Review: CRIMES OF THE HEART at SBCC Jurkowitz Theatre

Playwright Beth Henley's classic, Crimes of the Heart, now playing at SBCC's Jurkowitz Theater, offers a delightful evening of delicious comedy. The play takes place in small-town Mississippi in the kitchen of the Magrath family. Under the direction of Michael Gross, the performance captures the comic twist of Henley's Southern Gothic style. Three sisters reunite to help the youngest, Babe (Shay Monroe), who faces an attempted murder charge. She shot her husband in the stomach because she "didn't like his looks." The other sisters aren't faring much better: oldest sister, Lenny (Elaine Pazaki), terrified of romantic rejection, fears she will spend the rest of her life alone. Middle sister, Meg (Charlotte Bailey), has been pursuing a singing career in California, which has gone precisely nowhere. Granddaddy is hospitalized; mom died by suicide years earlier, hanging herself and her cat; and Meg's scandalous love-life is still the talk of the town.

The set, designed by Patricia L. Frank, allows the characters to realistically inhabit a world in which food and drink (preparing, ordering, mixing, pouring, spilling, chugging, sipping, et cetera) become central metaphors for avoiding harsh realities. For example, Babe tempers the bitterness of lemonade with lots of sugar; Meg drinks bourbon straight; Lenny consoles herself with cake. The sheer amount of drink preparation might upstage another production of this play, but the cast finds all the Southern charm in the dialogue. I could tell the audience loved to hate the sanctimonious cousin Chick Boyle (played with just the right amount of zing by Leesa Beck) and cheered audibly at her final exit.

When I arrived at the theater, I wondered how well the play, which won the Pulitzer Prize for Drama in 1981, would hold up after nearly forty years. In fact, it holds up very well because the essence of the drama, the bond between the three sisters, remains truthful. Henley came into playwriting out of acting, frustrated with the scarcity of good roles for Southern women. Crimes of the Heart has created three enduringly rich comic roles for women (four, if you count Chick Boyle, and you should). The plot does not tie itself neatly up into a fairytale of marital bliss or in a self-satisfied renunciation of men; it ends as the women define themselves for themselves with the supportive strength of their sisters.

Make sure you secure a seat for this Southern treat!