Review: SUDDENLY LAST SUMMER at Altarena Playhouse

SUDDENLY LAST SUMMER at Altarena Playhouse is a slow burn of a Tennesee Williams’ play that never fully catches fire. It is a challenging play that delves into darker themes while retaining some of the lyricism of William’s style. With a focus on mental illness, manipulation, perversion, pride, and greed, the show can be oppressively heavy and cumbersome at times. A revelation is waiting at the apex. The only question is is it worth the climb?

SUDDENLY LAST SUMMER is a one-act play by Tennessee Williams that delves into themes of memory, repression, and the dark undercurrents of human behavior. Set in the Garden District of New Orleans during the 1930s, the story revolves around a wealthy and manipulative widow, Mrs. Violet Venable, who seeks to silence her niece, who witnessed the death of her son Sebastian. Catharine Holly is deeply disturbed and institutionalized following the traumatic events that occurred the previous summer surrounding her cousin’s death. She holds the key to a truth that Mrs. Venable is desperate to suppress. A young doctor, Dr. Cukrowicz, tasked with evaluating Catharine, becomes caught between the conflicting versions of the past. Meanwhile, Catharine's mother, Mrs. Holly, and her brother, George, are motivated by their own financial concerns and play a complicating role in the struggle for control over Catharine’s fate. As the play unfolds, it builds a tense and psychological atmosphere, exploring the blurred line between sanity and madness, and the power of those who control the narrative.

From the moment the young doctor explains that his name means sugar in Polish and that Mrs. Venable should call him Dr. Sugar, the audience is uncomfortable. Something is not right here, perhaps many somethings. It is obvious that her relationship with her son was at the very least unusual. While Catharine continues to struggle with the events of the past summer. Her greater threat comes from each of her family members who seem willing to sacrifice her for their own purposes. The darkness and discomfort continue to grow as the horrors of the truth come to light.

Billie J. Simmons as Violet Venable has the majestic presence of old world charm and power. Her occasional flairs of heat and anger push at the corners of the weighted script, but not enough to pull it out of its lull. Thomas Hutchinson’s performance as Dr. Cukrowicz is puzzling. He seems to lack a point of view and is devoid of the physicality that usually marks his work. In the ambiguity, the morals of the doctor remain unclear which does add to the tangled web of deception. Lori Mrochinski and Danail Georgiev as Mrs. Holly and George Holly offer early hope of enlivening the play, but retreat to background and remain almost reactionless, or perhaps their lack of reaction is a reflection of their true lack of empathy for Catharine. Sister Felicity as Jeffrie Givens is solid, and Jasmine Guerrero as Miss Foxhill is a breath of fresh air in a show stifling from its own self-importance. Sarah Zehner as Catharine Holly has some really nice moments and some really flat moments. Perhaps the flaw goes to Tennessee Williams who depends on a character in a drug-induced stupor to deliver the great reveal.

From the moment you walk into the theater at Altarena Playhouse, you feel the voluptuousness of the set. It reads big. It reads grand. And you are intrigued. The set design by Katina Psihos Letheule is the triumph of the show. Sound Designer Daniel “Techno” Debono and Lighting Designer Danielle Ferguson both lend to the atmosphere and tension. But when the show seems to be stuck in molasses, I wish their design plans had been bigger, more emphatic to give the show a jolt of energy. Costumer Designer Ava Byrd’s looks were serviceable, but not definitive enough to give the show the specificity it needed. Director Katina Psihos Letheule seems to leave the cast to their own devices and pushes neither the tempo nor the blocking to drive the show toward its resolution. Perhaps we as an audience are not conditioned for shows dependent on subtlety. Perhaps there is a reason this is a rarely produced play. The darkness of the subject matter consumes the mood and kills the energy, and Williams gives us a less than satisfying ending. 

San Francisco / Bay Area Awards - Live Stats

Best Musical - Top 3

1. URINETOWN (Ghostlight Theatre Ensemble)

17.1% of votes

2. THE DAY THE SKY TURNED ORANGE (San Francisco Bay Area Theatre Company / Z Space)

8.9% of votes

3. SWEENEY TODD (Cabrillo Stage)

8.6% of votes

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