Sea Change Theater - La Duse: Woman & Actor

The theater has always been the home for all forms of drama. One of the earliest forms was known as the "Melodrama." This type of piece was praised and celebrated in the romantic period of modern art and literature. Melodramas would portray characters who were strictly good or bad with strong morals, stories that display poetic justice from great danger for the characters to overcome, and would show the beauty in the poetry of both the story and characters. Celebrating writers like Alexandre Dumas, Victor Hugo, Eugene Scribe, etc. As well as performed by great actors such as, Sarah Bernhardt and the subject of this play, Eleanora Duse.

Last night, Sea Change Theatre Company opened it's newest play, La Duse: Woman & Actor, written by Walt Vail, Directed by Jason Schaum and performed by Maggie Brooks, Laura Liberge, Tom Kelleher, and John Meredith. The play chronicles the career of Romantic stage actor, Eleanora Duse, as she transitions from the end of the melodramatic romantic period in into the Modern period of live theater. The two major factors in Eleanora's life, that the play touches upon, is her love for the romantic simplicity of melodramatic theater in Europe as well as her off again/on again relationships with the great writers, actors, and poets in the same realm. Her greatest flaw being her inability to decipher love from passion, believing that she can live out her real life as romantic as the melodramas she performs in, until it is too late.

This play was beautifully performed by the four person ensemble. Maggie Brooks is gorgeous in both appearance and performance as Eleanora. Seeing her perform as the actor is equal to seeing Greta Garbo in Camille, as she begins as a dreaming romantic to an independent heroine. Laura Liberge, as Matilde Serao, shines as the strong hearted independent spirit Eleanora will eventually become. She plays the writer and her friend as the voice of reason in Eleanora's life. Tom Kelleher plays two of Eleanora's numerous lovers, Martino Cafiero and Gabrielle D'Annunzio. The chemistry between the two real life lovers, is both beautiful and natural. As both men, Kelleher shows a dominating and demanding presence whenever he is on stage. Which works due to how domineering both men were in their relationships with Eleanora. John Meredith plays another lover of Eleanora's, Tebaldo Checchi. One of the good men she has been in a relationship with, who didn't take advantage of her. His performance as Checchi comes off as both romantic and charismatic.

The look of this play was beautiful yet very minimalistic. The majority of the set (Designed by Aubrey Mueller and constructed by Paige Hall) was painted black (by Ivy Neff) and arranged close together to easily represent the many different locations throughout Eleanora's life. Every transition would consist of Eleanora approaching down stage center, illuminated by classic footlights (Designed by Simon Skymba), monologuing about the transitions she experienced in her life, and changing into costumes (Assistant designed by Ally Rush) that some would harken back to the style of the heroines she portrayed on stage. What stood out the most for me about the transitions was that, even though the set was minimalistic, the set pieces that would show the audience where the scenes were taking place were a number of different landscape paintings (Illustrated by Jes Banta). 

This production comes highly recommended. If you are a fan of the Romantic stage period and wish to see an original production about one of the giants of said period, then this production will be a fantastic art piece to look upon, fall in love with, and sympathies with by the end. Sea Change Theatre Company's production of La Duse: Woman & Actor continues March 7, 13, 14, 20, and 21. Fridays at 8pm and Saturdays at 3pm and 8pm.