STAGE [REVIEW]
Walking Tall Three Tall Women is expertly performed and revealing in its toughness Written by
PAUL FRISWOLD Three Tall Women Written by Edward Albee. Directed by Gary F. Bell. Presented by Stray Dog Theatre through February 22 at the Tower Grove Abbey (2336 Tennessee Avenue; www.straydogtheatre. org). Tickets are $30 to $35.
A
” has come to the end of her life, and “B” is there to help her manage these final hours with comfort and dignity. “C” is present to remind “A” of all her unfinished business, and the dreams, hopes and fantasies she’s lost along the way. t’s a cruel thing to do at the end, but “A is well-versed in cruelty, callousness and long-held grudges. dward Albee’s drama Three Tall Women takes place in the bedroom of an aged, patrician woman, and in her memory. Their names are placeholders, because A has trouble remembering names and people. All she has left is her anger, her pride and the unceasing pain of a broken arm that will no lon-
From left: Angela Bubash, Jan Meyer and Donna M. Parrone in Three Tall Women. | JOHN LAMB ger heal. t’s a tough play, but you have to be tough to get to A’s age. Three Tall Women, currently being produced by Stray Dog heatre under the direction of ary . Bell, revels in that toughness. t’s an un inching production, but there are ashes of tenderness that help to limn the character of A with an inviolate humanity. f you live long enough, you’ll lose the people you most love, either through death or your own actions. Bell’s cast of three — Jan Meyer, Donna . arrone and Angela Bubash — portray the same woman at different ages. Meyer played A in St. ouis Actors’ Studio’s 201 production and here reprises the
role with the same inty-eyed pragmatism. n the first act, she’s forgetful and frail. er caregiver, B arrone , indulges her fancies and kindly helps her navigate the blank spots in her memory. C Bubash is a representative of A’s lawyer and tries to command the old woman’s attention and then chides her for her failing to stay on task. Their three-way conversation is spiked with Albee’s trenchant wit and a musical sense of timing, as shared lines pass from one woman to the next. In the second act, all three women are A at different stages of her life, gathered together in A’s failing memories
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as her physical body goes about dying. Bubash is A at 2 , a funloving young woman whose confident “ ’ll marry and be happy is uickly dismissed by eyer with a hand ap and a weary, “ e’ll talk about happiness. t’s arrone who’s stuck in the middle at 52, both chronologically and emotionally. er A is wiser than Bubash’s but also wants to know what changes come in the next 0 years to make her so lonely and aggrieved. hat uestion is answered when their son comes to visit and arrone ares into a screaming rage at the sight of him. Even Meyer, so wise and all-knowing, seems shaken by the fury of her younger self. he uestion hangs over this second half of the play hy isn’t A able to forgive her son for disappointing her and leaving her? hy wasn’t he able to take the first step toward reconciliation? Bubash’s young A, so full of dreams for a happy family, is stunned into horrified silence by it all ow does love die so uickly? ow does a family degenerate into warring factions? All three women are excellent, and Bell’s direction is so smooth that the intermission comes unexpectedly soon. f there’s a aw here, it’s that the final moments come to an abrupt end and almost don’t land. But maybe that’s how death is. Just when you think you’ve hashed it all out and have finally come to grips with life, the lights go out. n
FEBRUARY 12-18, 2020
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