One of
the most telling scenes in A.R. Gurney's
"The Dining Room" involves a young
anthropology student who is using his unwitting
aunt as part of a study of the "eating
habits of vanishing cultures."
Other students, he explains, are studying
obscure Third World clans or Native American
tribes, but he is focusing on a truly fading
society, "the WASPs of the Northeastern
United States."
Gurney has been documenting the slow decline
of WASP culture for decades now, and "The
Dining Room" – his first big
success — offers a series of snapshots
of such.
It's being given a solid, stolid production
at Curtain Call Theatre through Feb. 13.
The beauty of "The Dining Room"
is in its structure. Six actors play a huge
array of roles in scene after unconnected
scene. The feel is like that of "Winesburg,
Ohio" or "Spoon River Anthology"
even if the portraits aren't as finely etched.
The tiny pictures make up the whole.
The only running character is the dining
room itself and Gurney charts how families
were built; nurtured; lost; remembered and
shattered around a table and chairs.
Here an aged mother can't recall the names
of her children. There a boy grows angry
with his nanny, knowing she's leaving to
start her own family. And here again, a
man and a wom an plot their trysts on the
sidelines of a children's birthday party.
Resident Director Steve Fletcher does an
ace job with all of the movement. There's
a terrific amount of getting actors on and
offstage, in costume and in character in
this play.
He sets each scene quickly and is given
strong support by his technical team, including
set designer Dee Mulford, sound designer
Jeanne Stephenson, lighting designer William
Domack, costumer Jenn Dugan and, especially,
stage manager John Quinan.
Fletcher's cast includes Monica Cangero,
Howard Schaffer, Ian La Chance, Pamela O'Conner,
John Noble and Joanne Westervelt.
As noted, each actor plays a variety of
roles, and if this production has a weak
spot it's that the characters come and go
so quickly they don't allow for much development.
In a nice twist Noble, no spring chicken,
plays everything from a grandfather to a
young lad. The others also leap through
time and station, playing servants as well
as wealthy scions with names like Binky,
Winky and Standish.
Schaffer, particularly, doesn't lineate
the characters that well. He has a remove
that makes many of his portrayals stiff,
whereas O'Connor seems to dive into each
new role with both feet.
On Valentine's Day, CCT will cap its run
of "The Dining Room" with a one-day
run of Gurney's ever-popular "Love
Letters."
This show is lesser seen these days, but
simply due to its curious, overlapping construction
it's one of the most fascinating pieces
of Gurney's stagecraft.
'The Dining
Room'
lays out feast of
engaging characters
Let me say
first of A. R. Gurney: I'm a fan. His work
is always engaging, entertaining and seeks
to make sense out of the chaos of everyday
life. Curtain Call Theatre's current production
of Gurney's "The Dining Room" serves
the playwright beautifully. Six actors shepherd
the audience through many dining rooms during
the course of a day.
His opening salvo brings Monica Cangero (1st
Actress) and Howard Schaffer (2nd Actor) onto
the scene. Cangero is a real estate agent,
Schaffer is her client. She describes the
elegant dining room, its furniture, its ambience
and its history, and the play goes on from
there. Gurney makes no attempt to unify the
various people who occupy this lovely room
except to let his audiences know that they
are privileged, often troubled folk.
First-class direction by Steve Fletcher moves
the actors from scene to scene with expertise
and fluid blocking. John Noble (1st Actor)
play a distant, opinionated businessman father
who, on occasion, allows his children, Ian
LaChance (3rd Actor) and Pamela O'Connor (3rd
Actress) to breakfast with him. They, of course,
must pay the price of listening to his diatribes
on the state of current education practices
before they go to school. Joanne Westervelt
(2nd Actress) plays their forbearing maid.
Each actor plays many roles. LaChance displays
his comedic chops gorgeously as a Victorian-type
father who must "go to the club"
to avenge an insult to his brother by a former
Dartmouth boxing champ. He explains to his
children (Cangero and Noble) that Binkey Beyer
called into question their uncle's "private
relationships." " You mean he's
a fruit?" questions Noble in the manner
of a 10-year old boy.
Noble does another effective turn as a little
boy (Mikey) with O'Connor as yet another maid
who has decided she does not wish to be in
domestic service any longer. Noble's temper
tantrum, as he begs the maid on whom he has
come to depend to stay, is touching and true.
O'Connor stands out in a wrenching scene as
a young married woman who pleads with her
father (Schaffer) to allow her and her three
children to come back to the family home until
she sorts out her life.
Westervelt is divine as the great-aunt of
a college student (LaChance) who is doing
a project for his anthropology class. She
proudly explains the rituals of upper-crust
dining until she discovers that the "project"
her nephew is exploring is "the eating
habits of vanishing cultures"--in this
case, The WASPS of North America.
Cangero and Schaffer have a wonderful moment
together as a mother and son. Cangero is having
as affair with her husband's best friend (Noble)
and Schaffer comes home a few days early from
college to discover them drinking tea (Mom
in a kimono). Without words, Schaffer makes
his disappointment and disgust perfectly clear.
