Crimes of the Heart
Crimes of the Heart
By Beth Henley
Directed by Fran Hilgenberg
Starring Natalie Reed, Vera Varlamov, and Sarah French
Theatre Downtown, Orlando, FL</strong>
There’s no better place for rot and decay than the Deep South, and that sums up the lives of the MaGrath sisters. Lenny (Reed) suffers from shrunken ovaries and shrunken self-confidence, no man would want here since she can’t provide children. Meg (Varlamov) went off to LA to sing; now she’s works at a dog food factory and lies about her record contract. Worst off is Babe (French), she shot her husband in the stomach. She was aiming higher, but that’s a thing about owning guns – if you don’t fire them occasionally, you can’t expect to use them accurately. The family is overshadowed by the past: Old Granddad is dying, and then there mom – she not only hung herself, she did in the cat as well. What did the cat ever do to her? The biggest problem is the shooting, Babe freely admits the act and it’s up to crusading lawyer Barnette Lloyd (Jeremiah Morris). He’s sweet on Babe, but be warned, if you get her off she’ll think she can shoot anyone any old time, and that might be you.
I think they were serving estrogen at the bar; this was certainly a girl’s night out. Lenny is every scared little girl who locks herself in a closet or a librarian job, the last thing she wants is rejection from a man. She’s also sad enough make her own birthday, sans cake, and hide it away when others arrive. Meg seems most in charge of herself, she openly flirts with Doc Porter (Frank Casado) even though she left him crippled in the wreckage of Hurricane Camille. I see Meg’s position as a woman destined to make a fine ex-wife. Babe seems a bit off in her head, there’s a touch of remorse but all boils down to “OK, I did it; I guess jail won’t be that bad.” Off on the side is cousin Chick Boyle (Brenan Arden Warner). Her job is trouble maker and with her sultry eyes and sharp tongue, she gets the best digs of the evening.
This is a show of secrets, each reveals as slowly as good story telling will allow. Babe is the center of the story, but we don’t realize that until all the side stories have come forward and been found less compelling. With death and loneliness as the stakes they pull you in to the world of gossip and sweet lemonade, only to return you to your world, less dramatic and less painful. Just think: Well at least my life’s not THAT bad.”
For more information on Theatre Downtown, please visit http://www.theatredowntown.net
