Crimes of the Heart

By Beth Henley, Directed by David Gardiner
Commonweal Theater, June 12, 2007

The Commonweal chose Crimes of the Heart, the first play performed by the fledgling company in 1989, to close its run at the Historic St. Maine. Set in Mississippi of the mid 1970s, the “crimes” include attempted murder, suicide, and the breaking of sexual and racial taboos of Mississippi society.

The play focuses on the three adult Magrath daughters, now aged 24 – 30, who have each developed coping mechanisms to deal with first the abandonment by their father, then the suicide of their mother, and finally the benevolent yet twisted parenting by their grandfather. The three daughters are reunited in the kitchen of the house where they were raised on the occasion of the younger daughters attempted murder of her abusive husband.

Even with such heavy subject matter, the play moves quickly with ample humor, offering insight into the human spirit’s ability to cope and respond. Crimes of the Heart is a well-crafted play that doesn’t leave the audience in the depths of despair, but it doesn’t pull any punches either. It earned playwright Beth Henley numerous awards, including the New Your Drama Critics Circle Award for best new American Play and the Pulitzer Prize for Drama in 1981.

The play also serves as a showcase for four of the company’s best female actors. These characters already seem familiar to the Commonweal audience: we’ve seen them play similar characters in Steel Magnolias and other works set in the south. Perhaps that’s an advantage of a repertory company; we can find an intimacy with the characters early in the play.

Jill Underwood plays a shy 30-year-old Lenny who has stayed home to take care of her aging grandfather. Underwood plays Lenny’s lack of self-esteem so convincingly that the audience feels her heartbreak and squirms along with her on-stage discomfort. Stef Dickens plays the tough middle sister who escaped west to Hollywood as a blues singer. She’s the sister who gets everything she wants: clothes, candy, men, but like all the sisters, her outward appearance masks an inner pain and vulnerability. Stela Burdt plays the younger sister everyone calls “Babe.” Burdt’s portrayal is remarkable as Babe is both childish and sophisticated: she convincingly tells everyone that she shot her abusive husband because “she didn’t like his looks,” and her main activity upon getting out of jail—in fact after shooting her husband, too—is to make fresh squeezed lemonade, with extra sugar.

Adrienne Sweeney plays the sugary sweet, busybody cousin to the three sisters. So convincing is her performance that from her first scene on stage, much of the audience would like to knock her upside the head with a broom for her wonderful pettiness.

The kitchen setting (designed by Kate Sutton-Johnson) not only captures the period, but it stands as a reminder of what the Commonweal has been able to achieve within the confines of the St Maine. The pre-show music, ranging from southern fiddle tunes to blues and pop, is worth coming early for and even passing on the brownies next door to listen during intermission.

The Commonweal Theatre’s Crimes of the Heart runs in repertory through July 1.

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