Crimes of the Heart
When you think of a Pulitzer
Prize-winning play, Beth Henley’s Crimes of the Heart may not be the first work
that springs to mind. The quirky dark comedy about the three Magrath sisters of
Hazlehurst, Mississippi lacks the grand importance of works that usually reap
such prestigious awards. Yet the charms and depth of the play are amply
displayed in the pleasing new staging by Firebelly Productions.
Lenny Magrath (Shelby Sours) is having one awful day. Her grandfather is in the
hospital, her horse has died, and she’s alone celebrating her 30th birthday,
which puts her on the verge of spinsterhood. On top of it all, her youngest
sister Babe (Sonia Justl) is in jail after shooting her husband because she
“didn’t like his looks.” This crisis causes the sisters to rally together,
including Meg (Melissa Graves) who took off for California five years earlier to
pursue a singing career.
(Full
Review)
A Little Bit Criminal Alongside a Lot of
Heart
Playwright Beth
Henley should be mostly pleased by the way Arlington County's Firebelly
Productions has restored some of the sentiment she layered carefully into her
dark and occasionally gritty comedy "Crimes of the Heart." So many troupes
concentrate on the outlandishly funny parts that it is not always clear why this
play won the Pulitzer Prize for drama in 1981, along with the 1981 New York
Drama Critics' Circle Award for best American play.
But Henley's remarkably nuanced story-telling gifts are on full display here.
Director Patricia Foreman has guided her capable cast through the twists and
turns of family dysfunction so carefully that most of the laughs seem to spring
from reality, despite the absurd situations. There's precious little shtick
here, in a play where performers could skate by on not much else, if they
wished. Thankfully, Foreman and her cast prefer acting to mugging. They get most
of the laughs and give the audience much more.
(Full
Review)
Grief As A Laughing Matter
Sisterhood drama is gigglefest at Firebelly.
Playwright Beth
Henley was on to something when she envisioned a three-act drama about how
sisters deal with mounting pressures of grief, failure, approaching spinsterhood
and a murder indictment – laughter. After all, when siblings share their
innermost emotions and those emotions get too strong for logical, intellectual
discussion, they must burst out in either tears or laughs.
Firebelly Productions is presenting Henley’s play "Crimes of the Heart" at the
Theatre on the Run on South Four Mile Run Drive through April 19. It plumbs the
depth of that often-ignored reality. After all, bursting into giggles over your
grandfather’s demise might seem to outsiders to be the epitome of bad taste. To
three sisters, however, it is an uncontrollable joint response built on decades
of sibling bonding.
(Full
Review)
A dark comedy of sisters gathered to support
each other in grief and scandal
Beth Henley's
Pulitzer Prize winning dark comedy about sisters gathering together in support
of one of their number who just shot her husband accelerates throughout its
three acts to hit an emotional release one might not expect in a grief-based
story: laughter. The comedy of it all escalates as more and more big and small
tragedies in the lives of the family are revealed. In Henley's view, the release
of tensions for a family under pressure often comes through laughter - or at
least an attack of the giggles. The reason Henley's play has had such success is
that she struck on a little-acknowledged fact of life, one known so well by many
people who have shared a loss or a time of trouble within that unique support
group that is composed of siblings. Laughter is therapeutic and real and in no
way demeaning to the departed or the troubled. Indeed, as act three shows here,
the laughter can be a bonding experience of immense value not only to the
troubled, but, if she's around, to the trouble bringer.
(Full
Review)
