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A CurtainUp Review
Nance O’Neil
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This afternoon we drove to Newport in her car and walked along the Cliff Walk. It was horrible. People stopped and pointed. Said things. Not whispered. Said them aloud. As if she couldn’t hear. And she just stood it. Walked along head high, determined not to let it touch her. I’d never seen such courage .— Nance O’Neil
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Rachel Brown as Nance O'Neil
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David Foley answers this question with a gripping new play based on the relationship Lizzie (now renamed Lizbeth) formed with actress Nance O’Neil in 1905, twelve years after the murders. Presented by Blue Coyote Group, Nance O’Neil is directed by founding member Gary Shrader, who makes this story as emotionally charged and occasionally as frightening as an Alfred Hitchcock thriller.
Nance O’Neil is based on historical fact, but in the story of Lizzie Borden, fact is generously mixed with speculation. Were O’Neil and Borden lovers as well as friends? Was O’Neil genuinely fond of Borden or was the profligate and sometimes penniless actress using the wealthy but lonely and isolated spinster? And, of course, there is always the question that hovered over the rest of Borden’s life — did she do it, and if she didn’t, who did?
Jonna McElrath plays the effervescent Lizbeth/Lizzie, desperately trying to free herself from the domination of her tight-lipped, tight-fisted sister Emma (Jane Titus). She seems perpetually on the verge of bursting out of her push-up bra and tight-fitting bodice as she scurries across the stage seeking Nance’s favor. McElrath’s performance is a fine mixture of desperation, determination, vulnerability and stoicism.
Rachel Brown, as Nance O’Neil, has the difficult task of playing a woman who may or may not have been the villain in the story. As a woman who would like to be free of the constrictions her sex is subject to, she regards Lizzie as a proto-feminist, someone who has "struck a blow for freedom" by standing up in court and defending herself. Nance’s mentor, McKee Rankin (Frank Anderson), sees the situation differently.
Anderson as Neil’s cynical former lover makes his character so engaging and complex he comes close to stealing the show. Clearly, the young actress is his meal ticket, but it is equally certain that he is still in love with her. And it is most certainly this jaundiced impresario who best understands Lizzie, whether or not she actually committed the murders.
Foley cannot resist the temptation of throwing into his play at least one alternate theory of who murdered the Bordens, then quickly casting doubt on this theory. But Nance O’Neil is not really about the murders; it is about what the crime does to the survivors. It is also a compelling study of what life was like for women in the early 20th century.
But most of all, Nance O’Neil is about human beings, with all their frailties, trying to comfort and make contact with one another. This contact is often complicated by unwanted past histories and impossible expectations. In this regard, the characters in the drama that surround Lizzie Borden are not much different from the rest of humanity – minus the hatchet.
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Nance O’Neil By David Foley Directed by Gary Shrader Cast: Rachel Brown (Nance O’Neil), Jonna McElrath (Lizbeth Borden), Frank Anderson (McKee Rankin), Jane Titus (Emma Borden) Set: Emily Inglis Lights- Christopher Weston Costumes: Christi Coufal Graphics: Bruce Goldstone Sound: Kyle Ancowitz Running Time: 2 hours with one 15 minute intermission Access Theater, 380 Broadway From 9/9/10; opening 9/15/10; closing 10/9/10 Wednesday thru Saturday at 8pm Tickets: $25 (212) 868-4444 or smarttix.com Reviewed by Paulanne Simmons Sept. 10, 2010 |
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In the Heights
