• Home
    • References from clients
    • Author and book publicity
    • Consulting
    • Speaking engagements for authors
  • Websites
  • Speaking engagements for authors
    • Ricardo Ainslie
    • Kelly F. Holland
    • J. Thomas Rompel
    • Peter Gibb
    • Sarah Cortez
    • Hispanic Heritage Panel
    • Bordering the Future
    • Mentoring Writers Panel
  • CV
  • Book list
  • Blog
  • Contact
Menu

Ann Boland

ann@annboland.com
Publicity Services for authors
520-247-0070
Publicity services for authors

Ann Boland

  • Home
  • Publicity
    • References from clients
    • Author and book publicity
    • Consulting
    • Speaking engagements for authors
  • Websites
  • Speaking engagements for authors
  • Speaking
    • Ricardo Ainslie
    • Kelly F. Holland
    • J. Thomas Rompel
    • Peter Gibb
    • Sarah Cortez
    • Hispanic Heritage Panel
    • Bordering the Future
    • Mentoring Writers Panel
  • CV
  • Book list
  • Blog
  • Contact
crp[7.jpg

Blog

"Three Tall Women", a play by Edward Albee, produced by The Rogue Theatre, Tucson, AZ

March 18, 2018 Ann Boland
 From left: Cynthia Meier, Patty Gallagher, Holly Griffith

From left: Cynthia Meier, Patty Gallagher, Holly Griffith

How fortunate we are to have Cynthia Meier in Tucson.  There isn’t a role she touches that does not benefit from her nuanced performance.  She was the essence of “A” in Three Tall Women—mean spirited, dotty, afraid and funny.  

Edward Albee leaves us no doubt about his parental relationships.  He was adopted by a wealthy family at age two, expelled from most schools he attended, and out of the home at 18. His first play, The Zoo Story was produced in 1958, at age 30.  He was openly gay and that created conflict with his family.  His most famous work, Whose Afraid of Virginal Woolf, illuminates Albee’s talent for fierce dialogue and unhappy marriages, as does this play. 

Three Tall Women is a faithless homage to Albee’s mother.  In an interview with The Economist, he said, “(the play) was a kind of exorcism. And I didn’t end up any more fond of the woman after I finished it than when I started."  She is petty, vain, weak, penurious, scornful of her husband, and contemptuous of her son.  What’s not to love?  But in the audience, we become entwined in A’s self-love.  

The first act is all A; ill, distracted, on the one hand disdainful of her caregiver, played skillfully by Patty Gallagher; then coyly seductive as she acknowledges her total dependence on this person.  With her is the lawyer’s assistant, played by Holly Griffith, who needs signatures on papers that A chose to ignore.  The assistant’s snotty recriminations that cut into “A’s” monologues were delivered in an officious manner.  Perhaps this was director Christopher Johnson’s intent, but they seemed flat, almost an afterthought to the give A time to pause.  

In the second act, Meier, Gallagher and Griffith play A at three ages: Griffith in her late 20’s, Gallagher in her 50’s and Meier in a healthier old age.  As the two older women reminisce, the young A contends that she will never become them.  All’s well that ends well, if you, like Albee, feel that death is the ultimate freedom.  Likely he never felt free of his guilt until A’s death.  

In a play written as a “tour de force” for a mature actress, Meier shone.

Highly recommended
Playing at The Rogue Theater in Tucson AZ through March 25, 2018
www.theroguetheatre.com
 

In Entertainment Reviews Tags rogue theater tucson, The Rogue Theatre, Cynthia Meier, Patty Gallagher, Holly Griffith, Christopher Johnson, Edward Albee, Three Tall Women
Book Reviews - a Winter Collection →
Click here to subscribe to my blog.

  • March 2018 (2)
  • February 2018 (5)
  • January 2018 (5)
  • December 2017 (3)
  • October 2017 (4)
  • September 2017 (5)
  • August 2017 (6)
  • July 2017 (6)
  • June 2017 (4)
  • May 2017 (6)
  • April 2017 (4)
  • March 2017 (4)
  • February 2017 (4)
  • January 2017 (5)
  • December 2016 (2)
  • November 2016 (4)
  • October 2016 (19)
  • September 2016 (12)
  • August 2016 (7)
  • July 2016 (4)
  • June 2016 (9)
  • May 2016 (5)
  • November 2015 (1)
  • October 2015 (2)
  • September 2014 (2)
  • July 2014 (1)
  • June 2014 (1)
  • May 2014 (1)
  • April 2014 (2)
  • February 2014 (2)
  • December 2013 (1)
  • September 2013 (23)
  • August 2013 (7)
  • July 2013 (2)
  • April 2013 (1)
  • February 2013 (4)
  • January 2013 (5)
  • Family and Friends (1)
  • Picture This Post Reviews (2)
  • Chicago theater (20)
  • Peru 2013 (28)
  • UK 2016 (28)
  • Entertainment Reviews (43)
  • Books (60)

Interested in social media?  Click an icon.

Website Design: annboland.com
Copyright ©annboland.com LLC 2014 - 2018