Orange Water Flower
Written by Craig Wright
Directed by James Yost
at Raven Theatre, 6157 N. Clark (map)
thru June 9 | tickets: $25 | more info
Check for half-price tickets
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Angst-driven love story loses teeth after first bite
BareBones Theatre and Interrobang Theatre Project presents
Orange Water Flower
Review by Clint May
There’s something about watching Downton Abbey that is even more interesting than watching Mad Men. Seeing Don Draper seek out personal pleasure at all costs is fairly relatable to us 21st centurians, but the people of early 20th century England are fascinating in that they seem to value self-sacrifice and honor above their own desires. What a difference a few generations has made. For a good read about it, try Chicago’s very own Laura Kipnis’ Against Love: A Polemic. Like Craig Wright’s Orange Flower Water, it’s a pointed commentary on the schizoid break that occurs when we try to reconcile our ideals of self satisfaction with responsibility. Kipnis sees adultery sympathetically—a covert culture war waged by people who have the ultimate buyer’s remorse. Orange Flower Water seems at least partly in tune with Kipnis as it messily breaks apart two couples to make a new one. It’s too bad then that, despite all the (sometimes) pointed insights into the secret regrets of our binary society, it loses its nerve and a chance to make a real statement.
What happens in the fallout is more interesting than the lead-up. The focus is mostly on Cathy’s rejection by David and a long, uncomfortable rape-by-obligation with an stinging conversation overlaid. As moments go, it’s decidedly surreal. When Beth and David get what they want, they must learn a hard and well-worn truth—no matter what your location in life or love, wherever you go, there you are.
So why does it (the story, not these marriages) fall apart? Though it’s a potential spoiler, I feel confident in the foreshadowing to say that Beth is revealed as pregnant by David. Here the story abruptly ends with a soliloquy/letter and a flatly stated moral (always a pet peeve) that makes the entirety toothless. Pregnancy ex machina is a quick way to exit the proceedings with a hopeful soap opera twist when the tone has been bracingly, despairingly real to that point. Give me a show that has the chutzpah to leave things as uneasily messy and brutal as the set up.
Well acted though it is, these characters could use a bit more characterization (they’re not helped by looking younger than their supposed middle-age). Joseph Wiens’ Brad is left one-dimensional, while the mood shift of Cyd Blakewell’s Cathy is inexplicable. There are some intriguing staging choices by director James Yost in having all characters onstage at all times. Whoever isn’t active is left to be a frozen spectator to the events that will inevitably affect them. Anyone on stage has to conspicuously avoid eye contact out of shame and fear. It’s unfortunate that none of the characters elicits compassion from the audience. Why shouldn’t these people be allowed to draw on our sympathies? Do we revere people who remain in marriages more from duty than affection only because our insecurities about love’s transience make us want to turn it from a romantic pursuit into an honorable obligation? That they are mostly just irritating makes us think they don’t deserve the happiness they seek.
If you always hurt the one you love, it’s only because they are the only ones you really can hurt. Twain’s oft needlepointed injunction to “Love like you’ve never been hurt” seems less like an optimistic statement for a heart of tabula rasa and more like a cruel joke in this latter age (and who knows, maybe he meant it that way then, too). Orange wants both cynicism and optimism – it ends up more a muddled gray.
Rating: ★★
Orange Water Flower continues through June 9th at Raven Theatre, 6157 N. Clark (map), with performances Thursdays-Saturdays 8pm, Sundays 3:30pm. Tickets are $25, and are available by phone (773-338-2177) or online through TicketTurtle.com (check for half-price tickets at Goldstar.com). More information at BareBonesTheatre.org. (Running time: 90 minutes, no intermission)
Photos by Claire Demos
artists
cast
Cyd Blakewell (Cathy), Keith Neagle (David), Ina Strauss (Beth), Joseph Wiens (Brad), Carey Lee Burton (understudy)
behind the scenes
James Yost (director, set design), Julia Rohed (production stage manager), Claire Chrzan (lighting design), Samantha Bailey (costumes), Brittany Burch (casting), Julie Strassel (sound design), Christopher Aaron Knarr (production assistant), Claire Murphy (asst. stage manager), Claire Demos (photos)
13-0525
