University of Virginia Library

Heavy Burden

Because of its predictable
witch-meets-man, witch-loses-man,
witch-gets- man plot, there has to
be a heavy emphasis on character in
this play, and an unusually heavy
burden on the actors and director
to flesh out the sometimes
dangerously skeletal characterizations
which Van Druten has
written. Two of the five actors in
the Playhouse production do this
splendidly—Miss Van Boskirk and,
in an underwritten part, Wes
Simpers as a harried author,
slump-shouldered and hyper-tense
to the extreme of drinking straight
whiskey from one glass and a
"water chaser" from another,
alternating sips in a fine bit of
directorial inspiration by Russell
Gustafson, whose staging,
incidentally, is quite efficient.

Aside from these two stand-out
performances, the acting is, let's
say, adequate, with Joyce Stoner
smiling, frowning, and zapping (no,
not twitching) her way through the
role of the pretty witch in love;
Patrick Stoner overcoming an
intensity (primarily vocal, I think)
unsuited for such lightweight
comedy and settling agreeably into
the part of the mortal who doesn't
stand a chance of escaping back
into bachelorhood; and George
Miller bouncing jovially in and out
as Miss Stoner's younger brother.
They are all likeable, and if unable
to make their characters quite as
distinct and complete as we'd hope,
they are to be commended for not
falling back on stock romantic
comedy approaches and for
allowing their youth to work in
their favor, by lending a sense of
naivete or innocence to the
material, as it did also in
"Oklahoma!".

One final thought. It strikes me,
after seeing this production, that
Albemarle Playhouse has a
fondness for plays about witches.
"Bell, Book and Candle" is, after
all, the second show about
supernatural beings they have
presented in the last five months.
That does seem hard to figure; I
mean, there aren't all that many
plays about witches floating
around. You don't think..... ?

—Ed.)