Nick's Place

The Trip to Bountiful

Nicholas Barnard 2/19/2001

Next Stage's production of Horton Foote's The Trip to Bountiful at first appears to be a rejected made for television movie script rewarmed into a theatrical piece. This play utilizes the styles well worn by the television movie of the week. It has a strong female lead seeking an emotional fulfillment, two characters with only their success in mind, and one-sided supporting characters. The major saving grace of this play is its hints at many modern day themes, such as the monetizing of the elderly; the consolidation of metropolitan areas, including the accompanying abandonment of towns; and environmentalism are touched on.

The characters in this play are unfortunately written as stereotypical as possible. Maxine Prescott's character, Mrs. Carrie Watts, is portrayed as a elderly lady who acts senile when it suits her, but is actually manipulating the other characters for what their worth. Cheryl Williams's character, Jessie Mae Watts is written as a power hungry stay at home wife, looking to destroy Carrie Watts, her mother-in-law. Gary Barker's character, Ludie Watts, is a stereotypical powerless male stuck between two powerful women, Carrie and Jessie Mae Watts. Mr. Foote's decision to write these characters as broadly and stereotypically detracts from the emotional energy of the piece, allowing it to trudge into a meandering through characters. Instead of exploring the feelings and relationships of the characters, he has chosen to spend much of his script fulfilling the standard struggles expected of the stereotypes of the characters.

Acting wise, the ensemble cast worked well with the material in hand. The relationships seemed reasonably developed and well executed. At some points the relationships seemed non-existent, as the reactionary element of acting was absent. Despite some muddled relationships, Ms. Prescott and Ms. Williams stole the show with their nuance filled performances. They portrayed the ticks and tribulations expected of a tenuous in-law relationship, without taking the efforts over the top.

Dale Hodges' direction was in someways scattered. The interpersonal relationships of the characters needed to be strengthened. At times the set design and the prop dressings clashed. John Lavarnway's lavish realistic properties dressing of the apartment scenes is starkly contrasted by David Center's mimalist scabrous edged set. This unbalanced feel severely hurts the visual setting of the scene, by suggesting both more modern setting and a older setting at the same time. The pacing he has adopted directly changes with the focus of the scene, when Carrie Watts takes the stage the pace slows to a crawl with a lack of energy. Starkly when Jessie Mae Watts and her husband take the focus the gas petal of this show is slammed to the floor, leaving us with a visual and auditory event, but lacking the time to fully understand and develop the individual characters.

In the big picture The Trip to Bountiful has the feel of a rushed work. The Next Stage and the Human Race companies attempted to race time and they lost, delivering a partially baked production, in desperate need of being completed. If characters, set, and pacing were sanded smooth and polished, this production would be a reasonably solid piece of theatre.