REVIEW: Little sister is star of ‘Picnic’
By Jay Wamsley
The award-winning “Picnic” is a slow-paced, uncomfortably presented slice of life that proves to be just a couple sandwiches short of a good time for patrons of the the Old Lyric Repertory Company.
Winner of the 1953 Pulitzer Prize for Drama, “Picnic” is the examination of a family in a small Kansas town over a Labor Day weekend. There is very little information to help the audience know what brought this family to their current situation and even less information to hint as to what might come after this two-day snapshot. “Picnic” truly does just drop into the middle of their lives and it leaves a bucket full of loose ends.
Opening weekend found some of the principal actors still trying to find their way into their roles. Flo Owens, as played by Hilary Frasier Rhees, is the single matriarch who is doing her best to manipulate her two daughters into their own “happy every afters.” Rhees never looked like she felt comfortable in the role. Maybe it was the oversized plain housecoat and slippers, but she seemed too tense and not convincing enough in her role. Her emotional moments — a scene of sad crying and repose near the play’s end comes to mind — never quite got off the stage.
Handsome drifter Hal Carter (Brandon Sean Pearson) also seemed a bit ill at ease during early scenes, but later showed moments of growth and emotion, moments and technique that will undoubtedly continue as the season progresses.
Perfectly cast and the highlight of the show was little sister Millie Owens (Rebecca Johnson). Johnson had the awkwardness of being halfway between adolescence and womanhood down perfectly. She projected well, her voice and emotions were honest and her movements were without hesitation as she stole the audience’s eye whenever she was on stage.
Amanda Larsen also does a fine job as Rosemary Sydney, a boarder at the Owens home. Her pain is felt as she struggles with choices she faces as he stares being middle aged right in the eye. Lacey Jackson is also credible as older sister Madge.
The set, designed by Shawn Fisher, is back to OLRC standards and the entire production presents a film noir atmosphere. A small, nervous audience on opening weekend tried to find some lines to titter at, but they are few in this dramatic examination of good and bad choices. In fact, as the production slowly unfolds, it begins to feel like a movie on the Lifetime channel. All the elements are there: quarrelling siblings, a single mother, nosy neighbors, a handsome stranger that drifts into town, along with infidelity and the trouble it can bring. And it lasts precisely two hours.
But not a lot of treats at this “Picnic.”
————“Picnic” plays in repertory with “Cash on Delivery,” “The Spitfire Grill” and “Member of the Wedding.” Caine Lyric Theater, 28 W. Center, Logan. 750-1500 for ticket information. Directed by Patrick Sims. Running time: 2 hours, with one 10-minute intermission.