On November 13, 2010, J. Peter Bergman wrote a review of ‘Melancholy Play’ by Sarah Ruhl

Click here to read full review

EXCERPT:

In Sarah Ruhl’s earliest produced work, Melancholy Play (2001), the subject may not be roses but flowers play a major part in our impressions of the show and its people. Tilly, the heroine, wears a crown of flowers; her principal love interest, Frank, sports a rose in bud; her therapist, Lorenzo, hosts a blue zinnia (I think) over his heart. Without a doubt there is some sort of message here, though not as deep and overwhelming as the message of the almond placed on every seat in the audience. Here is the height of subliminal theatrics: an almond on every seat. Look for it. It’s there. Eat the almond. You must eat it and soon, because by the end of the second act you may fear your almond. Eat the almond.

So how do the flowers make their point? They are ever-present. Other things change, but the flowers are always there. In this farcical melodramusical there is a presence of nature and her imagery that pervades the place. Likewise, in life there are hidden secrets (bridled lust, for example) that, when they come out and are revealed, appear silly, so in this play the secrets that are revealed are farcically, melodramusically silly as well.

Melancholy, in Tilly’s case, inspires love unbounded. Happiness dictates a change of mind and a change of state of mind also. Tilly happy equals everyone else morbid, miserable and morphing into something they cannot be in real life. You might say her sanity drives everyone else nuts. Eat the almond.

WAM Theatre, for its first full production, has undertaken this unique experience and in doing so has found an introductory presentation that is both memorable and delightful. Whether you like this play or not you will not be able to stop yourself from smiling. The show, as directed by the very talented Kristen van Ginhoven, is a non-stop gallop through a world of understated enchantment. Van Ginhoven understands the elements of farce and pacing is very high on her list of items to explore. She takes her actors on a physical journey of the mind and along the way discovers the high-road to hilarity, the path to morbidity, the journey to jealousy and the ridge of romance. She has approached this work without fear that her audience might not be taken with the results. Instead she has forged a steeled structure that need not fear the winds of time, the insulting slurs of plagiarism or the inhibited reactions of inhibited reactionaries. As a result she has made a home-run hit her first time at bat locally. And so we eat the almond.