Finally there is a production in the 50th anniversary year of the Classic Stage Company worth shouting about. Thanks to Director Jack Cummings III and his Transport Theater Group’s co-production, Summer and Smoke is a triumphant reconsideration of a Tennessee Williams’ play not often listed amongst his classics. In 1948 this drama followed A Streetcar Named Desire on Broadway and was later made into a film starring Geraldine Page (Oscar nominated for Best Actress). The part of Alma Winemiller is that good and in this production Marin Ireland (reasons to be pretty, Ironbound) cements its reputation as a great role in an exceptional piece of theater.
Summer and Smoke takes place in Glorious Hill, Mississippi from the turn of the century through 1916. Alma is a music teacher and a reverend’s daughter, impressed by the grandeur of Gothic cathedrals. All her life she has grown up next door to John Buchanan, a doctor’s son, who is more interested in women and gambling than academic studies of human anatomy. Naturally we are in unrequited love territory. He accuses her of relying on that “worn out magic.” Nathan Darrow (Richard III, House of Cards) plays John and the chemistry between he and Ms. Ireland are electric, tense and crackling. Both performances are stellar.
When you surround these fully realized characters with an excellent supporting cast and a production this fine and focused, the result is simply extraordinary entertainment. Transport Theater Group is known for staging re-imagined American classics such as last season’s flawless Picnic and Come Back Little Sheba. The commonality between all of these productions is deceptively simple presentations. Sets and scenes are suggested with as few props as possible. The words and the characters are the central focus. When the acting can rise to this challenge, you are rewarded with quality as high as this production of Summer and Smoke.
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