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| Leah Chandler, Sam Tsoutsouvas. |
THE LOWER DEPTHS
[Dramatic Revival] A: Maxim Gorky; TR: Alex Szogy; D: Boris Tumarin; S: Douglas
W. Schmidt; C: John David Ridge; L: Joe Pacetti; P: City Center Acting Company;
T: Good Shepherd-Faith Church (OB); 10/23-72-10/28/72 (6)
The tremendously ambitious young troupe of recent Juilliard
School of Drama graduates, then known as the City Center Acting Company,
tackled Gorky’s early 20th-century Russian masterpiece, The Lower Depths, as one of six plays it
produced in repertory during its first New York season. The still unpolished,
incompletely professional troupe went from the high style of Sheridan’s School for Scandal to the gritty naturalism
of this gloomy drama, not necessarily with total ease, but with an eagerness
and sense of dedication that spoke well of their future.
Gorky’s 1902 depiction of a cross-section of humanity in a
provincial flop house offered the cast excellent material for a score of
interesting characterizations. “Outstanding performances,” wrote Mel Gussow,
were turned in by Kevin Kline as Pepel, Mary Joan Negro as Nastya, and Sam
Tsoutsouvas as Satin. Alex Szogy’s translation was appreciated, “swift and
lucid,” as Gussow noted. And Douglas Schmidt’s fine setting worked well in the
untheatrical confines of he show’s church venue.
Cast members included Leah Chandler, Sam Tsoutsouvas, Cynthia Herman, Patti LuPone, Benjamin Hendrickson, Mary Joan Negro, Dakin Matthews, Norman Snow, and David Schram.
