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| Geraldine Page, Maya Angelou. |
LOOK AWAY [Drama/Biographical/Hospital/Mental Illness/Period/Political]
A: Jerome Kilty; SC: Justin G. Turner and Linda Levitt Turner’s book, Mary Todd Lincoln: Her Life and Letters;
D: Rip Torn; S/L: Ben Edwards; C: Jane Greenwood; P: Charles B. Bloch i/a/w
Burry Fredrik; T: Playhouse Theatre; 1/7/73 (1)
 |
| Geraldine Page. |
In a season that included three Mary Todd Lincoln
plays (the others were The Lincoln Mask,
with Eva Marie Saint, and The Last of
Mrs. Lincoln, starring Julie Harris), it was likely that the critics would
grow restless at seeing yet another treatment of her life. Such was the
response generated by this weak Jerome Kilty drama set in 1875 about Mrs.
Lincoln’s last night at an Illinois mental institution where she had been confined for nine months by her son, Robert. Having been granted a release upon
demonstrating her competence, Mrs. Lincoln (Geraldine Page) reminisces about
the past with her faithful Black friend and seamstress, Elizabeth Keckley (Maya
Angelou), as they move about among 62 crates of Mrs. Lincoln’s belongings.
The play suffered from an excessive concern with past
action and very little with the present. It failed to satisfactorily dramatize
Mrs. Lincoln’s behavior, consequently becoming “too literary” and biographical,
and not theatrically interesting, said Clive Barnes. Page’s performance of the
bitter, high-strung heroine was “very fine indeed,” he said, but, to Douglas Watt, it was “annoyingly”
marred by her “fidgety actions and impulsive speech patterns." Angelou, whose character had very little actual dialogue with Mrs.
Lincoln (monologues dominated the action), performed with dignity and reserve. Despite the play's being closed after just one performance, Angelou was good enough to earn a Tony nomination as Best Supporting Actress,
Play.
