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Peer Reviews Arrangement for Two Violas
Entire contents are copyright © 2007, Deborah Ward. All rights reserved.
After viewing several of Pandora's Productions, I expect nothing less than excellence from the cast and production crew. In Arrangement for Two Violas, excellence is outdone. There is always more than a story in a play, but it takes a special magic to bring the emotionality of the characters and story into the hearts of the audience. The story is of Peter Chase (Tom Trudgeon), a country doctor in a small Wisconsin town, whose only family is his patients. In 1938, a never-married middle-aged man may raise suspicion, but Peter manages to keep the suspicions of small-town busybodies at bay by telling them that he leads a very content life studying his patients. When Karl Schuler (Bob Zielinski), one of Peter's emphysema patients, must seek the care of Henry Meegan (Brent Gettelfinger), a nationally-known specialist in Milwaukee, Peter develops the first love relationship in his life. Their relationship is known and despised by Karl, but the two lovers find an understanding friend in Karl's wife, Nan (Betty Zielinski). Nan is a counselor of sorts, assisting Peter and Henry to understand the drive of each one's needs. Peter is naive, yet is content seeing Henry only on occasion. Henry is proud and wants to live with Peter openly as a couple. Though they lack a shared view of their relationship, Peter and Henry share the common interest of playing the viola and love of music. "Music is the emotional abandonment of common sense," says Peter. Peter understands that one must never give in to the mental abandonment of common sense. However, when Henry can no longer stand the physical distance of separation, he gives over to the abandonment of life. Bob and Betty Zielinski, who play Karl and Nan Schuler, bring a high-strung, opposing yet loving husband-and-wife relationship to the stage. Their relationship often parallels that of Peter and Henry, one that is acceptable while the other is dark and foreboding. Tom Trudgeon (Peter) and Brent Gettelfinger (Henry) convey the emotional pain, anguish and passion that must have been experienced by the gay community in the 1930s. These four actors show the struggles of the pressure for normalcy from the town, and from one's own heart and mind, of a doomed love story.
Arrangement for Two Violas Pandora Productions November 8-25, 2007
Posted November 20, 2007
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