The Night Of The Iguana
It’s been done, but rarely is a revival of Tennessee Williams’ The Night of the Iguana done right. A Noise Within’s production finds the humor, the humanity and the sheer hubris to tackle one of Williams most seductive and multifaceted plays.
Considered the last of his great works, Williams fascination with outsiders, (dubbed the ‘fugitive kind’), is clearly realized here in a shoddy hotel buried deep within the tropical confines of Puerto Barrio, Mexico. The lure of sanctuary and rum-coco brings a desperate gaggle of Williams’ archetypal heroes for a night’s stay that will ultimately reveal the personal demons they are running from, but of course, cannot escape.
Produced in 1961, The Night of the Iguana situates itself in 1940, foreshadowing the brink of destruction with the ominous and repetitive reports of “London is burning” and a family of Germans parading about in bathing suits and swim caps as they relay the news with a sinister glee of ‘schadenfreude.’ These are the soft reverberations of warning tolls for events we already know has passed, but Williams winds the foreboding into this flinty paradise seemingly another world away. Every man is his own universe, and God, the “senile delinquent” in his shortsighted wisdom seems content to stand back and let us create mushroom clouds and mountains of ashes of it all. What then is a man of God if he is only a man unto himself?
In the eye of his self-perpetuated storm of misery and emotional flogging is Reverend T. Lawrence Shannon (Geoff Elliott) wrestling with his conscience and carnal temptation, confronted by the purity of selflessness in Hannah Jelkes (Jill Hill) and resisting the cougar prowess of Maxine Faulk (Deborah Strang).
“Locked out” of his church for being more of man, and less than a man of God, Shannon leads a tour bus of southern Baptist church ladies through the underbelly and alleyways of Mexico to witness the real humanity that should otherwise touch them. Maintaining that he was not “defrocked” to stern chaperon Judith Fellowes (Julia Silverman) but failing to provoke anything but a teenager’s lust and hysteric infatuation, Shannon wriggles an ounce of compassion from hotel owner Maxine to take in a “97 year young” failed poet and his steadfast spinster granddaughter Hannah. Seeing the beauty in all things while hawking her watercolor wares on the streets for a few pesos, Shannon and Hannah conjoin on a night of self-discovery and symbolic freedom in one of the most emotionally revealing scenes Williams ever wrote.
More introspective than his earlier works, Williams, nevertheless ladles the first act with daring, and downright bawdy humor, and of course drinking, this is Williams after all. Unfortunately, in this production more emphasis was placed on the second act than the opening scene which rushed over much of the spontaneity of some otherwise uproarious lines. By the time Hannah and her grandfather appear, the cast finds their legs and run strong throughout, but seemingly too conscious of the final, critical scene.
Geoff Elliott pivots seamlessly from madcap to madman, ably discovering moments of revelation while sidling a sprinter’s pace of frenzied paranoia. Thankfully, Elliott never takes the liberal license of narcissistic self-grandeur and fully embodies the role with reflexive execution.
The women in this play seem to struggle within the confines of their characters and while each give a solid performance, particularly Deborah Strang’s sensitive nuances and provocative leering, Jill Hill and Julia Silverman fulfill their roles only as text, but lacking much body.
A sparse set design by Sara Ryung Clement never intrudes on the action, and is further enhanced upstage with three, faded green ornate doors, adding a nice touch to the name of the locale, Costa Verde Hotel.
Marking his fourth production at A Noise Within, director Michael Murray sharply contrasts between the hilariously animated and the tenderly tranquil scenes without allowing much in the way for natural transitions. Murray makes excellent use of the space, however, and avoids an overly staged production in lieu of a more organic atmosphere.
In The Night of the Iguana, Hannah jokes with Shannon about her grandfather’s wishes to be buried at sea like poet, Hart Crane, a wish that Williams shared due to his admiration of the same poet. Alas, Williams was not buried at sea, but interred in one of the least romantic of places, St. Louis, MO. This production too, at times, misses the mark, but A Noise Within nobly revives one of the most underrated classics from Williams’ body of work.
“The Night of the Iguana”
A Noise Within
234 South Brand Blvd.
Glendale, CA 91204
(In the Masonic Temple)
Runs through May 25th
Thurs, May 8th & May 15th at 8pm
Fri, May 9th at 8pm
Sat, May 10th at 2pm & 8pm
Sunday, May 11th & 25th at 2pm & 7 pm
Wed, May 14 at 8pm