NCTC's Orange Flower Water Excites and Disappoints
Hans Altwies and Betsy Schwartz in "Orange Flower Water." Photo by M.J. Sieber.
Orange Flower Water (at ACT Theatre through July 20; tix $25) is the second play by hot local theatre group New Century Theatre Company (the first was last December's much-lauded The Adding Machine). With two shows under their belts, a pattern is emerging: For the second time, the company has worked wonders with an inherently weak script, on the strength of innovative design and powerhouse performances. There is a glaring difference, though. Whereas Elmer Rice's 1929 play aimed for the moon by tackling a host of complex issues, Craig Wright's Orange Flower Water aims far lower and still comes up wanting, and manages to be offensive in the process. We can wholeheartedly recommend this production for showcasing four brilliant actors, but the choice of play is extremely disappointing.
The play takes place in a bedroom, or rather, a series of bedrooms for which the one on the stage suffices. The action opens with Cathy (Jennifer Lee Taylor), a classic type-A personality, leaving a letter for her husband before going out of town. She's an uptight over-achiever who can't spend a couple days away without leaving him a lengthy list of chores and chastisements about his parenting, but she ends on a touching note about how deeply she loves him. In the next scene, we see her husband, David (Hans Altwies), seizing the opportunity to consummate an affair with Beth (Betsy Schwartz) that's been in the making for three years.
Beth is flighty and romantic and trapped in a loveless marriage with Brad (Ray Gonzalez), who's a classic suburban guy who likes barbecue, beer, telling dirty jokes, and has a knack for saying just the wrong thing at the wrong time. David is a more complex character, an overly analytic atheist who creates friction with Cathy by being too critical, and seems more at ease with the laid-back Beth. Beth decides to leave Brad because he's an ass, Brad reveals that he knows of her affair with David, Brad calls Cathy to tell her, and eventually there's a couple divorces affecting five children.
Jennifer Lee Taylor and Hans Altwies. Photo by M.J. Sieber.
As for the performances, we can hardly find a bad thing to say. Beyond the emotional 180-degree turns the script requires from one scene to the next, the sexual nature of the performances presents unique challenges for the actors, particularly the women. Schwartz performs one scene with her breasts exposed, with which Hans Altwies has extremely intimate contact. Taylor, for her part, has to perform a heart-wrenching sex scene, complete with orgasm, onstage as part of her character's failing scheme to save her marriage. (The show is intended for those 18 and up.) We left with nothing but the deepest respect for these four talented actors, all of whom stepped up to incredibly challenging roles and delivered.
But even those virtuosic performances don't make up for the script. Not only does Wright fail to breathe new life into a well-worn genre, the ending insults the audience with its insipid attempt at moralizing. Love stories with horrible consequences are the stuff of classic drama, but usually love is an end unto itself. Wright, however, doesn't trust his characters or actors to make David and Beth's love believable, so he ends with them having a baby to justify the hell they've put other their former spouses and five children through, because see, something good did come from all that.
Not only is that a bit offensive, but in a weird twist he leaves Brad and Cathy onstage as silent witnesses to this vapid justification for their suffering, which is deeply troubling. If this was the playwright's attempt to problematize the ending, it's a complete failure, and anyway, we don't buy it. He could have given them a voice and made things more complicated; instead, he wants the audience to leave on a saccharine sentiment as fake as an orgasm in a porno.
Good theatre--or any good art, really--challenges audiences' expectations and places demands on them. Orange Flower Water does neither, offering little besides titillation. As for NCTC, we hope their next show recaptures some of the promise of their first. We need theatre that's as challenging for audiences as it is the actors; otherwise, it's just showing off.
