I was about to be introduced to five women, and then
a sixth. I don’t think I’ve seen many productions
of any kind in which the entire cast is of one sex, except maybe for POW films
where an escape is being planned. The only male presence for the next few hours
would be the disembodied voice of the announcer – unreal and distant from the
action happening between and among the women, as distant as their offstage
husbands.
I say “between and among” because conflicts happened
to pairs and then the group reacted, just like in real life. There are secrets but nothing stays secret
for long, just like in real life, and there is a transformation that takes
place. I’m not being flip when I say that changes in
hairstyle signaled that a change had happened to the character on the inside.
The play takes place in a locker room, which is
metaphorical, at least more metaphorical than the seating section for wives in
the stands.
The sixth woman who stepped on the stage, the rookie
wife, Wyla, played by Eliza Simpson, stole the show for me. To be fair to the others, all excellent in
their roles, her character is written to do that. Their historical conflicts, their
hierarchy, their way of interacting for what we fell is years set the stage for
her arrival.
She is awkward, innocent to a point, untutored,
easily awestruck and absolutely genuine.
She completely embraces the role. She handles the comedy very well. The best compliment I can give is that you
instantly feel that that you know her.
Samantha Strelitz as Pam, the Olympic swimmer with a
record of athletic success all her own but whose husband can’t hit the
curveball, conveys well that combination of paradoxes that makes up a real
person. To say more would be to give way
too much.
Chudney Sykes, as Marceline, wears well the
trappings of her role – she is the wise one, mature, forgiving, always steady. Jennifer
Laine Williams as Sally is the convincing Queen of the locker room,
disciplinarian, keeper of the faith, will she ever see another way? Cristina Marie and McKenna Fox as the duo of
Connie and Ronnie anchor the action with a comedic, matter-of-fact routine.
“I wish every woman could have a baseball card of
her husband,” says the rookie wife early in the play. By the end of the action, you might conclude
that the women have come into their own… maybe the husbands should have
baseball cards of their wives.
At intermission, when I checked my phone, I was
distressed to see that the Red Sox had a 4-2 lead. At the end of the play, I walked briskly from
26th Street to Penn Station, troubled that the score was now 7-2. Thirty minutes early for the next train, I
sought out the bar where I watched, hope against hope, the home team roar back
to a 7-7 tie.
Sitting in the train, moving in and out of the
tunnels, gaining and losing connection, my cell phone told me that we were
ahead 8-7, then that it was tied 8-8.
Arriving in my town, I walked to the bar near the
station and watched the final unraveling, only me and the bartender. He was pessimistic about our chances and he
was right. We lost 9-8, a heart-breaker.
“I’d better go,” I said to him. “I have a review to write.”
Play
runs through 9/15. Hudson Guild Theatre,
441 West 26th Street. More info www.yankeewives.com
Playwright/Director David
Rimmer. Set design by Allison McGrath, Lighting design by Ian Edward Smith.
Costume design by Ramona Ponce. Sound design by Matthew P. Morris. Fight
choreography by Dan Renkin. Produced by Group Theater Too.
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