This Miracle Worker Needs Work
The new Vancouver Playhouse season started the way last year ended.
Oct 16, 2009
Most would be familiar with The Miracle Worker, which helped launched the career of Patty Duke , both on stage and in the film adaptation. It tells the story of Annie Sullivan and Helen Keller, and the beginning of their long standing relationship as Annie taught Helen, who was deaf and blind, how to communicate and read. Their true story is one of inspiration, albeit with struggles and problems along the way. William Gibson wrote the play based on Sullivan and Keller, which premiered on Broadway in 1959, after it premiered in 1957 as a television broadcast.
The play is somewhat dated, but the heart of the story should remain timeless - that is what we hope, at least. Unfortunately, this opening will be one soon forgotten. Or at least it should be.
Sadly, all the heart is saved up for the final moments in the play, which makes the first 2 hours rather trivial and pointless. At the end of act one, there is a climactic scene between Annie and Helen, where Annie is trying to get Helen to sit down at the dining room table and eat her food with a spoon, rather than shoveling it into her mouth, and we should feel Annie's pain and struggle. One would hope that the audience would be sitting on pins and needles watching these two actresses fight on stage, but on opening night, the fighting was met with some out of control laughter – that's not exactly what you would expect. The issue here is the fight direction by David Bloom, but a finger can be pointed at director Meg Roe for allowing such a comical piece of stage fighting to take place in this rather heavy drama.
On the plus side, the performances are generally quite good, including a nice Playhouse debut for Margot Berner as the young Helen Keller. She stayed in character (save for one cracked smile when water was splashed in her face that probably caught her off guard) and has a good presence on stage. Despite the fact that she never makes more than a few grunting sounds or moans, she keeps our attention every time she's on stage.
Jennifer Clement is a fine Kate Keller, as is Tom Butler as the Captain. Ryan Beil as Helen's brother James warms up nicely over the course of the evening, but we never really understand why he is there, other than offering the occasional rude or obnoxious comment to his father and step mother and nothing of true substance. Anna Cummer as Annie Sullivan was a pleasant surprise in a very difficult role. She played Annie with the perfect amount of love and compassion, while being stern and strict with her student, Keller.
The set design by Allan Stichbury is perfect – simple and effective. The stage has been stripped down to its bare essentials, which allows for the maximum playing space for the actors. The direction by Meg Roe is decent, save for the fight scene mentioned above. She doesn't allow her actors to slip into characteurs of these real people, which would be easy to do, but since the heart of the piece is missing, one has to point a finger at the director.
There is a lot going for this production of The Miracle Worker, but sadly, it doesn't leave you with that tender moment where you feel the journey is complete for now. We know the story continues past the curtain, but for those two plus hours we're sitting there, we want to feel something, and we just don't. There were a few tears shed by various members of the audience on opening night, but with such a touching and moving piece of theatre like this one, you would hope for so much more. You long to feel something - anything - and that just doesn't happen. This show needs its own miracle worker to save it from being lost in an already strong 2009/2010 Vancouver theatre season.
The Miracle Worker is presented by the Vancouver Playhouse, and plays until October 31st, 2009. For tickets and information, click on the Playhouse website.
** (out of five)
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