Hypocrites carries O'Neill classic
By Barbara Vitello | Daily Herald Staff

Published: 10/5/2007 2:26 AM

'Desire Under the Elms'

The Hypocrites don't do melodrama as a rule. But in light of director Geoff Button's excellent revival of Eugene O'Neill's "Desire Under the Elms," featuring a terrific ensemble, including the superb Audrey Francis, they might want to reconsider.

Inspired by Greek tragedy (it echoes "Oedipus Rex" and "Medea") and set in mid-19th-century New England, "Desire Under the Elms" is an aching portrait of loneliness and desperation.

The slightly pungent but not unpleasant smell of mulch greets you as you enter Chopin Theatre's basement studio. It covers the floor and most of Tracy Otwell's rough-hewn set, invoking the harshness of the unforgiving land as well as its beauty, which is reflected in the panoramic projections and Jared Moore's lush, "purty" lighting.

In less sensitive hands, "Desire" might be just another potboiler. But Button uncovers its pathos, while still maintaining the sexual tension (eloquently expressed by Francis and Ian Westerfer). This play is about more than the affair between the conflicted Eben (a boyish Westerfer very good as the restless romantic) and the desperate, weary Abby (an honest, passionate performance by Francis, an actress to watch) who has recently married the much-older Ephraim Cabot, Eben's grasping, hard-bitten father (a flinty, menacing J. David Moeller). It's about people searching for peace and sanctuary, a place they can call their own, and someone they can love who will love them back.

Rounding out the cast is Gregory Hardigan and Vince Teninty, who supply the comic relief as Eben's oafish older brothers Simeon and Peter.

The space presents some staging problems which results in some bad sightlines (snagging a seat in the first couple of rows should help). Also, some awkward stage business involving Eben and Abby during Cabot's musings at the end of Act One don't make a lot of sense. But that's an anomaly in this highly charged, thoughtfully rendered revival.