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[THEATER REVIEW] GOATWOMAN at Shakespeare and Company
8.11.08
Shakespeare & Company
Lenox, Mass.
The Goatwoman of Corvis County
Written by Christine Whitley. Directed by Robert Walsh.
Charlotte ……..Keira Naughton
Randy…………Thomas Kee
David………….David Rosenblatt
John...................Daniel Berger-Jones
By Chris Newbound
(LENOX, Mass., August 11, 2008) -- First-timer Christine Whitley's The Goatwoman of Corvis County never quite finds its own voice in this world premiere that also kicks off Shakespeare & Company's new second stage, the Elayne P. Bernstein Theatre. While the four-hander shows some early promise, and offers a sprinkle of laughs throughout, that pesky thing called plot never does quite materialize, leaving the capable crew of actors running out of steam in a second act that fails to deliver the goods.
Set design (mostly the kitchen and eating area, with a few cleverly placed alternative playing areas), by Susan Zeeman Rogers work well with Matthew Miller's lighting and Govanne Lohbauer's costumes in this intimate space. And helmer Robert Walsh moves the play along briskly enough, despite a few noticeable blocking gaffes: a seated actor's back is turned to the audience for almost an entire scene, and players have a tendency to get up from the table to utter one line to show how upset they are before sitting down again.
Whatever plot there is revolves around Charlotte, played so humorously by Keira Naughton that she practically gives the play a free pass through much of the first act. Charlotte's inexplicable power to heal goats, a conceit of the play that's barely referred to let alone exploited, has given her some minor local celebrity. Now on her fifth husband, Randy, a building contractor (more than capably played by Thomas Kee), they live somewhere outside of Nashville. Also in tow is Charlotte's teenage son from a previous marriage, David (David Rosenblatt), whose idea of fighting off boredom is to put dead kittens in the microwave in order to see what happens. Charlotte blames this and his headaches on his "bulging IQ." David quips back that he thought his headaches have more to do with Randy having hit him on the head with his thermos.
When Charlotte is accused of embezzling funds for her shopaholic tendencies from the local animal charity, a young lawyer John (Daniel Berger-Jones) enters the picture. Here, the opportunity for the plot to actually thicken is mostly squandered, not to mention that the ties to Babe and her lawyer in Crimes of the Heart are more than just an echo; unconsciously or not, the ensuing flirtation feels almost lifted from the earlier work.
Still, it'd be easy to forgive and forget, if only the play were headed somewhere other than escalating beatings of David (he suffers a broken leg at the hands of his stepfather): one huge merit of the play, however, is that Whitley's characters are rarely dull and more than occasionally say amusing things. But in the end, the play feels like a hybrid of an overly long SNL sketch and an old Jerry Springer show. There isn't quite enough at stake. Like Randy says late in the play, this is a small mess, not a big one. And, unfortunately, like Charlotte's confusing receipts for her "expenses," it just doesn't add up to very much.
Sets, Susan Zeeman Rogers; costumes, Govane Lohbauer; lighting, Matthew Miller; sound and original music, Bill Barclay; production stage manager, April Carmack. Opened and reviewed August 8, 2008. Runs through August 31. Running time: 2 HOURS.
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