David Hurst takes a look at Summer and Smoke:
"The tables have turned with a vengeance," says Alma Winemiller in the penultimate scene of Summer and Smoke, Tennessee Williams' gothic potboiler now on view at Classic Stage Company courtesy of the Transport Group and their artistic director, Jack Cummings III. In an emotionally fraught drama about loneliness, suppressed desire and the eternal quest for love in the face of an overwhelming need for sex, that line, an almost perfect summation of the play, is delivered with the realization of a lifetime by the superb Marin Ireland in a performance of heartbreaking intensity and meticulous desperation. Ireland is joined by Nathan Darrow who portrays the object of Alma's affections, John Buchanan, and he, too, is sensational in an almost impossible role. It's a shame Cumming's oddly directly production isn't as electrifying as its stars and their game supporting cast in this rarity from one of America's greatest playwrights. . . . |
