This is the last chance to see some of the season’s most exciting theater in the Washington Shakespeare Company production of Tennessee Williams’ seldom performed play Small Craft Warnings (extended to 5/17). This is Williams in a minor key with bottom-feeding characters living the lie – the odor of mendacity hangs strong here – and engaged in mutually parasitic relationships.  The fourth wall is completely shattered in this powerful production.  The show is literally and figuratively turned inside out: you enter and pass through the theater for a performance space, a bar with seats and tables, which is set in the lobby.  You get to experience the play from the point of view of the characters, living theater as it were; the actors interact with the audience before and during the play and at intermission.  

Normally the magic of theater is compromised, at least for me, when the actors are in your face, if not your lap (as one surprised patron was to find), but it seems like an expedient way of jump-starting this talky type of play which tends toward solipsism. The suspension of disbelief may not be as important in this age of reality programming, where the term, as I once read, might require the placement of quotes, and to borrow from T.S. Eliot we cannot stand very much “reality.”

Directed imaginatively by Jay Hardee, the play incorporates a number of other techniques to clarify and move the story along.  He invents a Puck-like Bar Spirit (Erin Kaufman) who hovers protectively (think Wim Wenders’ Wings of Desire) over the characters, accentuating the action here and carrying out stage business there.  And he has the play performed expressionistically, certainly the right mood here for this dark poetic rumination, with stylized delivery and movement, and heightened vocalization.   Each of the characters, revealed in a series of set pieces, gets an epiphanic moment during the first act, with meanings fleshed out in accompanying dumb shows or pantomimes.   

Leona, played as an avenging Fury by Kari Ginsburg, is hell bent to rid herself of memories of long-dead brother as well as a philandering and free-loading lover Bill performed with directness and menace by James Finley.  She’s pull-push in her relationships and determined to root out the hypocrisy of this world whether embodied by the impaired Doc played with a certain desperation by Joe Palka or the dexterous and chemically-addled Violet fully realized by Mundy Spears.

Later in the first act a gay couple washes up on these shores, the jaded older Quentin (Christopher Henley) and the cruising younger Bobby (Thomas Wood).  Quentin relates the harsh reality of his world and rues the lost capacity to marvel at existence – the feeling, self-realization, and presentness of living.  Mr. Henley finely captures the emotionally deadened Quentin, delivering some of the play’s most evocative lines, always in the moment, discovering with the audience what has gone from his life.  Mr. Wood nicely expresses his character’s sense of wonder and also opportunism; when his moment of commitment comes, he votes with his feet.    

Monk (John C. Bailey), who is fully occupied with his own brand of self advancement, is slowly but surely skimming a small, steady piece of the action from this group of misfits, while flying just below the radar of the law.    Mr. Bailey inhabits the part of the Everyman bartender so completely, I wouldn’t be surprised if he turned up at my watering hole.

Violet and Steve (Brian Crane) are the Frick and Frack of this Dumb and Dumber duo, serving to provide comic relief throughout while Monk and Tony the Cop (Michael Sandoval) supply it with a nod and a wink in the second part, which feels like a coda to a long one-act.  (WSC has chosen – wisely I think – to drop some extended and confusing off-stage dialogue from the production).  By the end, all these failures have bailed in one way or another:  only Monk, the seeming survivor, and the free-floating, but dependent Violet are left and you sense that once the barkeep ascends those steps, he will join the marlin as another of life’s trophies.  

Babes, B-movie, and country music posters adorn the set of this redneck bar and along with the scrawled graffiti and pin-ups in the men’s room, contributed delightfully to the self-referential and expressionistic style of the play (Mr. Hardee and Karen Sugrue, Co-Set Designers).  The lighting (Jason Cowperthwaite) worked well during the monologues and emblazoned the Aqua tint of the fish, nicely accented by the costumer designer (Jennifer Tardiff) in a dress for the bar spirit.

This is theater at its best, with first-rate direction and a strong ensemble cast, now in their fifth week of performance; they are completely comfortable and in command of their roles.  WSC has taken a risk in staging Small Craft Warnings and succeeded admirably.  It will be a long time before this play and level of performance comes around again, so do get out to see the show before it closes Sunday (5/17).  Don’t leave yourself saying, “Oh, well.”

Sound check: Extremely loud vocalizations during emotional scenes, especially with Leona’s portrayal. 

Program notes: Average

Applause meter: Highly recommended for serious theatergoers, acting directors and dramaturgs, Tennessee Williams’ lovers, and those with of sense of adventure.  3 ½ hands. Mature themes.
Runtime: Approximately 2 hours with an intermission