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by Lanford Wilson, directed by P.J. Hammond

Alumnae Theatre, Alumnae Studio Theatre, Toronto

October 20-November 12, 2000

“An Old-Fashioned Valentine”

Lanford Wilson's "Talley's Folly", as staged by the Alumnae Theatre, is a glistening gem of a play.  It seemed odd in 1980 that a play so consciously old-fashioned a play should win the Pulitzer Prize for drama when so many new developments were happening in both America and Britain.  But, as can often happen, by avoiding faddishness the play has avoided becoming dated.  As it is, the play is a kind of valentine to the sensibilities of an earlier time and to the hope that people can cast off what William Blake called "mind-forged manacles".  Perhaps, that is why the action takes place on Independence Day. 

The 97-minute play is set in an old boathouse on a farm in Missouri in 1944.  Matt Friedman, a Jewish accountant, has come here to ask the former belle of the town, Sally Talley, to marry him, despite not having seen her since the year they spent one happy week together.  The play begins with Matt's direct address to the audience and to the sound- and light-people, not unlike the Stage Manager in "Our Town".  But, having established the artifice of the play, the playwright, unlike Wilder, never again has Matt so interrupt the flow of the action.  Matt describes the action as a waltz, and so it is.  It is a verbal and emotional dance of two people who recognize each other as outcasts-Matt because of his religion and immigrant background, Sally because of her anti-capitalist views that don't sit well with her factory-owning family.  As we learn, both harbour a secret that makes them think the other will not be able to love them.  The play thus has much more in common with the psychologically subtle comedies of Marivaux than with the typical American play of gradually unearthed secrets of O'Neill, Miller or Williams.  The play follows the intricate maneuverings of these two lonely people as both try to break through their own defensive shells to reach the other.

There's no denying that such a delicate play could, in the wrong hands, easily wallow in nostalgia and sentimentality.  Fortunately, this production is in exactly the right hands.  In fact, it is difficult to imagine the play being better directed and performed than it is here.  Paul Babiak as Matt and Tabitha Keast as Sally are perfectly cast.  Babiak shows us someone who has grown accustomed to using jokes and clowning as a way buffering his own loneliness and deflecting any inquiry into his past.  Babiak is expert at bringing off the numerous accents and imitations his character is required to perform.  He is also excellent at showing us that all this show-offishness is merely a mask for his far more serious inner self.  Keast's Sally is just the opposite.  Externally, she is all reserve and propriety.  But like Babiak, she also shows us how this brittle façade may hide remembered pain and a fear of rejection.  The two actors have a natural rapport on stage superior to that in any two-hander I've seen this year.  Both make the potential for anger and offence in their characters so strong that it prevents the potential sweetness of the play from cloying.

Director P.J. Hammond has given the play a wholly natural ebb and flow and has encouraged the finely detailed performances of her cast.  Most importantly, she has established precisely the right tone for the piece by making ever present the danger that this love story could easily collapse.    Stewart Vanderlinden has created the broken-down boathouse of the set by imaginatively incorporating architectural elements of the Alumnae's own Studio Theatre.  This boathouse is the "folly" of the title, built by one of Sally's relatives, and a symbol of something seemingly useless and broken that can be transformed, like the characters, to something romantic when perceived the right way.  Shannah Davison has provided period costumes perfectly suited to the characters and their intentions.  All is evocatively lit by Michael Spence from the harsh lights up during Matt's direct address at the beginning to the beautiful scene in the middle of the play when the two smoke together lit only by a kerosene lamp.  J.R. Rudge's sound design brings in all the natural sounds one might expect in the countryside on a southern night in July.

The Alumnae Theatre has begun its 2000-2001 season on a high note.  This show should attract anyone who loves fine acting fully alive to the subtleties of human interactions.  Bring someone you care about to see it and treat yourselves to an early valentine.

©Christopher Hoile

Photo: Paul Babiak and Tabitha Keast. ©2000 Alumnae Theatre.