07/23/2003 By FRED SOKOL
STOCKBRIDGE - Richard Chamberlain, authentic and emotive, heads a stellar cast as Berkshire Theater Festival presents the American premiere of Timothy Findley's "The Stillborn Lover." While Chamberlain is magnetic from the outset, the script is overwritten and the production hyper-dramatic. Intimacy within personal relationships marks the drama with distinction but, on an all too recognizable level, this play is a fairly formulaic Cold War spy story. The type is all too familiar. The storyline is fictional but drawn from specific occurrences in Canada. For example, John Watkins, the Canadian ambassador to Moscow, was accused of homosexuality in the mid-1950s. That theme is apparent within the Findley play. Hence, actual events feed the plot of "The Stillborn Lover" which finds Harry Raymond (Chamberlain), a Canadian ambassador, returning to Ottawa just after a young man has been found murdered in a Moscow hotel room. Harry is greeted by old acquaintance, Michael Riordan (Keir Dullea), who serves as Canada's Minister of External Affairs. Riordan might soon become the country's Prime Minister. Michael Downs furnishes fine geometric settings which represent a house that overlooks the Ottawa River at Rockcliffe. The play begins in 1972 (with allusion to Watergate) and includes flashbacks to Japan in the 1940s and Cairo in the late 1950s. The time shifts are gracefully executed through Downs's second tier rooms and specific area lighting by Fabrice Kebour. As the plot thickens, questions surround Harry. He might have killed the young man but, then again, Harry could be the victim of blackmail. The CIA or KGB or both may very well have set sights upon this aging diplomat. There is the cogent issue of Harry's sexual orientation. Married for decades to Marion (Lois Nettleton), Harry could have concealed his preference throughout their relationship. Further developments may perplex Marion, who evidently suffers from the early stages of Alzheimer's disease, and their loyal, stunningly attractive daughter, Diana (Jennifer Van Dyck). A couple of omnipresent secret government officers, investigate, interrogate, and badger Harry. Superintendent Jackman (Robert Emmet Lunney) is persistent and irritating. Corporal Mahavolitch (Kaleo Griffith), youthful and muscular, comes on as a gay prostitute in a thinly veiled attempt to expose Harry. Director Martin Rabbett is dealt a difficult hand. Spy novel and movies are abundant and here is another. Rabbet, if anything, heightens melodrama by utilizing the thump of kettle or bass drums in the backdrop to accentuate tension. The noise becomes abundant and all too easy to anticipate. The play does not need overstatement. Yet, Rabbett does well to coax most human, genuine performances, on quite personal levels, from his actors. Michael's career is ascendant but it all might be ruined by the association with his friend, Harry. Juliet (Jessica Walter) plays Michael's wife, a woman readying for a new position in her life. Still, she is empathic toward Harry and Marion. Marion's illness further compounds her deep, long-standing relationship with her husband. Diana, the only daughter and an attorney, has had two or three marriages and, evidently, many more boyfriends. She struggles with revelations concerning her father's sexuality since, during her formative years, he was, to her, heroic. Many moments lacing "The Stillborn Lover" are piercing and gripping. The play, itself, does not approximate the range of performance. For the theatergoer, the primary task is to focus upon the persuasive, internally riveting work of a core of talented, poised actors. |
