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Summer and Smoke by Tennessee Williams at Classic Stage Company

I have to admit that I get a lot of anxiety whenever I go to Classic Stage Company. It could be because if I'm not sitting on the aisle, I feel very penned in (I have severe claustrophobia). Or because one time I was there and got sick and had to bolt from my seat (that was unfortunately not on the aisle). Or because I have to fight myself to stay awake and alert every damn time I am there.

We need to talk, Classic Stage Company. What are you doing? What are you doing?

This season alone they produced a dull As You Like It and a criminally boring Twelfth Night, both of which had no spark whatsoever or reason to exist. After they blew it with Shakespeare, they produced the dull and undeveloped Fire and Air, one of the worst things I saw in 2017-2018.

And now, they have dug their hooks (in conjunction with the Transport Group) into poor Tennessee Williams' Summer and Smoke. What did Williams ever do to them to deserve this treatment?

This might sound sacrilegious but Summer and Smoke certainly isn't the strongest of his plays, especially its plot. The plot is a little thin, and director Jack Cummings should've pared this down to ninety minutes. Nothing about this production justifies the two and a half hour run time, nor does it justify the twelve person cast. Cummings created a minimal production, with a set reminiscent of Ivan Van Hove's concept for A View From the Bridge. But unlike A View From the Bridge, Kathryn Rohe's costumes are still period, which made no sense and did not work for me. Is this supposed to be a high concept production or a literal one? It was clear that even Cummings couldn't figure it out.

And oh, the choice to have imaginary props and mime their use (a la Our Town) really didn't work and wasn't justified either. Especially when Cummings makes the choice of having Alma's tablets be actual tablets at the end of the play. If he wanted to make the argument that the tablets are the only "real" thing in Alma's life, I don't really buy it. It just seems lazy. If you're going to have a high concept production, make it make sense. See it through. Don't do it because it seems evocative and cool.

Also, if you're wondering, much like the other productions of CSC's current season, Summer and Smoke is a dull slog. I had to fight myself to stay awake towards the end of the second act.

Tennessee Williams' work, especially his lesser known pieces, can veer towards melodrama. I think its up to the director to keep his or her actors in check so that they don't push it and they don't overact. For the most part Cummings' ensemble succeeds in not chewing the non-existent scenery (save for Nathan Darrow, who dangerously overacts to the point where I had to stop myself from rolling my eyes) but as I mentioned above, this production could've been pulled off with a cast of maybe five or six. Trust your audience. They won't get confused by an actor playing two or three roles. If you're going to go minimal with set and non-existent with props, go minimal with everything.



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