Date: Fri 22-Mar-1996

Publication: Bee

Author: SHANNO

Illustration: C

Location: A-11

Quick Words:

rev-theatre-Two-Rooms-Milford

Full Text:

(rev of "Two Rooms" at TheatreWorks New Milford, 3/22/96)

Theatre Review-

Strong Acting Carries Emotional `Rooms,' TheatreWorks' Current

(with photo)

By Julie Stern

NEW MILFORD - In his short novel Heart of Darkness , Joseph Conrad offers a

glimpse of the folly of Belgian imperialists when a bunch of inept traders

flounder uselessly about a burning warehouse as the water spills from their

broken buckets. When the shed eventually burns to the ground, one of the

Europeans announces proudly, "Everyone behaved splendidly!"

I was reminded of that scene by the frustrating incompetence of the Washington

bureaucracy in Lee Blessing's powerful drama Two Rooms , on stage at New

Milford's TheatreWorks, which deals with the issue of Middle Eastern hostages

from opposing perspectives: the personal ordeal of individual human beings,

the political problem as seen by the government, and the media's interest in

formulating human interest stories.

Matt McQuail is Michael Wells, a university professor who has been abducted

off a Beirut street, beaten, blindfolded and held incommunicado in a tiny

windowless room somewhere in the Lebanese capital. Marilyn Despres is his wife

Lainie, who in an expression of loyalty and devotion to her husband, has

created a similar "cell" in her suburban Maryland home as she waits for news

and receives briefings on the State Department's efforts to bring about his

release.

Meeting the demands of kidnappers - whether they are ordinary criminals

seeking ransom or political terrorists demanding the release of their

compatriots - is always a dubious practice because it only increases the

likelihood of others doing the same thing. On the other hand, to the family of

the particular victim, saving the life of their loved one is clearly more

important than establishing a "sound" policy or maintaining a "position of

strength."

This moral dilemma is dramatized in Lainie's ongoing dialogue with Ellen Van

Oss, played by Kristi Petersen, the State Department representative who makes

weekly visits to check on Lainie's attitude and keep her informed of the

latest developments in the effort to free Michael.

However, what Blessing has created is not simply a conflict of ideas. In

Lainie's relationship with her husband, the playwright has created a vision of

love so strong it transcends the limits of reality, enabling them to "feel"

each other's presence and draw some sustenance from the thought.

In comparison, Van Oss is the cheerful personification of a mindless

bureaucracy, who serves as the mouthpiece for the official state department

line, offering the warmest reassurances that everything possible is being done

- or, as Conrad's trader announced, "splendidly!" - while in fact covert

government operations are leading to disastrous results.

The polarization between the two women is furthered by the contrast between

their two marriages. Ellen has just returned from a Caribbean vacation,

explaining she has to coordinate her hotel stay around the plans of her

ex-husband: Since they both like the same hotel, they have to arrange to go

there during separate weeks. Lainie smiles in polite sympathy at the

inconvenience of it all.

Rounding out the cast is Steve Manzino as Walker Harris, an enterprising

reporter who befriends Lainie because he sees in her voluntary isolation the

potential for a big "human interest" story. As he becomes increasingly drawn

into her life, it remains unclear whether he is genuinely concerned for Lainie

or still sees her as grist for his own career.

The acting in this wrenching drama is uniformly excellent. McQuail and Despres

are positively luminous in the intensity of their feeling for one another. No

matter how much they suffer, theirs is an authentic level of existence that is

given dignity and meaning by the power of their own personal loyalty, and it

is this which is the ultimate message of the play.

TheatreWorks' latest continues through March 30. Curtain for Two Rooms is

Friday and Saturday at 8 pm. Call TheatreWorks, located at 5 Brookside Avenue

in New Milford, at 860/350-6863 for ticket information.