It was a dark and stormy night . . . .
Gawd, it felt good to write that.
Every writer, I believe, harbors in his or her heart the deep, dark, urge, to put those words to paper as the beginning of a piece – but seldom is it ever in the writer’s best interest to do so. Not only are the words trite; they are the bane of good writing.
Unless they actually describe what’s going on.
My visit to Crimes of the Heart, Village Theatre’s latest production, is that weird outlier where the trite is actually reality. The bleak mid-winter night in question was indeed stormy, rain pouring as I drove to the Frances J. Gaudette theatre in Issaquah; and then, wonder of wonders! The show opened with a peal of stage thunder and burst of lightning . . . and we soon come to find out that one of our characters has lost a beloved horse to a bolt of lightning in that storm.
And this show is a comedy?
Well, the author and producers do qualify that: Crimes of the Heart is a dark comedy, a very dark comedy indeed. So to say, there are funny moments, but what we see unfold before us is no laughing matter: The youngest of the three sisters who center this play (“Babe Magrath,” portrayed by Sydney Andrews) has just shot her abusive husband (in the stomach; her hand shook too much to his the heart at which she aimed). We later discover that middle sister “Meg Magrath” (played by Brenda Joyner) lost her Hollywood singing career when she went mad enough to be committed to a mental institution. And the oldest sister, “Lenny Magrath” (actress Rhonda J. Soikowski) has reached her 30th birthday without knowing the love of a man – which has driven her to her own form of crazy.
Any why these deep psychoses that haunt the Magrath sisters? Well, it seems their dad vanished early and their mother hung herself in the basement when they were very young.
Yeah, barrel of laughs.
But abide, dear reader, and do go gentle into that dark and stormy night. While Crimes of the Heart is no evening of light comedy it is an evening of solid entertainment. By act III (yes, it’s a bit long for a non-musical) I had truly come to care about these three troubled sisters. The performances go far to support that care; the smallish cast of six has not a weak spot in its midst, and I give particular kudos to Joyner for grabbing me from her first appearance on stage. Not that the other sisters (Andrews and Soikowski) lag behind; indeed their performances may be of even greater note, as sisters “Babe” and “Lenny” are far less easy to like than Joyner’s out-going and gregarious “Meg.”
In the end, Crimes of the Heart is but a slice of life: a two-day glimpse into the troubled lives of three unfortunate souls. Nothing is solved when the show is done – “Babe” is still to be tried for attempted murder and “Meg” is still without her dreamed-for singing career – but it has become abundantly clear that these three sisters love and care for and need each other . . . and in the bigger story of life, that is a story worth telling, and worth watching. Brave the winter weather, dear reader, and give Crimes of the Heart a chance. It would almost be a crime not to.
Crimes of the Heart, a Village Theatre production directed by Kathryn Van Meter. At the Francis J. Gaudette theatre in Issaquah through February 28; then moves to the Everett Performing Arts center from March 4 through 27.