Theater Review—

Sherman’s Take On Miller’s Play Turns Out To Offer Only An Obstructed ‘View’

By June April

SHERMAN — Three positive statements can be made about A View From the Bridge, the current production at The Sherman Playhouse.

First, the director and set designer John Taylor, in cooperation with scenic artist Rick Doyle, has done a most impressive job with the set for Arthur Miller’s play.

Second, two of the actors – Susan Abrams as the savvy but unhappy wife Beatrice and Jessica Stewart as the young and frustrated niece Catherine – played their roles credibly and convincingly.

And finally, this play remains interesting and provocative, in spite of directorial and thespian shortcomings in Sherman.

If one has not seen this show, which continues for two more weekends, it might be worth the time to see the play Miller wrote, and revised, after its initial opening in 1955. Keep expectations at a lower level, however, otherwise the experience will be disappointing. The male actors are weak, not by virtue of the written word, but the demands of those characterizations fell far short of what they could have been. This is a difficult play to produce because it could easily be stereotypically directed and/or acted.

The theme of this story is an ancient one: societal norms for love relationships between people. Plays such as Oedipus and Phaedra to Romeo and Juliet and West Side Story have explored the problems attached to illicit love. Be that physical love for a member of one’s family or for someone socially unattainable, there can be many levels of pain and problems not easily resolved, if at all resolvable.

Miller’s central character, Eddie Carbone, is a hardworking, uneducated longshoreman; a very traditional, old world Italian male. At his sister-in-law’s deathbed he promised to raise her baby daughter, Catherine.

Theirs has been a very close relationship, but at 17 she is clearly a woman and Eddie and his wife Beatrice are trying to deal with the complications this brings to their lives. Beatrice is instinctively aware of what is happening between Catherine and her husband, and she’s torn between her wifely loyalties and caring for her niece and the subconscious passions that are tearing their marriage apart.

Add to this already explosive situation the arrival of two Italian cousins who are coming to the United States illegally to work. The one cousin, Marco is looking to earn money to support his sick and poverty-stricken family in Italy.

The younger and handsome Rudolpho’s motives are questionable. His blond good looks, lovely high tenor singing voice, and ability to redesign and sew clothes raises major issues for Eddie. Jealousy, homosexuality, manipulation rage within Eddie and his actions seem to be almost predestined.

That this play has been chosen as part of Sherman Playhouse’s 78th seasons offerings had inherent challenges. Finding the actors who can credibly play the male roles is difficult under the best of circumstances, then directing this challenging work is truly formidable because it so easily can end up with stereotypic characterizations, thereby becoming a ridiculous caricature.

Director John Taylor has not succeed in making this a memorable production. He is to be credited for the success of some of his efforts, however. The two female leads were successfully portrayed.

(Performances continue Friday and Saturday evenings through May 8, including one matinee this weekend on Sunday. Call 860-354-3622 for ticket details, reservations, directions or other information.)