EUGENE
BY KAUKAB JHUMRA SMITH
Too Close for Comfort
Far Away holds up a mirror to our fearful souls.
N
ot much of Far Away makes sense
on the surface. Bits of meaning,
enough to tell you that something
is horribly wrong, emerge as you watch.
There is a war on, enemies could lurk any-
where, and each character accepts his or her
part in rooting them out with resignation.
British playwright Caryl Churchill
wrote Far Away before 9/11, but you will
think an American wrote this play right in
the middle of the war on terrorism.
The play opens with a young girl, Joan
(Elena Stylos) unable to sleep at the house
of her aunt Harper (Barbara Embree).
Through Joan’s persistent, wily questions
about what she has inadvertently seen dur-
ing a walk outside, Harper reluctantly
unveils the secrets Harper’s husband keeps
locked in their barn. As Joan’s description
of what she saw gets more horrific, Harper
doggedly continues to defend her husband
and warns Joan to ask no more questions
or she will be branded a traitor.
Churchill’s three loosely connected
scenes are a little bit like an abstract poem
that leaves vivid impressions and images in
your mind but doesn’t quite follow a plot.
John Schmor, the play’s director and a
UO theater arts professor, says he hadn’t
read a script this powerful in a long time.
“If you can keep people worrying about
who’s on the right side and who’s on the
wrong side, they won’t worry about who’s
getting killed,” says Schmor.
Only 50 minutes long, Far Away cre-
ates a sense of bleakness through its use of
minimalist sets. The lighting is to be truly
complimented — it makes remarkable use
of Lord Leebrick’s compact space by sug-
gesting at things impossible to include in
the set. And the militaristic sound effects
don’t just suggest at things unseen but cre-
ate an atmosphere of fearful foreboding:
military helicopters fly low overhead, a
train whistles while bustling prisoners
away, and industrial sounds indicate work-
ers chugging away at their jobs.
All four actors put in rather deliberate
performances, drawing each sentence out
clearly and pausing often between lines.
Their intentional slowness adds to the sur-
real quality of the play.
Far Away continues at Lord Leebrick
through Jan. 24.
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A Roaring Success
The Lion in Winter sparkles at the VLT.
T
he Very Little Theatre has a palpa-
ble hit on its hands with The Lion
in Winter. It delights in every way,
from its witty, passionate cast to its sump-
tuous period costumes.
James Goldman, the Chicago-born play-
wright, offers us a glimpse into a family
squabbling over the holidays. Except in this
case, the dysfunctional clan coming togeth-
er for Christmas belongs to the philander-
ing King of England, Henry II, in 1183.
Joining the bleak festivities is Henry’s
estranged wife, Eleanor of Aquitane (Janet
Steiger Carr) who Henry (William
Campbell) keeps imprisoned in her castle
and only lets out for the holidays. There is
Henry’s beautiful mistress, Alais of France
(Cate Wolfenbarger), some 27 years
Henry’s junior and raised by Eleanor as
her own daughter. Alais and Henry’s
romance clearly causes the aging Eleanor
great pain, though she disguises her
anguish through sweetly two-faced com-
ments (“You’ll make a beautiful bride. I
The wily Eleanor
(Janet Steiger Carr)
hatches a plot.
wonder if I’ll cry?”) and through her con-
stant baiting of the couple (she goads them
to kiss in front of her, so she can compare
it to how she imagines them).
Adding to the holiday cheer are Henry
and Eleanor’s three sons, the warrior
Richard
Lionheart
(Alexander
Pawlowski), the scheming Geoffrey
(Tadhg Simmons) and the whiny, demand-
ing 16-year-old John (Nick Poublon),
Daddy’s favorite son. Eleanor calls them
all “a greedy little trinity,” for each covets
Henry’s crown.
Each member of the cast handles the
parry-and-thrust quality of Goldman’s
sparkling dialogue with wonderful adroit-
ness. Their comic timing never falters. In
particular, Carr as Eleanor gleams on stage
like one of her large ruby rings. Her beau-
ty has a luminous but fragile quality, and
one can sense that beneath her tough exte-
rior she is ready to crumble. By turns
sprightly, brutal, tender, wily, and aching-
ly honest, Carr makes Eleanor’s wit bit-
ingly funny and heartbreaking at
the same time.
Campbell plays Henry as a
charming but impatient monarch
who is preoccupied by his land
and power.
The VLT stage creates the
vaulted interior of a medieval
castle through metal arches sus-
pended in the air. The royal cos-
tumes, whether draped, bejew-
eled, fur-trimmed or armored,
give authenticity to the produc-
tion without looking fussy. From
cast to crew, this whole produc-
tion is a pleasure to watch.
Directed by Reva Kaufman,
The Lion in Winter runs at VLT
through Jan. 31.–KJS
ew
JANUARY 22, 2004 23