In the search for justice, where does revenge enter the equation? And now large a part does it have?
That's one of many questions Friedrich Durrenmatt asks in his play, "The Visit," which receives a splendid production and fascinating staging from Gary F. Bell and the Stray Dog Theatre company. It opened over the weekend at Tower Grove Abbey and will run through June 25. Durrenmatt, born in Switzerland in 1920, had many years of experience in the European bastion of neutrality, and examined all forms of it.
This play, first produced in 1956, looks at Claire, returning to the town that drove her out. She was 17 and pregnant, had the baby, went to work as a prostitute, married a wealthy client, climbed from bedroom to bedroom, from husband to husband, to become the richest woman in the world. Now she's back in her home town of Guellen, a community that has fallen on hard times, and she makes its people an offer.
She offers a billion marks, half to the town, half to its people, if someone will kill the man who impregnated her and then helped force her out.
With exaggerated makeup and staging, Bell brings a touch of Commedia Dell'Arte to Tower Grove Abbey. It works, as the absurdity (of makeup and some costumes) helps distance us in the audience from the horrible acts taking place on stage. There's a lot of doubling in the 17-person cast, and Bell uses the entire house to open walls and create mystery. It's a fine evening of theater.
Julie Layton, who's not on St. Louis stages nearly enough for me, dazzles as the single-minded Claire, who wants her pound of flesh and is willing to pay a lot for it. Clad in bright red from hair to toe, with a slash of brighter red where her mouth should be, Layton will have her revenge, or, as she says, "justice." She's meaner than a junkyard dog, taking pleasure in turning down the people's pleas for compromise, carefully divulging her methods through the years to insure the result she wants.
Her offstage husband, R. Travis Estes, is a perfect match as Anton Schill, owner of the general store and the man who dishonored her. They play together extremely well,
There's first-rate work from much of the remainder of the company. Standouts to me were Bob Harvey, in knee breeches as Claire's butler and chief factotum; Jan Niehoff, properly pompous as the Burgomaster; young Olivia Light as Schill's daughter and as Lobby, a blind man; C. E. Fifer as her brother and as Kobby, the other blind man; Colleen M. Backer and Melissa Harris as several characters; and Sarajane Alverson as the Teacher.
Tech work is outstanding, especially the music, which ranges from Bach to "Itsy Bitsy Spider." There's no program note for a music director, but Justin Been is credited with projection and sound design, so let's give him the applause. Besides, he's also the stage manager, a big job with a large cast and a small stage. Alexandra Scibetta Quigley designed the imaginative costumes and, I hope, the red gown for Layton. Tyler Duenow's lights were fine.
The Visit, a Stray Dog Theatre production at Tower Grove Abbey, will continue until June 25.
—Joe