Past Reviews

Regional Reviews: Albuquerque/Santa Fe


Regional Reviews

Picnic
The Adobe Theater

Also see Wally's review of Love in the DMZ


Nick Fleming and Kiersten Johnson
You might be thinking, "Why would the Adobe be doing an old thing like Picnic? Can't they do something more contemporary?" I would answer that you should see Picnic first and then decide if it's a relic that isn't worth reviving.

Many American plays of the 1940s and '50s have aged remarkably well and speak to us as forcefully now as they ever did. The big three playwrights of that era—Tennessee Williams, Arthur Miller, and William Inge—somehow intuited the American post-war character, which we still live with because we have had ever more absurd wars, even before it was aware of itself.

It's the America of rootlessness and restlessness, where a soul finds repose only in constant motion. The America of Jack Kerouac, of Tom Wingfield, Biff Loman, and Hal Carter (from Picnic). It's the America of fucked-up families you can run from forever but you can never escape. It's the change from pre-war "If I ever go looking for my heart's desire again, I won't look any further than my own backyard" to post-war "We gotta get out of this place, if it's the last thing we ever do." The American dream is not just deferred, it's already dead.

Picnic, the 1953 Pulitzer Prize winning play by William Inge (an unfortunate man who committed suicide in 1973), takes place in a small town in Kansas, but it's not Dorothy's Kansas anymore. It's stifling, and not just from the heat. The whistling of the trains passing through is a siren song that proves irresistible to the two main characters, Hal and Madge, and probably was irresistible to Madge's mother Flo and will be to her younger sister Millie. This town is a place that you have to leave.

Many in the audience will be familiar with the plot because they remember the William Holden-Kim Novak movie. It's not a complicated one. Hal, a former football hero who flunked out of college, shows up in this town because it's where a rich fraternity buddy of his, Alan Seymour, lives. Hal, who is constantly on the move, has been robbed of all his possessions, and needs a job. He's still a stud (the word is used in the play), and having lost his shirt (literally), quickly becomes an object of desire for most of the women, including Madge, who is the town beauty, just out of high school and now working at the dime store. Conflict arises because Madge is supposed to be Alan's girl, potentially his wife.

The action all takes place on Labor Day, as everybody gets ready to go to the town picnic, and on the morning after. You can probably guess what happens between Hal and Madge. The most theatrical secondary character is Rosemary the schoolteacher, who professes herself to be an independent woman but ends up pleading shamelessly for Howard, a local store owner, to marry her. The most touching character, though, is Flo, whose husband ran off years ago and who tries to stop her daughter from repeating her own mistakes, which is always a futile effort.

I'm making this play sound like a real downer, but it's consistently entertaining and often funny. The dialogue doesn't sound dated, and the characters and action could be of our own time, not just a nostalgic past. Daryl Streeter, the director, has not tried to update the play, nor should he have. The set design by Bob Byers and costumes by Judi Buehler and Beverly Herring are just right. The lighting by Michael Girlamo is unobtrusive and nicely done. Whoever is responsible for the sound design of the train whistles and offstage music, including the indelible theme from the movie mixed with "Moonglow," has done a fine job.

The cast as a whole is strong. Carolyn Hogan is excellent, both sober and drunk, as Rosemary; and Ken West conveys the nice-guy-ness that will probably make Howard's life miserable. Brian Wise, as Alan, is new to the stage, but acts like a professional. Jackson Krebbs has only two short scenes as the paper boy, but makes a goofy, gangly impression. Gail Gillock Spidle wears a wig that makes her look like the reincarnation of Marion Lorne, but her acting is not at all befuddled. Drea Maletta and Heather Donovan are good in their small roles.

Kimberly Sengir perfectly portrays the too-smart-for-this-town teenager Millie. The best acting of all is done by H. K. Phillips as Flo; everything she does is totally natural. Ms. Phillips is new to me, and I hope we see her often on Albuquerque stages.

Nick Fleming and Kiersten Johnson both are attractive enough for the roles of Hal and Madge, and they play their parts well, but something essential is missing. When they look at each other or dance together, there should be something electric between them, but I didn't see any sparks fly. Without that sexual charge, the play loses a lot of its juice.

Still, Daryl Streeter has put together a good production of a good play. So what if you've seen the movie. Let the Adobe take you back to the Eisenhower administration and you'll see that it's not so long ago after all.

Picnic by William Inge is being presented through August 30, 2015, at the Adobe Theater, 9813 Fourth Street NW (a few blocks north of Alameda) in Albuquerque. Fridays and Saturdays at 7:30, Sundays at 2:00. Tickets $17; seniors over 60 and students $15; and ATG/TLC members $14. Info at www.adobetheater.org or 505-898-9222.


Photo: Daryl Streeter


--Dean Yannias