BWW Reviews: Feast Festival 2013: BOSTON MARRIAGE Mixes the Social Mores of a Century Past With Attitudes of Today

Reviewed Wednesday 13th November 2013

The Feast Festival is a gay and lesbian cultural festival that, each year, presents a range of events from comedy, to cabaret, to theatre, to visual art, and much more, including a range of social activities. This production was presented by a New Group Butterfly Theatre with an established theatre company, Burnside Players Inc.

David Mamet's 1999 comedy of manners, Boston Marriage, could not get much further away from other works of his such as Oleanna, Glengarry Glen Ross, American Buffalo, or The Postman Always Rings Twice. Set at the end of the nineteenth century we are introduced to the concept of the Boston marriage, a term coined to refer to two women living together, possibly involving a physical relationship.

Claire calls on her special friend Anna, who has found a married gentleman who is now funding her luxurious lifestyle in exchange for her sexual favours. Anna, though, is far more interested in her slightly younger friend Claire than any man, and she wants to show off her newly redecorated drawing room, as well as an impressive necklace that was a gift from her protector. Claire, however, has come to ask a favour, the use of Anna's apartment for a first liaison with her new love interest, a young girl whose age she is reluctant to reveal. Anna is angry at being cast aside and their polite bickering and snide remarks, all in the very best of Victorian taste, offset by occasional snatches of current vernacular, makes for a fascinating evening of witty comedy.

Caught up in their squabbling and deal making is Catherine, Anna's somewhat inept Hebridean maid whom they bully, criticise, insult, and fire several times, reducing her to tears. Anna does not even care enough about her to remember her name and heritage, continually calling her Bridie, instead of Catherine, and making references to Ireland, instead of Scotland. The class structure is firmly in place.

Things eventually go awry, and their plans rapidly come unravelled, when Claire's young friend arrives and is greeted by Anna. That small act of inquisitiveness on Anna's part proves to have unexpected consequences.

Directed by Geoff Brittain, the small stage at the Wheatsheaf Hotel never seemed crowded, even with three people and a fair quantity of smart Victorian looking furniture. There is plenty of movement, but it is all naturally occurring from the text, not contrived as we so often see. Then there are the superb performances that he has drawn from his cast.

Bronwyn Ruciak is wonderful as Anna, presenting a pragmatic woman doing what she feels that she must to support herself and her lover. She gives us an Anna who tries not to let too much show when she becomes jealous when Claire announces that she has found a younger lover of her own, subtly displaying her insecurities, and containing her emotions as she is trying to remain one up on Claire.

Cheryl Douglas is equally marvellous as Claire, providing a characterisation that perfectly balances that of Ruciak's Anna. She establishes Claire as a strong, confident and independent woman with a mind of her own. Her infatuation with the young woman that she has met, and intends to seduce, is not to be easily dissuaded by Anna. Douglas gives her Claire a certain stubbornness and strength of will, which adds fire to the conversations between the two women, each trying to get their own way.

Together, though, they are entirely convincing as a couple who have been friends and lovers for years. There is an accustomed ease to the way in which they toss the dialogue to and fro, as though their characters had done this sort of thing many times before. The jibes, the insults, and the conniving, all flow naturally, which gives the whole production an exceptional air of authenticity.

There is also Genevieve Williamson, as Catherine, to consider, sensationally presenting a very different character to the other two, members of Boston society or, at least, on The Edge of it. Catherine is a servant, beneath their consideration and whose situation can change at any moment on the whim of her employer. Williamson finds a good source of comedy in Catherine's interactions with the other two, in particular, playing on the difference in the levels of education of servant and mistress. Williamson makes the most of her brief appearances to explore the broader comedy inherent in her role, compared to that wordplay and wit happening between Anna and Claire.

This was my first review of a Feast Festival production for this year, and I could not have asked for a better start. It is definitely one for all theatre enthusiasts although, with the sexual content, it is not suited to young children. There are only four performances so book well ahead for this one.

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