"BLOODY BESS" at Red Hen Productions’ Kenneth LeTraunik Theatre
BY LUCIA MAURO
Today, it’s hard to imagine Dennis Franz slicing his way through a 17th century swashbuckler. But he -- together with Joe Mantegna, William J. Norris and Carolyn Purdy-Gordon – originated the roles almost 30 years ago in "Bloody Bess," a popular pirate saga conceived and directed by Stuart Gordon and written by Norris and John Ostrander for Organic Theatre.
Elayne LeTraunik, co-founder/artistic director of Red Hen Productions, aims to preserve neglected local theater classics as part of the mission of the new Andersonville storefront space she and her son – fight choreographer/actor Brian LeTraunik – opened in honor of Elayne’s late husband, Kenneth, for whom the space is named.
Although ultimately more of a showcase for saucy stage combat and florid accents than a crowning literary achievement, "Bloody Bess" is wrapped around the thrilling and tragic story of two female pirates – the refined upper-crust Elizabeth Presberty and un-schooled Annie Bailey, who spent her life wielding a weapon. When Elizabeth’s ship is seized by pirates, the self-appointed French captain, Levoisseur, convinces the bandits to protect the young woman. His motive is to demand a ransom from her wealthy governor-father.
She is guarded by the willful and embittered Annie, who secretly longs to be more feminine but, as a pirate, must remain sexless to survive (Annie also is silently in love with Levoisseur). In addition to the power struggles aboard this multicultural ship -- called "The God’s Love" -- as it sails through the waters of the West Indies, Elizabeth learns some life-saving fight maneuvers.
But the real conflict arises when Elizabeth faces a grave deception after escaping her captors and landing in the arms of the man, Commodore Reynard Eaton, who may have killed her father. The fact that she encounters the more brutal enemy on land than the one at sea poses an emotionally charged dilemma. It also gives this action-adventure play its thematic soul – the need for a code of ethics and keeping one’s word, even among thieves and marauders.
Elizabeth (likened to a fine sword) and Annie (likened to a pomegranate with a crusty exterior but sweet heart) team up to exact their revenge on Eaton.
The play, however (apart from its strong-willed women leads), does not break new planks in the realm of pirate melodrama. Actors must get past the "Arghh" nature of the script, with its ardent Hollywood-style lines, to make their characters more than ye olde, treasure-hunting Caribbean cliches.
Red Hen’s exceptionally solid cast, directed with a grounded passion and efficiency by Scott Cummins, take their grisly plight so seriously one can truly feel the remorseless and treacherous nature of their characters’ worlds at a time when sea travel was equated with pillaging and death.
Laura Scott Wade endows Elizabeth with a sly conviction, beautifully balanced against Kathrynne Ann Rosen’s raw and unbridled Annie. Kelly Van Kirk turns in a slick and commanding performance as Eaton, and Don Smith adds some pungent dimensions to the mutinous Calico Jack. Andre Teamer gives the African shipmate, Jesu N’Gali, an uncontrived mystical edge.
It’s a credit to Cummins that he has cast such fine actors, who are also fearless and skilled stage combatants, so that the story does not get sliced to ribbons by the near-constant sword play. While Red Hen’s new space is attractive and intimate (the proximity of the performers lends a dimension of danger), it’s not spacious enough for the fight sequences to be played full out.
Of course, real pirates often fought in confined spaces. But, here, it tends to limit the actors’ abilities, as well as fight choreographer Brian LeTraunik’s movement vocabulary – especially when performed on Robert A. Knuth’s wobbly multi-use set that moves from deck to Eaton’s quarters on land (locations that are indistinguishable).
The show runs under two hours with an intermission, and is worth experiencing for the piercingly real quality of the acting, the polished stage combat and – despite its tight confines for this production – Red Hen’s spanking new space in a neighborhood that recently lost more than one theater to condo development.•
Red Hen Productions’ staging of "Bloody Bess" runs through October 20 in the Kenneth LeTraunik Theatre, 5123 N. Clark. Tickets: $25. Call 773-728-0599 or log onto redhenproductions.com.
