester becomes admired for performing charity and good works. The few encounters Hester has with Dimmesdale always ends with Hester pleading with him to walk hand-and-hand with her and Pearl to acknowledge their sin. He isn’t strong enough for that. This is a good verses evil story with Chillingworth as the personification of evil and Dimmesdale as the too human, flawed man too mentally weak to do the right thing.
The Scarlet Letter is quite a challenge to mount onstage especially using the flowery language of Hawthorne that necessitates articulate, classical trained actors. Unfortunately, too many players here mumbled and/or ran their dialogue together so quickly that much of the speech was unintelligible. That hurt the production as did the unnecessary use of movement and shadow work.
That being said, the show did have some dramatic moments from Toby Minor as the tormented Dimmesdale. If there is a reason to see The Scarlet Letter, it would be to witness Elizabeth Styles’ commandingly powerful performance as Hester Prynne. Meredith Rae Lyons added several effective scenes as the impish child Pearl.
I had mixed feeling about this show. I admire the ambition but the too artsy approached together with the muddled speech patterns made the show tedious. Kudos to Greyzelda Theatre for stretching to present an original adaptation. With better execution, it could work.
Somewhat Recommended
Tom Williams
Tom99@chicagocritic.com for comments
Talk Theatre in Chicago podcast
Date Reviewed: August 12, 2006
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