‘Sea Marks’ is
insubstantial drama in Lenox
By David Begelman ,
Theater Critic
Before
he turned to playwriting, Gardner McKay was a hunk who was cast in the role of
military officers in two T.V. series. In “Adventures in Paradise,” he was Capt.
Adam Troy, a Korean War veteran who took to the high seas in his schooner
“Tiki.” In “Boots and Saddles” he was a union army officer, Lt. Dan Kelly,
assigned to the western frontier.
His
stint as playwright, at least in the two-person drama, “Sea Marks,” currently
being staged at Shakespeare and Company, was a less auspicious incarnation. The
play is about a man and woman who begin their relationship through a series of
letters reminiscent of A. R. Gurney’s “Love Letters.” Except the two-act piece
lacks the impact of the Gurney drama. It drags on, as if were fetching about
for something important to say.
Colm
Primrose (Walton Wilson) is an Irish fisherman who once encountered Timothea
Stiles (Kristin Wold) at a party. Awkwardly, and taken with her on that
occasion, he accidently leaned into a punch bowl, arm deep. Back home in his
cottage near the sea, he starts a correspondence with her that she
enthusiastically continues.
At
Timothea’s invitation, Colm visits her in her Liverpool apartment, and the two
start an affair. The hitch is that the lives of the two are worlds apart. He
has one close to the sea, and is reluctant to give it up for the career
Timothea feels is a shoe-in for him: poetry. Unbeknownst to Colm, he has real
talent as a writer.
Timothea
arranges to have Colm’s letters published in a volume called “Sea Sonnets,”
although Colm prefers the title, “Sea Marks.” Being a sea-salt who has a
preference for life among the mackerel, he resists her importuning him with her
city ways and the promise of a literary career with speaking engagements that come
at fifty pounds a shot.
After
a fellow fisherman is found dead in the sea, Colm berates himself for not being
back home to prevent the catastrophe, and the parting of the ways of the two
lovers seems inevitable.
The
final scene has Colm addressing the audience as though they were gathered at a
meeting of a ladies’ literary club. His words are poignant, even though they
drag on in a manner that grows to be short of tedious.
The
play is hardly a stellar addition to the repertoire of Shakespeare and Company,
and this reviewer was left wondering why anyone, even in a John Masefield sea-loving
mood, would prefer a pile of anchovies to being lionized as a literary darling
who is handsomely remunerated.
Wilson
and Wold are both capable performers who make the best of a tiny bed on which
to do their ardent gymnastic thing. Miniature models of his cottage and her
apartment hovering above both actors seem a trifle on the artless side, while
inordinately long scene changes and piping in Beatles music come across as
clumsy touches.
“Sea Marks” continues through September 4 at
the Elayne P. Bernstein Theatre, at Shakespeare and Company, 70 Kemble Street, Lenox, MASS. Performances are
Tuesdays through Saturdays at 8:00 p.m.,
Sundays at 3:00 p.m. Tickets are $16-$48, and can be purchased by calling the
box office at (413)-637-3353, or contacting www.shakespeare.org
No comments:
Post a Comment