Sunday, August 2, 2020

257. IN NEW ENGLAND WINTER. From my (unpublished) ENCYCLOPEDIA OF THE NEW YORK STAGE, 1970-1975

Tony Major, Mel Winkler, Norman Bush, J. Herbert Kerr, Jr.
IN NEW ENGLAND WINTER [Drama/Crime/Mental Illness/Race/Romance] A: Ed Bullins; D: Dick Williams; S: Pedro Lujan; L: Buddy; P: New Federal Theatre; T: Henry Street Playhouse (OB); 1/26/71-2/7/71 (24)

Ed Bullins wrote In New England Winter as the second in a projected 20-play cycle in which many of the same characters would reappear. In the Wine Time was the first in the series, and several others followed in the 1970s, mainly Off-Off Broadway.

The subject of In New England Winter is Steve Benson (Norman Bush), a young Black man, whose experiences in two locales—a New England house in1955 and a city apartment in 1960—are recounted. Both are set on stage at the same time. In the New England home, he is seen having emotional difficulties with Liz (Gloria Edwards), the girl he loves, who is verging on insanity. In the apartment, his problems are with Cliff (Mel Winkler), his half-brother, with whom he plans a theft. Eventually, he winds up leaving each place for good.

Critical disapproval was aimed largely at Bullins’s nonlinear, rambling, loosely assembled style. A tape-recorded narration was used to tie the threads together. As Walter Kerr noted, “he wants some form, any form, a fusing principle that will gather up oddments.” To Edith Oliver, the disconnected plotting was puzzling, but secondary to the deeply felt and often poetic thrust of Bullins’s often profane dialogue. Black critic Clayton Riley praised the writing, but lashed out at the mediocrity of the production. Bullins, he wrote, “is a conjurer, Black musician-magician, a compelling weaver of moods—composites of danger, menacing, murderous intuitions.” John Lahr was similarly appreciative, albeit put off by “a sloppy, ill-conceived production.”

Bullins was awarded an OBIE for distinguished playwriting. Among the eight cast members was future SNL star Garrett Morris.