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The Peddler's Bonesby Anthony Chase |
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John Elston has had a terrific run as a beginning playwright in Buffalo. With a gift for dialogue and an ability to imbue his characters and plots with ambiguity and mystery, he has seen engaging productions his plays Private Viewing, Interrogation Room, and Project. He enjoys the enthusiasm and loyalty of Scott Behrend, a young and talented director, who has guided these plays with insight; and he has been lucky enough for his characters to be played by some of the best talent in Buffalo—actors John Buscaglia (Interrogation Room) and Lisa Vitrano (Private Viewing) have both won Artie Awards for playing Jon Elston characters.
Once again, under the auspices of Road Less Traveled Productions, Elston’s new play, The Peddler’s Bones— again directed by Scott Behrend—is currently playing at the New Phoenix Theatre.
This is an Absurdist thriller about two oddball sisters, played by the marvelous Miss Vitrano and Katie White, living a portion of a house once owned by their family, filled with the memories of their lives. The progress of the play revolves around the truth of their pasts and how this prepares the way for their dismal prospects for the future.
By now, the reader is probably waiting for the “but” clause of this critique, and indeed, the “but” is major. The play was not yet ready for production. Woefully overwritten, it runs too long and meanders through its themes in halting fashion. There are many fine elements to the play, and Lisa Vitrano, Katie White, and Neil Garvey (as phantasmagoric poet-grandfather of the sisters) offer vivid performances. I admired the conflations of delusion and reality, the ambiguity of point of view, and the poetic (as opposed to the unintentionally redundant) repetitions of the text. But the proceedings wander to the detriment of the overall impact of the piece.
While these limitations diminish both the quality and the ability to enjoy the piece, the critique is not especially damning. We can still recognize the power of Elston’s talent and his ability to conjure characters and poetically charged situations, even (and sometimes especially) from narrative clichés. I wonder if the work is at times rather more idiosyncratically personal than can be supported on the stage.
Critics and reviewers are, of course, merely members of the public. There is no authority of opinion and loyal audience members will decide for themselves.
It seems that the mixed-to-negative critical reception of the play has taken Road Less Traveled Productions by surprise. Members of the company have, reportedly, been vocal in their speculation that critical response has some agenda other than an analysis of the work itself. I would offer, for my part, that the script simply did not seem ready for production, and direction was unable to solve its problems or to reveal its truths. I would add, too, that artists should look to the work itself rather than to their reviews, and that they should appeal directly to their audiences and not to their critics. There are likely to be many fine plays ahead for playwright Jon Elston and director Scott Behrend. The current incarnation of The Peddler’s Bones does not seem to be one
of them.
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