Thursday, April 1, 2021

517. SYLVIA PLATH. From my (unpublished) ENCYCLOPEDIA OF THE NEW YORK STAGE, 1970-1975

Louise Jameson, Estelle Kohler, Brenda Bruce.
SYLVIA PLATH [Dramatic Anthology/British/Literature] D: Barry Kyle; DS: Gordon Sumpter; M: Jeremy Barlow; P: Brooklyn Academy of Music i/a/w Brooklyn College and presented by the Royal Shakespeare Company in the RSC Production; T: Brooklyn Academy of Music (OB); 1/15/74-1/27/74 (15)

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