THE HANGOVER REPORT – Transport Group/CSC’s lucid, riveting revival of Tennessee Williams’ SUMMER AND SMOKE makes a strong case for the rarely-performed play

The company of Tennessee Williams' "Summer and Smoke", courtesy of Transport Group and Classic Stage Company.

The company of Tennessee Williams’ “Summer and Smoke”, courtesy of Transport Group and Classic Stage Company.

This week saw the opening of a rare revival of Tennessee Williams’ 1948 play Summer and Smoke, courtesy of an Off-Broadway co-production between Classic Stage Company and Transport Group. The play is one of the few Williams plays I hadn’t seen live, and judging from what I saw the other night, I’m wondering why – the revival is magnificent, making a strong case for the play.

Summer and Smoke is set in Mississippi around the turn of the century, and it depicts the turbulent, ideologically-driven almost-romance between a minister’s daughter and a doctor’s son. By stripping the play, Ivo van Hove-style, of its potentially smothering and distractingly campy southern gothic setting and affectations, director Jack Cummings III – Transport Group’s artistic director and one of the great re-interpreters of classics we thought we knew – reveals, laser-like, the riveting Shavian underpinnings of the perhaps misunderstood play.

Similarly, the production’s acting affectingly follows suit. Marin Ireland, one of the finest and hardest-working stage actresses currently working in New York, at first glance may seem at odds with the Williams sensibility. But her frank, direct brand of acting works beautifully with Mr. Cummings’ lucid vision for Summer and Smoke. Hers is a stunning performance. As her tug-of-war partner, the handsome Nathan Darrow is exceptional – his performance is deeply-felt without at all being cloying.

If you haven’t seen Summer and Smoke, like myself, I highly recommend you make the trek down to Classic Stage Company to catch this exceptional revival.

HIGHLY RECOMMENDED

 

SUMMER AND SMOKE
Off-Broadway, Play
Classic Stage Company, in collaboration with Transport Group
2 hours, 30 minutes (with one intermission)
Through May 25

Categories: Off-Broadway, Theater

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