News-Letter

Media Credit: Laura Bitner [Click to enlarge]

Media Credit: Laura Bitner [Click to enlarge]

While enjoyable, The Fifth of July, Johns Hopkins University Theater's adaptation of Lanford Wilson's 1979 play, ultimately underwhelms. The fault lies partly with the script itself, though not entirely. The character-centered play requires a chemistry among the cast members that this one lacked.

The play is set at a sprawling farmhouse in rural Missouri, the home of Kenneth Talley, Jr. (sophomore Scott Morse), and his boyfriend, Jed Jenkins (junior Sam Anderson). Kenneth is a Vietnam War veteran who lost his legs during the war and now uses artificial limbs. Jed is a botanist who has become immersed in cultivating their garden. We learn at the beginning of the play that Kenneth has recently decided not to return to work as a high school English teacher. The stigma of his homosexuality is the implied reason for his departure. Kenneth's sister June Talley (senior Danielle Sabrina Haber) and June's daughter, Shirley (freshman Christine Pridgen) have come to visit Kenneth and Jed. June is a reformed '60s radical and Shirley is a precocious and pretentious 13-year-old going on 30.

Also visiting are Kenneth and June's long-time mutual friends, John Landis (junior Mitch Frank) and his wife Gwen (sophomore Laura Gordon). The oversexed couple seems laughable initially, but when their weaknesses become apparent, they are merely sad. Gwen is a 30-something pill popper who has recently inherited her family's fortune and now aspires to become a pop star. John, on the other hand, is a dweebish businessman who does his business behind his wife's back. John and Gwen have professed to having an interest in buying the house and transforming it into a recording studio.

Gwen's songwriter, Wes (freshman Eric Levitz) has also tagged along. Levitz's portrayal of the burnt-out pseudo-intellectual provides much of the show's comedic relief. Yet despite Wes' unimportance in the plot, his seemingly random anecdotes reveal some important themes of Wilson's play. Wes tells what he claims to be a traditional Eskimo myth where a starving Eskimo family thaws frozen meat by farting on it. Yet the farts render the meat inedible, and the Eskimos starve to death anyway. An argument follows between the play's characters as to whether this story qualifies as a folk myth even if it lacks a moral. The story not only parallels Kenneth's own quest for survival and normalcy, but also the larger issue of the sometimes disappointing nature of reality. All the characters' back-stories reflect this theme of failed expectations.

Fifth of July features several strong performances by individual actors. Morse is stellar as Kenneth with his confident masculinity and casual air; Gordon captures the flamboyant essence of Gwen; and Pridgen is a believable 13-year-old with high pretensions. However, a certain intangible chemistry between the characters is unfortunately absent. Furthermore, Morse and Anderson do not give a convincing performance as a couple. Morse and Haber, conversely, capture the brother-sister dynamic well.

Part of the problem lies with Wilson's script itself. The first act, told in medias res, conceals essential plot details for too long. However, this suppression of information does heighten the intensity of the final act; it is an act with such force that it ostensibly redeems the show's earlier shortcomings.

Perhaps the most creative aspect of this JHUT performance is the stage itself. A living room in the first act and a back porch in the second, the set is both cleverly adaptable and aesthetically pleasing. Director Peg Denithorne must be commended for making such a difficult adaptable script presentable, although its amateurishness was ultimately disappointing.

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