Orpheus Descending

Orpheus Descending
Theatre for a New Audience
Polonsky Shakespeare Center
July 15, 2023 

Photo courtesy of Theatre for a New Audience

Theatre for a New Audience’s production of Tennessee Williams’ Orpheus Descending is pure poetry.  Director Erica Schmidt gives distinctive voice to each character by finding their individual rhythm.  The pace is steady, drawing the audience deeply into the yearning of the main characters.  The tension builds as each character faces their need to escape their repressive circumstances and find freedom. 

When Jabe Torrance, owner of the town’s dry goods store (played by Michael Cullen), is taken seriously ill, Vee Talbott (played by Ana Reeder) introduces his wife, Lady (played by Maggie Siff), to a young man who can help her in the store.  Valentine Xavier (played by Pico Alexander) is a drifter, looking for work.  When Carol Cutrere (played by Julia McDermott) gets a glimpse of Valentine, wearing his snakeskin jacket and playing his guitar, she tries to lure him away from the dry goods store.  She warns Valentine of the dangers he will find there, but he does not listen.  He just turned thirty, and says he has given up the wild life.  Lady allows Valentine to live in the back room of the store.  She opens up to him, telling of when the men in the town burned her father’s vineyard to the ground, killing him.  She was then sold to her husband, and has been trapped in the dry goods store ever since.  When Jabe reveals the truth of his involvement in the fire at the vineyard, Lady throws herself at Valentine, seeking freedom and revenge. 

The Cast of "Orpheus Descending"
Photo courtesy of Theatre for a New Audience

The tension of the piece is created through the contrast in the portrayal of the characters.  Pico
Alexander’s Valentine is smooth as silk.  Maggie Siff’s Lady is tough as nails.  Julia McDermott’s Carol is wild with abandon.  Ana Reeder’s Vee is cogent in her beliefs.  This is a large cast of strong, skilled actors.  Each actor on stage adds a distinct rhythm and pace in their interpretation, tightening the pull of the dramatic tension, while impelling the action to build to a shocking conclusion.  

Orpheus Descending is beautifully directed and performed.  It is playing at Theatre for a New Audience’s Polonsky Shakespeare Center in downtown Brooklyn through August 6. 

Domenick Danza