STRONG CAST IN LENGTHY SEVEN GUITARS

STRONG CAST IN LENGTHY SEVEN GUITARS
F. J. Hartland

            Seven Guitars, the current production at Pittsburgh Playwrights Theatre, is part of the late August Wilson’s ten-play cycle about Pittsburgh.  Each play looks at a different decade in the life of our city; in this case, the Hill District in the 1940’s.

            Director Mark Clayton Southers has assembled a powerful and very talented cast to bring this VERY long play to life.

            Seven Guitars begins at the funeral of Floyd Barton, a ne’er-do-well musician.  It becomes the framework of the play as we then see—in flashback—the events leading to Floyd’s death.  I question the use of this frame because we know from the opening that Floyd is dead, thus eliminating the only real surprise the script has in store.  With a running time in excess of three hours, this production of Seven Guitars could use more surprises.

            The lengthy scene changes (between the many, many scene) do nothing to shorten the show’s length either.

            Montae Russell plays the highly unlikeable Floyd.  Floyd is so unscrupulous that it’s hard to feel for his plight, but Russell does have some powerful moments.  The strikingly beautiful Erika Ratcliffe is Floyd’s long-suffering love interest Vera.  Ratcliffe has a most powerful scene early in the play and sets the bar quite high for the rest of the cast.  During the scene when she berates Floyd for taking up with Pearl, I recall thinking, “This is going to be one helluva show!”  Sadly, the script rarely affords her the chance to shine like that again.  Also, one has to wonder why a woman as intelligent as Vera can not see that Floyd is a lying, cheating, stealing, no-good two-timer.

            Hedley, an often-unbalanced knife-wielding man, is played by Wali Jamal.  Jamal’s accent is rather authentic; however, when the emotions rise and his rate increases, he becomes incomprehensible.  He is always interesting to watch, but falls into the trap of an “over-the-top” performance.

            Teri Bridgett is delightful as neighbor Louise.  Her wise-cracks and painfully honest observations pump a great deal of humor into the script.  As Canewell Alan Bomar Jones also gives a strong characterization and often adds humor to the production.  Johnathan Berry makes the most out of the underwritten role of Red.  Genna Styles brings some real sass to Ruby, a visitor from Birmingham.

            The set (also by Southers) is heightened realism at its best.  Not only is there a real dirt on the ground, but also a worn brick sidewalk, working doors to a root cellar, a spigot that runs water, live plants in the garden, and an honest-to-heavens live chicken.  No detail has been over-looked.  The feel of the 1940’s is further established by the arrival of a deliveryman carrying a block of in the grip of massive tongs and later, a milk man who delivers glass bottles of milk to each doorstep.  With arena style seating and action happening all around the playing space, the audience is quickly drawn into the physical world of Seven Guitars.

            Lighting, which is often a weakness at PPTCO, continues to be problematic.  Places are often too dark or one is blinded by lights shining directly into the eyes.

            If Director Southers could get this show down to a run time of 2 ½ hours, it would be an electric evening of theatre.

            Seven Guitars continues at Pittsburgh Playwrights Theatre Company through May 24.

This entry was posted on 4. May 2009 at 18:10 and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response or trackback from your own site.

| Print