BWW Reviews: New Theatre Company Seduces with Tennessee Williams' KINGDOM OF EARTH

When an opportunity to see one of Tennessee Williams's more obscure works arises, I advise everyone to take advantage of seeing it. So when KINGDOM OF EARTH presented itself, I knew I was in for a treat. Selected as the inaugural production for the newly formed Tennessee Williams Theatre Company (TWTC), KINGDOM OF EARTH is rarely produced, but is gaining traction as a Southern Gothic drama. The melodrama, dark humor and grotesque beauty that can be found in the Williams canon is rife in KINGDOM OF EARTH, and the TWTC puts all of it on a wonderful display.

Set in the ancestral home of the Ravenstock family, the play tells the story of Chicken (Sean Richmond) and Lot (David Williams), two half-brothers vying in a struggle over ownership of the Ravenstock homestead. On the eve of an impending flood, Lot, frail and tubercular, returns to the Mississippi Delta to reclaim his estate. It is during this time that the vital and robust Chicken reveals he has a deed declaring he will inherit the place when Lot dies. Caught in between their feud is Myrtle (Kate Kuen), a former showgirl Lot has brought home as his new wife, whom he plans to use to reclaim his ancestral home. Myrtle's world of romantic delusions comes crashing down as Chicken and Lot battle for dominance, using her as their pawn for the duration of the play, and igniting the conflicts that drive the play towards its climax.

As both a literary and theatrical work, KINGDOM OF EARTH has something of a history. Written by Williams under the influence of drugs, sedatives, alcohol and crippling paranoia, this three-character drama of sexual conflict (under the name SEVEN DESCENTS OF MYRTLE) ran for only 29 performances on Broadway and was highly criticized for being far too similar to Williams' earlier works. Indeed when watching KINGDOM OF EARTH, you can immediately note the similarities the show has to CAT ON A HOT TIN ROOF and A STREETCAR NAMED DESIRE. This is especially apparent in the character of Chicken, who would give Stanley Kowalski a run for his money in a wet, wife-beater contest. Knowing this, it is a challenge to have this play's narrative stand out without comparing Myrtles to Blanches.

Director Augustin Correro meets this challenge head on, finding new challenges for both himself as a director, and for his actors. The rewards are substantial as the play's themes of race, sex and gender are brought to the forefront.

Seeing a play with mature content in a religious structure might quirk an eyebrow when entering the Metropolitan Community Church of New Orleans, where the play is located, but the location choice builds upon the macabre feeling ingrained in the show. With proximity to the audience, the tensions built are even more palpable. The show's mood is delicately supported by Sound Designer Nick Shackleford's soundscape, which evocatively reminds the audience of the looming flood that serves as a catalyst for the action onstage.

The sole three cast members play off one another effortlessly. Richmond delivers extraordinary work as the masculine, earthbound Chicken. Starting off menacing and brooding, his animalistic movements make him threatening physically as he is psychologically. There is an air of menace just watching him play with a knife in the background while the focus should be on Lot and Myrtle. Slowly, however, the play reveals Chicken's tortured soul bit by bit, which quells the original comparison to brutish Stanley Kowalski. Soon both Myrtle and the audience are seduced by him as the play progresses.

Tennessee has been known to place himself in his characters, and it's never been more apparent in the character of Lot, doomed and highly fixated on his mother. The comparison is at caricature level, to the point where you will know what will happen during the play's climax before it even happens. Character-wise, Williams shifts between a wispy languor and a sharp, ugly wit that confounds Myrtle, but is seen for what it is by Chicken. It is also apparent to the audience, more so than Myrtle herself, that their problem in the bedroom has very little to do with Lot's tuberculosis.

Kuen arguably has the most difficult job as Myrtle. The play shifts its focus from upstairs to downstairs, from Lot to Chicken and from romantic fantasies to grounded realities and the element that all of these shifts have in common is Myrtle. While Lot is designed to elicit pity, and Chicken empathy, the actress playing Myrtle has to win the audience's sympathy. At times, it is hard for the audience to give their sympathy away whether it be because of Kuen's high pitch, rapid words that result in some flubs, or the tendency to overdo it when Myrtle hyperventilates. However, Kuen's Myrtle is a complex creature: brassy yet vulnerable, secure about herself in some ways, but self-deprecating in others. It was fascinating watching this optimistic character decline over the course of the play, and this earns our compassion, which plays no small part in the production's success.

KINGDOM OF EARTH might appear to be something of a tough sell, but in the end Correro and his team have achieved a play that deserves full houses. It is an excellent example of what budding theatre companies are capable of doing, and I am eager to watch the Tennessee Williams Theatre Company grow.

Tennessee Williams Theatre Company of New Orleans
Kingdom of Earth
Aug. 7-9, 14-16
Metropolitan Community Church of New Orleans, 6200 St. Charles Ave.
8 p.m. Fri.-Sun.