Sometimes It’s Cruel to Be Kind…
Misery at the Erie Playhouse
A Theater Review
I’ve occasionally wondered if theaters ever have a summit; that is, do they announce to fellow theatrical companies their upcoming performance schedule? Otherwise, it could be embarrassing–two companies producing the same play within almost the same season.
Example?
Years ago, (the late 1970’s) when local radio stations were aplenty, (not simulcasting like Bob FM or owned by a corporation in California or New York), there was variety within radio. Now long gone, WVCC was a station broadcasting out of Linesville, playing classic rock; I miss it.
Anyhow, one autumn they began broadcasting a talk radio program with someone I’d never heard of: Larry King. The kicker? A radio station right next to WVCC on the radio dial (I’ve long since forgotten its call letters), also began broadcasting King’s show. So turn the dial and dual/dueling stations were playing the exact show at the exact time. I always felt bad for the stations”not to mention the program directors. If only maybe they’d spoken with one another…
The long-winded point of this anecdote? I recalled WVCC’s plight when I first saw that Erie Playhouse was producing the play Misery when a year earlier the same show ran at Meadville Community Theatre.
You’d think the powers that be within the Playhouse would certainly be aware of MCT’s show; and since Meadville is only 30 minutes down the interstate, wouldn’t they recognize that might affect attendance?
If only they could’ve asked WVCC.
Fun fact: MCT’s version of Misery was the first theater review published by this website. Read it. Compare/contrast with this review, if you like.
Based on Stephen King’s eponymous 1987 novel and adapted to the stage by William Goldman, Misery relates the plight of novelist Paul Sheldon (Matt Fuchs) who crashes his car while driving through a blizzard and is saved by his self-proclaimed number-one fan, Annie Wilkes (Sue Ellen Wojciechowski). Bedridden, severely hurt, Paul is appreciative that his fan was once a nurse, who’s providing him with care, food and most importantly, pain killers, for his twisted frame.
Initially gushing over her patient, the occasionally goofy nurse is infatuated with Paul and his popular creation, Misery, a historical romance series, featuring a perennial damsel in distress.
Paul soon comes to learn that Annie isn’t exactly what she seems; her dark side begins to flare up when Paul displeases her and, much worse, Paul begins to realize that Annie never intends for him to leave her isolated farm.
Directed by Carolin Lynn the 90-minute, no intermission program allows for the drama to build sans a break in the action, becoming nonstop compelling.
As Paul, Fuchs goes from physically wounded to psychologically tormented to cagey chess master to attempt to please”and survive”under Annie’s care. With his performance, once can’t help but empathize with his unenviable predicament.
Wayne Gardner as Buster, a simple local lawman, searching for Paul, well serves as a palette-cleansing third presence in Misery between the sickly and the insane.
As Annie, Wojciechowski has the rich opportunity to fluctuate between comic to cantankerous to crazed in one character. Annie’s multiple moods also offered empathy for her in two specific occasions; however, in these scenes, as with much of the performance, Wojciechowski’s dialogues seemed rushed. Take the rainstorm scene, for example. Annie enters Paul’s room deep in depression knowing that Paul’s time with her time was ending. The monologue would’ve been much more poignant had it been presented slowly, thoughtfully, with a deep sense melancholy that the scene required; portraying her character’s emotional vulnerability.
Finally, kudos to both or either Nico Lombardo or Brendan Daugherty for stage designing the neat-o massive Lazy Susan that rotated when switching between the four sceneries.
Who says a little misery isn’t good for you once in a while?
**GG
Misery continues through October 29. For more information, visit erieplayhouse.org
