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Peer Reviews Twilight Shines in Wayward Actors' New Production By A.S. Waterman Entire contents are copyright © 2007
A.S. Waterman. All rights reserved.
Admit it -- you're confused about the title. It's G-o-l-d-s in this striking play written by Jonathan Tolins, although the reference to Wagner's opera Twilight of the Gods is far from coincidental. Please don't let Fear of Mispronunciation hold you back. See this latest offering by Louisville's Wayward Actors Company. It's a fine theatrical rendering of a play that deserves widespread recognition. The Twilight of the Golds first opened in October of 1993 to a Broadway audience and a scathing review by Ben Brantley of The New York Times. It closed on November 14, after only 29 performances. In 1997, it returned as a Showtime movie, after Dolly (the cloned sheep) and real advances in genetic research had lent just a twinge of science to its fictional premise: the ability to identify specific traits in utero. In the play, Suzanne Gold Stein is pregnant and tormented. Is it a devastating handicap or hideous deformity that genetic testing has revealed about the child she is carrying, making her consider terminating it? No -- it's the 90 percent probability that "he will be like" Suzanne's brother David -- i.e., gay, a word that no one in the Gold family can utter, not even David himself. Suzanne and her brother have always been close, and the Golds have always been dysfunctional. What will she do? Whatever her decision, it will bring about the family's eventual destruction.
x Director Craig Nolan Highley assembles an impressive cast for this Louisville stage production, with actors well known in Kentuckiana independent theatre. Ted Lesley (recently seen as Jerry in Clarksville Little Theatre's The Full Monty) brings David to life with vibrancy, depth and sensitivity. Grace Poganski (The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie) and Mike Seely (renowned director of local theatre) show a strong range as Suzanne's parents, Phyllis and Walter Gold. Jennifer Shank (Frozen) and John Hess (The Full Monty) deftly portray the conflicted couple, Suzanne and her husband Rob. All give a powerful performance, especially during difficult monologues in which the characters must make eye contact and reveal conscious and unconscious truths to the audience. These monologues were so well delivered that Friday night's audience responded with immediate applause. Highley also makes creative use of four unscripted roles, rendering poignant images in the background. As David retreats with desperation into visions of Wagner's masterwork, we see its god-figures perish in a cataclysmic firestorm. Meanwhile, the Gold family microcosm implodes from within, as it is denied that heroic escape, and the audience must face its demons also. Therein lies the discomfort factor that has haunted this play since critic Brantley failed to come to terms with it in 1993. The Twilight of the Golds forces us to question everything we know, or thought we knew, about ourselves, and there is no escape. Whatever we learn, its sheer power leaves us shaken. Friday's performance overcame a sit-commy beginning and a few mangled lines, plus some interminable opening remarks by a theatre company rep, to leave a lasting impression of stellar performances and a fine work of drama. This is Wayward's first production to be held in the Actors Theatre complex, and the logistics of rehearsing in one space and performing in another have led to a mismatched set and some distracting elements such as colored tape markers on the floor. However, such trivial distractions fail to mar an outstanding production. Wayward is to be congratulated for this fine offering. As for title confusion, rest assured that you won't be alone if you drop the "l" when ordering tickets, so trust the phone number and make the call. This is a production not to be missed.
The Twilight of the Golds (502) 584-1205 / (800) 775-7777 June 21 through July 1, 2007
---------- Posted June 24, 2007 |
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