Reviews 2010
Reviews 2010
✭✭✭✭✭
by Mary Chase, directed by Joseph Ziegler
Shaw Festival, Royal George Theatre, Niagara-on-the-Lake
May 27-November 14, 2010
“It’s our dreams that carry us on”
The The Shaw Festival’s production of “Harvey” is an absolute delight from start to finish. This is a case where every aspect of the production is right. Director Joseph Ziegler knows the story is full of whimsy but he also is aware of wisdom behind it.
People are probably most familiar with the story of “Harvey” from the beloved 1950 film of the same name by Henry Koster starring James Stewart. Wonderful as the movie may be, seeing Mary Chase’s original 1944 play on stage has even greater impact. In both, Veta Louise Simmons and her daughter Myrtle Mae feel their lives are blighted by having to live in house owned by Veta’s brother Elwood. Elwood himself is not the problem. He is always very pleasant and gentlemanly. Rather the problem is Elwood’s friend and constant companion Harvey, a six foot tall invisible white rabbit, whom Elwood insists on introducing to all he meets. This ruins Veta’s attempts to climb the social ladder and scotches Myrtle’s attempts to find a boyfriend. On the day the play’s action encompasses, Elwood’s appearance with Harvey at her musicale is the last straw and she decides to have him committed to the local loony bin known as Chumley’s Rest, run by the renowned psychiatrist William R. Chumley. However, when Veta describes the difficulties she suffers in living with Elwood and Harvey, Chumley’s assistant, Lyman Sanderson, assumes that Veta is the one who needs treatment, not Elwood. Multiple misunderstandings ensue concluding, strangely enough, with a surprising understanding.
Underlying the whimsical plot are the frequent dramatic themes of reality and illusion, reason and madness. How can we tell one from the other? Which is the preferable condition? Veta expounds this theme to Dr. Chumley: “I learnt the difference between a fine oil painting, and a mechanical thing, like a photograph. The photograph shows only the reality. The painting shows not only the reality, but the dream behind it. It's our dreams, Doctor, that carry us on. They separate us from the beasts.” She thinks she is speaking of the painting of her mother over the fireplace, but in fact it is a painting of Elwood with a very visible Harvey. Elwood himself when asked about reality says, “I've wrestled with reality for 40 years, Doctor, and I'm happy to state I finally won out over it.” Elwood says that Harvey is a “pooka”, an ancient Celtic spirit that can take animal form,. Whatever he is, his friendship gives Elwood an unshakable inner calm that may exasperate Veta and Myrtle, but infuses everyone he meets with a feeling of well-being. Would the world be better with people like Elwood locked up? Would Elwood be better without Harvey? These are some of the more serious questions that lurk behind all the fun.
Anchoring the play is the beautiful performance of Peter Krantz as Elwood. He radiates serenity and while his measured speech and complete unworldliness make him seem a bit slow, his fundamental guilelessness and innocence are endearing. Krantz truly makes the part his own and even effaces memories of James Stewart. Krantz’s open face, broad smile and ability to move like a grown-up boy rather than an adult made him ideal in the role.
In complete contrast to his equanimity is the hyperactive distress of Veta and Dr. Chumley. Mary Haney is hilarious as Veta, her mobile face registering scores of competing emotions--hope and fear, embarrassment and triumph, pride and pleading. Her comic timing and line delivery are impeccable. Norman Browning is similarly gifted as Dr. Chumley as he attempts with decreasing success to project an air of pompous superiority while his inner world, after an intense encounter with Harvey, begins to crumble. These are three priceless performances, any one of which would make the show a must see. Taken together, they make the seeing the show a fundamental necessity.
Luckily these three performances are supported by able cast. Gray Powell captures the overweening of the young Dr. Sanderson that makes him oblivious to the charms of the lovely Nurse Kelly, well played by Diana Donnelly. The younger generation seems especially mean-spirited with the harshest judgements coming from Zarrin Darnell-Martin as Myrtle and Tim Ziegler and the asylum’s tough guy, Duane Wilson. The hardness both actors give their characters helps support the view that Mary Chase feared that society was becoming more intolerant of nonconformity. Guy Bannerman is externally gruff as Judge Omar Gaffney but reveals a compassionate soul within. As Dr. Chumley’s wife Betty, Donna Belleville establishes in a few deft strokes why the doctor should fantasize so ardently about leaving her. Peter Millard is excellent as the taxi driver E.J. Lofgren, who unknowingly dispenses a key nugget of wisdom near the very end. Long-time Shaw devotés will be pleased to see Jennifer Phipps in fine form as the flustered Mrs. Chauvenet.
Designer Sue LePage contributes her own part in supporting the theme of reality and illusion, by creating a set for the Dowd’s family library that looks heavy in architecture and weighed with copious bric-à-brac seeming acquired through numerous safaris. In fact, nothing is as substantial as it looks, for when the time for a fantastic scene change occurs we discover that the reception room for Chumley’s Rest has been hidden behind and around everything we had seen. It’s a superb example of design wittily helping to interpret the play. All is pervaded by Louise Guinand’s subtle lighting that takes us through the course of the characters’ eventful day.
Joseph Ziegler directs with a sure hand, never pushing the absurdity too far and always maintaining a balance between the ravings of Veta or Dr. Chumley and the utter peacefulness of Elwood. He ensures that Elwood’s inner contentment spreads not only to the other characters but infuses the entire audience with its happiness.
©Christopher Hoile
Note: This review is a Stage Door exclusive.
Photo: Mary Haney and Peter Krantz. ©David Cooper.
2010-08-04
Harvey