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"TheatreZone gives Miller's 'View From the Bridge' a new urgency"-Boston Globe 11/28/06 (see review below) In this classic tragedy, Eddie Carbone has spent his life working the docks of Red Hook to support his wife Beatrice and orphaned niece Catherine whom they have raised as a daughter. Now as she approaches womanhood, Eddie's feelings for Catherine are brought into perspective by the arrival from Italy of Rodolfo, one of Beatrice's two cousins who have entered the country illegally, hoping to leave behind hunger and unemployment and to help build a better life for those they've left behind. "Every man's got somebody he loves...But sometimes there's too much..and it goes where it mustn't." (Alfieri, A View from the Bridge) There is a haunting symbolism in producing this play in Chelsea: a community of recent and older immigrants living in the shadow of the Tobin Bridge. The cast is multi-racial, most of them children of recent immigrants or themselves immigrants, together representing over 10 different countries. Jeff Gill, in the lead role of Eddie, most recently appeared with TheatreZone in his riveting performance in Proof. Drawing on his own immigrant past, Jeff is perfectly cast to breathe life into this tragic, nuanced and deeply flawed character. It's only ten years since Jeff Gill played his first role, a lead role in a Miller play -Proctor in The Crucible. And since that auspicious beginning, it's as though every troubled, marginal or misfit character he has successfully portrayed (most recently with the American Voices Series, Up You Mighty Race, and CentaStage), has been preparing him to play this classic Miller role.
Arthur Miller wrote this play in 1955 under the cloud of his own personal dramas, having just been called before the House Un-American Activities Committee as part of the government's anti-communist witch hunt, within days of his marriage to Marilyn Monroe. |
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Starring: Jeff Gill as Eddie Carbone, with Fethi Bendida, Paul S. Benford-Bruce, Ron Brinn, Mauro Canepa, Mark DiGiovanni, Lisa Caron Driscoll,
Alain Groene, Peter Hubbard, Vladimir Noel, Edward Roche, Jessica Ryan, Amar Srivastava, Fernando Valero, Anya Warburg
Directed by Danielle Fauteux Jacques |
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BOSTON GLOBE STAGE REVIEW TheatreZone gives Miller's 'View From the Bridge' a new urgency
By Sandy MacDonald, Globe Correspondent | November 28, 2006
CHELSEA -- "A View From the Bridge" may not be Arthur Miller's strongest play, but it has managed to retain its topical edge for a good half-century. In fact, given the rising backlash against illegal immigration, the 1955 work could practically be ripped from current headlines, give or take a little dated slang.
The choice of play, which examines the plight of "submarines" -- 1950s Brooklynese for undocumented dock workers -- seems like a natural for Chelsea's TheatreZone, which works hard to engage a local audience. (Outreach efforts include free bilingual outdoor summer productions.) Sitting in the shadow of the Tobin Bridge, absorbing ongoing waves of immigrants, Chelsea could pass for a modern-day equivalent of Brooklyn's Red Hook half a century ago, when hard-pressed Italian families would routinely welcome impoverished relatives from the old country, offering floor space and food till they could get on their feet.
Eddie Carbone initially welcomes his wife's cousins, Marco and Rodolpho; it's only when Rodolpho starts turning the head of Eddie's 17-year-old niece and adoptive daughter, Catherine, that his helping hand turns harsh. True to tragic type, Eddie (whom Jeff Gill skillfully plays as a bundle of warring impulses) has a flaw that's obvious to everyone but him. Even as he insists, incensed, that Rodolpho -- with his improbably blond hair and his culinary and couture skills -- is "not right," Eddie's own overprotective interest in Catherine also clearly falls into that category. That's what a local lawyer (Ron Brinn) keeps trying to tell him -- redundantly, in a rather ponderous framing device. We don't need this all-knowing authorial presence because Miller has already provided a knowing-enough figure at the core of the conflict: Eddie's marginalized wife, Bea, who couldn't be any blunter.
If previous productions left you with the impression of a subservient, ineffectual helpmate, you'll want to see what Lisa Caron Driscoll does with this role. Try as she might to downplay her passionate urge to protect all of her loved ones, whatever their shortcomings, Bea is also working desperately to restore balance in her overcrowded home. She's the one you end up feeling for, as Eddie stubbornly pursues his foredoomed path.
Anya Warburg easily conveys Catherine's dewy exuberance as she lavishes affection on her uncle and hovers on the threshold of leaving home, embarking simultaneously on a new job and a heady romance. But she comes across as a bit too polished: The double-negatives and "ain't"s that the script calls for never seem to come naturally (Catherine, whatever her aspirations, would still reflect her far-from-refined environment). And Warburg appears out of her depth when the tone turns dark.
As Rodolpho, the is-he-or-isn't-he suitor and possible green-card opportunist, Mauro Canepa masterfully keeps us guessing: Is he mannered or merely overemotive? Manipulative or genuinely enamored? Canepa walks a knife edge of manliness and sensitivity. Amar Srivastava likewise makes the most of his role as Marco, Rodolpho's already-married elder brother, whose young children back home are on the brink of starvation. He keeps Marco's torment in check till the bursting point, then gives it full vent.
All in all, it's an exemplary production of a play that, however imperfect, still has the power to move. Chelsea is lucky to have a company like TheatreZone, and non-neighbors who find their way there will be amply rewarded. |
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