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| Louise Jameson, Estelle Kohler, Brenda Bruce. |
Sylvia Plath was one of two productions brought to BAM in a
repertory season that also included Richard II. A very simply staged piece featuring three barefooted,
white-gowned actresses (Brenda Bruce, Estelle Kohler, and Louise Jameson), it
was performed on a platform with white draperies, a large photo of Sylvia
Plath, and cards to denote the where, when, and what of each selection. The
work itself was an anthology of writings by the iconic English poet, author of The Bell Jar, who killed herself (perhaps unintentionally) in 1963 at 31.
The poetry was interwove with narrative material on Plath’s unhappy life. The final selection, constituting the second act, was a Plath radio play, ‘Three Women,” taking place in a maternity ward where the performers were seen as “three aspects of one woman,” as Edith Oliver averred. (Edward Albee later wrote something similar, readers may recall.)
Critics like Clive
Barnes were affected by the poetry and performances, but Walter Kerr found “something
about the occasion . . . in part gratuitous, in greater part morbid.” The event
caught him trying to psychoanalyze Plath from her writings, when he would have
preferred being able to let the writings speak for themselves. John Simon
disliked both the staging and material, claiming that “this was an assemblage
of attitudinizings” and “gimmicky movements.”
Next up: The Taking of Miss Janie
