" 'Tis a Pity She's a Whore"

‘Tis a Pity She’s a Whore," presented by the American Conservatory Theatre (ACT). Written by John Ford, directed by Carey Perloff, starring ACT member René Augesen and Broadway actor, Michael Hayden.

‘Tis a pity Annabella’s pregnant - - by her brother.


Director Carey Perloff’s use of a dark curtain across the proscenium in ACT's production of “ ’Tis a Pity She’s a Whore” is unusual in that plays these days often open without a suspense-inspiring curtain. The theatre darkens; the audience is hushed. A strange rectangle of reddish light appears to hover in the center of the curtain (a scrim, really), near the top, as though floating above the stage. Ah, the magic of theatre. Ensconced in this red rectangle, almost hidden in set designer Walt Spangler’s giant organ pipes depending unevenly from the flies, is cellist and vocalist, Bonfire Madigan Shive. She opens the show, adding just the right original vocal and/or instrumental element throughout John Ford’s 17th Century, controversial play to bring it into the 21st. Cellist Shive is costumed in gossamer, like an angel - - an angel in Hell. She claims to more or less improvise her howls, screeches, chilling screams, and ominous and lyrical cello runs, to a soundtrack of drumbeats, as the play moves along, though sticks to the script with startling rehearsed emphasis. As in Shakespeare’s or other playwrights’s works of this era, Perloff staged “Whore” to reflect the period in which it was written. “ ‘Tis a Pity,” set in Parma, Italy, concerns an affluent, widowed father determined to find a suitable husband for his comely daughter, Annabella, who has eyes for another.

Along with the organ pipes, Spangler’s deconstructed cathedral set, are multilevel, ingeniously and beautifully lit open, wooden, staircases, and landings, serving as balconies. A small, movable platform lit from below, on which some of the action takes place, slides silently on and off stage. Tortured soul, Giovanni (a passionate Michael Hayden), is on his knees on this platform. He is confessing his sins of lust to Friar Bonavcntura (vet ACT star, Steven Anthony Jones), standing before him. Seems he lusts not after whores, but his beautiful sister, Annabella (René Augesen, for whom there is no role she does not master). When alone, brother and sister speak of their desire for each other in tearful voices, knowing their love is wrong in the eyes of God. Still, they flirt and tease. She answers his agonized question of what should he do? with the provocative, “What you will.” Annabella’s maid, Putana (Sharon Lockwood, always reliable with her strong stage presence), knows what‘s going on and even encourages the siblings‘ trysts. Though Annabella has other suitors, she wants her brother. No good can come of this.

Annabella falls ill; a doctor is summoned, but Putana rightly guesses that her charge is pregnant by her brother. She delivers a powerful line to Giovanni, “She‘s undone!” Another ACT regular, Gregory Wallace, riding around on a sky-blue scooter, plays Bergetto, the buffoon, lending much needed comic relief to this harrowing tragedy which could rival Ford‘s contemporary Shakespeare‘s “Othello“ as both tragedies employ a loyal nursemaid and end with the female lead stabbed to death in her bed. Bergetto lucks out by falling in love with the doctor’s niece, but, he, too, ends up dead, accidentally run through by a zealous soldier who’s after Giovanni.

“Whore” illustrates the differences in religious orders in scenes with Friar Bonaventura, who is kind, reasonable, and warm-hearted towards the sinners, yet preaches against the siblings' sins of the flesh, and his rival for souls, the corrupt Cardinal (Jack Willis), who is judgmental, damning, and controlling. In Perloff's program notes, she states that there is a lot of ambivalence about what is normal in a toxic society, and it’s paradoxical because while we know they are siblings, their love seems almost pure next to the corruption around them. The scenes the Cardinal appears in are bathed in red, blending with his red gown and skull cap. In one such hellish scene, he describes graphically to Annabella what she will face in Hell where she’s bound. The father has Annabella marry Soranzo (a sympathetic Michael Earle Fajordo). Soranzo finds out only later that she’s pregnant by her brother, but is convinced to accept the situation. Still, his mind is poisoned against her by his devious manservant and the zealous soldier.

Plays of this period employ subplots involving suspect identities, betrayed ex-lovers, characters who are mistakenly murdered or wronged. Tragedies end in death of the principles; “ ‘Tis a Pity” is no different. The ending is shockingly bloody, with Bonfire Madison Shive's piercing scream as Giovanni hovers over Annabella’s swollen, bloody belly; his hand, holding a sword, drips blood. Blood-soaked, staggering center stage, arms outstretched, he speaks of Annabella’s heart. One expects to see in his grip either her heart or a bloody fetus. At least on press night, there were neither, though the original play calls for the former. Today, Giovanni would be charged with two murders: his sister's and her fetus's.

" 'Tis a Pity She's a Whore" plays Tuesdays - Friday and Sunday evenings: $17 -$71; Saturday evenings $22-$82 and weekend matinees. Tickets at ACT Ticket Services, 405 Geary Street at Mason. 415-749-2228, and online at www.act-sf.org. Times: Tuesday-Saturday at 8PM (except 6/17 at 7PM), Wednesday, Saturday and Sunday at 2PM. additional performances Sunday, 6/15 and 7/6 at 7PM






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