‘Boston Marriage’ explores difficulties of women’s relationship
David Mamet channels Henry James in “Boston Marriage,” a fascinating play about women that is being presented at Las Vegas Little Theatre’s Black Box under the direction of David McKee.
Anna and Claire are involved in a lesbian relationship, a so-called Boston marriage — “a fig leaf of propriety” placed upon such relationships by Victorian society. Mamet humorously explores the notion under a heavy patina of double entendre without ever naming the exact nature of the relationship.
By presenting “Boston Marriage” at the opening of LGBT Pride Week in Las Vegas, McKee brings out the play’s more serious undertones about the difficulties women face when they choose to structure their lives and relationships independently of men.
The lack of formal recognition of Anna and Claire’s relationship creates tension between the pair. Anna seeks the financial support of a wealthy married man by becoming his mistress, and Claire becomes infatuated with a young girl and asks Anna’s help in affording her a safe place for an assignation. A large emerald that Anna receives as a gift from her male lover sets off a crisis in the women’s relationship.
Jessica Hird as Anna and Natalie Senecal as Claire are skillful actresses, but Mamet’s ornate Victorian language doesn’t sound natural on their lips. Humorously, as if in a nod to his other more testosterone-fueled work, Mamet interjects into this flowery language the expletives that one expects in Mamet-speak.
Despite the heavy innuendos in the script, the women’s physical attraction, that sexual tension just beneath the surface of their Victorian propriety, doesn’t come across, even though Anna accuses Claire of not having any feelings “above her loins.” But Hird and Senecal do convey the sense of being a couple in a long-term relationship who talk about the things that people talk about when “thrust together at dinner or by marriage.”
The casting might also be faulted because the two women refer to themselves as “two foolish old women.” Though Claire is supposed to be somewhat younger than Anna, both are women of a “certain age.” But Senecal in particular appears much younger than her character. This probably wouldn’t have been a problem in a larger theater, but in the Black Box, age tells.
Age was also a distraction in Vanessa Coleman’s portrayal of the maid, Catherine. Catherine could have been a part written for the classic dumb-but-not-so-dumb blonde, and even though Coleman was enjoyably funny in the part, she just looked too old for the role. It was hard to believe her as the indiscreet young maid sneaking off for a tryst with her lover in the park.
The interactions of Anna and her maid, while funny, were confusing. Anna keeps insisting that Catherine is Irish, reciting a litany of offensive Irish stereotypes and slurs, but Catherine is Scottish.
One wonders if the bit should be as amusing as it is. What if it were a modern setting, say Las Vegas, and the maid was Hispanic and Anna kept on insisting that she therefore must be Mexican? Neither Mamet nor McKee provides us with sufficient clues to get the point, or perhaps it is just intended as comic shtick.
Set design and decoration by Chris Davies were a disappointment. A major point in the play is that Anna has just redecorated in chintz, but that wasn’t chintz. Jennifer McKee’s costumes were more interesting, especially the stunning black lace that Anna wears in Act 2 and the colorful and humorous “medium” costumes the ladies don in Act 3.
LVLT’s decision to open “Boston Marriage” during Pride Week was perhaps presentient given a Review-Journal headline last week that announced, “Gay marriage decision could hit Nevada quickly.” David McKee’s intelligent direction helps us to understand why that decision will be so important to same-sex couples.
