Snoop's Theatre Thoughts

Three Tall Women
by Edward Albee
Directed by Wayne Salomon
St. Louis Actors’ Studio
September 23, 2016

Sophia Brown, Jan Meyer, Amy Loui
Photo by Patrick Huber
St. Louis Actors’ Studio

Edward Albee is unquestionably one of the greatest playwrights of the last 100 years. That St. Louis Actors’ Studio opened its long-planned production of Albee’s Pulitzer Prize-winning Three Tall Women one week after the playwright’s death was a coincidence. Still, such an excellent, superbly cast production of this intensely personal play couldn’t be a more fitting tribute to this celebrated artist.

Three Tall Women is the title of this play that takes much of its inspiration from Albee’s own life, and especially that of his mother, and despite the title it’s essentially about one woman. The three women of title are only identified as A (Jan Meyer), B (Amy Loui), and C (Sophia Brown), although the central figure is A. The construction of this play is difficult to describe without some degree of spoiling, so let that be a warning. Essentially, this is an examination of one woman’s life at different ages, looking back in retrospective in the first act as elderly A is cared for by her middle-aged caretaker B, and visited by C, a young representative from her lawyer who has trouble dealing with A’s difficult personality. This is all somewhat straightforward until Act 2, when everything changes dramatically and the play suddenly enters the realm of fantasy and A, B, and C all become representatives of the same woman at different ages, all looking at life from their limited perspectives and informing one another of what happens in “their” life. There’s also the somewhat shadowy figure of “The Boy” (Michael Perkins), who appears onstage but doesn’t say anything, although A, B, and C comment on his presence and his relationship to “them”, his elderly mother.  It’s a very talky, philosophical play that delves deeply into the motivations of this woman and her relationships with her son and with her late husband, as well as looking at the different generations of women and how they relate to one another and how they reconcile their own life decisions within themselves.

The casting here is excellent. Meyer, as A, is able to project a simultaneous sense of stubbornness and vulnerability. A is not a particularly likable character, but Meyer embodies her humanity. Loui, as B, portrays the patient caretaker in Act 1 and the middle-aged version of A in Act 2 with assured strength, as well, and Brown plays the suspicious C in Act 1 and the cautiously optimistic C (young A) in Act 2 with convincing conviction. The interplay between these three characters is the essence of the play, from the literal generation gap in Act 1 to the more figurative one in Act 2, and it’s fascinating to watch these three top-notch performers as they spar and confide and conceal and reveal. Perkins is fine as The Boy, doing the somewhat daunting job of sitting there on stage as a focal point for the discussion that his character isn’t really able to hear. The key to the play, though, is the performances of Meyer, Loui, and Brown, and they are all entirely convincing.

Patrick Huber’s static set is meticulously appointed, suggesting the upper class New York apartment of the wealthy, aging central character. Carla Landis Evans’s costumes are ideally appropriate, as well, from the accurate early 1990’s attire of Act 1 to the differently colored and styled glamorous evening gowns of Act 2. There’s also strong atmospheric lighting by Huber and clear sound by director Wayne Salomon. The fantastical aspects of the play are more achieved by the overall staging and tone than by any special effects, however. The excellent technical aspects simply provide the setting for Albee’s well-crafted words, Salomon’s lucid staging, and the first-rate performances of the leads.

Albee’s look at aging, marriage, and family relationships is crisp and cynical, although there is a glimpse of some kind of positive message toward the end. Ultimately, this is a character study, and a richly drawn one at that. The unusual construction only serves to further illuminate Albee’s difficult, complex central character, who is apparently based on his own mother. At STLAS, the play has been impeccably cast and staged. It’s an ideal tribute to a legendary American playwright.

Amy Loui, Jan Meyer, Sophia Brown
Photo by Patrick Huber
St. Louis Actors’ Studio

Three Tall Women is being presented by St. Louis Actors’ Studio at the Gaslight Theatre until October 9, 2016.