The friend with whom I attended Freshwater pointed out that it really represents three periods of time: the Victorian Age, about which it is written; the 1920's-30's, in which it was written; and the time in which it is presented. This is a difficult feat to attempt, much less achieve, and the Women’s Project does not achieve the heights required.
Freshwater's script is a lyrical piece of prose that includes internal rhyme and meter. When read, it flows beautifully. Freshwater is filled with historical references that will send you to Wikipedia, and adorned with flights of fancy that might have influenced the likes of Ionesco had he known about them. In short, this is a piece of literature that needs no fiddling with. It is like a clear broth that is delicate and substantial at the same time. Only experienced chefs can make such a dish, and only the wise will serve it unadorned.
Ms. Bogart has chosen to adorn Virginia Woolf’s text with kitsch that is not only uninspired but bewildering. From the first moment of the play, when one actor comes out from behind the homespun curtain and appears to count the audience members (she does this three times) while the rest of the cast is clearly behind the curtain pretending to warm up and stealing the occasional campy peek through the curtain at us, this production hurtles like a woman in a hoop skirt running the steeplechase. It is clumsy and illogical.
The dramatis personae include Ellen Terry and George Frederick Watts at the end of their ten-month marriage, Alfred Lord Tennyson, Julia and Charles Cameron, and Mary Magdalen – clearly a riot of characters. The addition of Lt. John Craig was probably a reference to the illegitimate children Terry had with William Godwin while she was still married to Watts. She gave them the last name of Craig to avoid a scandal. This is the sort of unstated, but obvious in its time, reference that fills this text.
Over this is set the gentlest of plots, involving the departure of the Camerons for India accompanied by a cow and two coffins. Alfred Lord Tennyson wanders in and out, reading from his own work, and there is a lovely fictional scene between Terry and the lieutenant. Finally there is a cameo appearance by the Queen herself. It is all a tumult, and the text guides us with feather-like adjustments from here to there.
Article comments