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Johnny's SummaryGreen Eyes - 4 out of 5 stars
Review by Revonda Pokrzywa
"Green Eyes" is the sort of play that tries to pick you up in a hotel bar room. Specifically, it tries to pick you up in the Ames hotel on Court Street in Boston. It has its standards after all. Rather than the standard paper ticket, you're issued a hotel room key. You're also encouraged to drink the signature "Green Eyes" cocktail rather frequently. I tend to be leery of any play that attempts to ply you with alcohol before taking you into its hotel suite. Fortunately, you won't need a drink to enjoy this play. "Green Eyes" is a short, "lost" work by famous playwright Tennessee Williams, which takes place during the New Orleans honeymoon of a soldier on leave from Vietnam with his rapidly acquired new wife.
All is not champagne and flowers for the newlyweds, however. The soldier, Claude, is suffering from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder and is increasingly unable to distinguish between reality and his memories of the jungles of Vietnam. He also doubts his new wife's fidelity as he cannot remember making any of the love scratches that adorn her body. "Green Eyes" is a special event hosted by Company One Theatre in the Ames Hotel. It comes for its Boston premiere straight from a sold out run in New York City. It plays now through Feb. 12th. Due to the intimacy of the setting, each performance is limited to 25 seats. Therefore, buying tickets in advance is advisable.
From the very beginning, "Green Eyes" attempts to seduce you. The new Mrs. Claude Dunphy, played by Erin Markey, comes out singing Bessie Smith's "Do Your Duty" as she performs a strip tease, asking a gentleman in the front row to unzip her dress. She then teasingly thanks everyone for coming to her honeymoon. Not to worry though, although she coquettishly flirts with the audience throughout the production, "Green Eyes" is not an audience participation piece. Markey originated the role of Mrs. Dunphy, and it's clear that she takes to the role like a fish to water. She flirts with an abandon that makes it easy to assume that "Green Eyes" is a light-hearted piece. It's not.
The mood quickly shifts once her husband, the Mr. Claude Dunphy, played by Alan Brincks, appears. Brinck's Claude seethes continually throughout the piece. Claude is clearly haunted, both by the atrocities that he has committed in the war and by the specter of his wife's supposed infidelity. Their honeymoon suite becomes a parallel battlefield that you almost feel voyeuristic about watching. Markey's Mrs. Dunphy playfully protests her innocence in a way that makes her seem girlishly naive. It's difficult not to want to protect her. By contrast, Brinck's Mr. Dunphy seems dangerously unstable and constantly on the edge of a psychotic break. Although their fighting is highly sexualized and does involve partial nudity, it does not feel like an erotic thriller. Markey has more chemistry with the audience than she does with Brinck.
One of the strongest things that "Green Eyes" has going for it is its seductively intimate setting. Given the popularity of Tennessee Williams, inviting the audience into a hotel suite for the performance was probably unnecessary. However, it definitely adds a certain something that is often lost in crowded opera houses and the like. It's hard to ignore that the separation between yourself and the players is artificial. "Green Eyes" creates the illusion that you're actually there in the hotel room with the dueling couple, because in a way you are. Production designers Duncan Cutler and Travis Chamberlain exploit this thin veil between realities in other ways. In addition to playing with the traditional divide between the audience and actors, they blur the separation between the Vietnam jungle and the New Orleans hotel. The room is hung with camouflage netting and is full of jungle plants. A velvet painting of a tiger with green eyes hangs ominously on the wall. Depending on the lighting and sound, it transforms between a muggy New Orleans room and a verdant jungle. Because it happens around you and not just on a stage, it pulls you into a schizophrenic reality.
Lasting all of 40 minutes, "Green Eyes" is a more like a short story than a novel. Yet, it does not feel abrupt. Rather, it has a sumptuous completeness. If it were any longer, then it would be too long. Like many of Tennessee Williams works, it has a slight twist in it's ending .It addresses the effects of war, but in a domestic setting which somehow makes it seem more real. This is a play that makes for great cocktail party conversation. However, it's worth seeing even without the aforementioned beverage.
Full DescriptionA Boston premiere at Boston’s premiere boutique hotel! Straight from its sold-out run in New York City, Company One is proud to present Travis Chamberlain’s highly acclaimed site-specific production of Tennessee Williams’ GREEN EYES at The Ames Hotel. Written in 1970 but unpublished for almost 40 years, this “lost” erotic thriller graphically reveals the impact of war through the sexual fantasies of a newlywed couple honeymooning in New Orleans. He’s a soldier, traumatized by his participation in the war; she's a ravenous woman determined to satisfy the darkest recesses of her most deviant desires. Starring the acclaimed NYC actress Erin Markey - “a kittenish vixen whose sexual pliancy hides an iron will” (The New York Times) - GREEN EYES transforms a honeymoon suite into a psychosexual battleground where desire and violence blur and become indistinguishable. With only 25 seats available per show, this is an exclusive theatrical event you do not want to miss!
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