Minnesota Fringe Festival is over, and the 2025-2026 #TCTheater season has not yet begun, which means it's time for another Dark & Stormy Production, a company that very smartly programs one of their unique offerings during this relatively quiet time. But this time, they're not serving us one of their usual dark comedies. The 1950 play
Come Back, Little Sheba, by Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright William Inge, is all dark and no comedy. It's a tragic play that mostly makes me think about how women's choices were so limited in the past, and in many ways still are today (and becoming more so). But it's thoroughly engaging and full of captivating and complex characters, beautifully brought to life by the cast and creative team.
See it at Gremlin Theatre through September 7.
It's 1950 in a small town in the Midwest, and Lola and Doc have a seemingly happy marriage and life, but with so much boiling under the surface that will be revealed over the course of two hours or so. Lola creepily calls her husband Daddy, despite the fact that the couple has no children (the story of which is at the crux of their problems). Doc is a chiropractor in town, having given up his dream of being a "real doctor" when he married Lola. They have taken in a boarder to help pay the bills, a young college student named Marie, who has a surprisingly modern open relationship with her hometown boyfriend Bruce, whose second act arrival is much anticipated, that doesn't stop her from enjoying a fling with fellow student and athlete Turk. Since Doc didn't want Lola to get a job, she has nothing to fill her days other than visits from the postman, the milkman, and the busy mother next door. So she becomes a little too involved in Marie's life, and Doc also is a bit unhealthily obsessed. They both see the tragedies of their own young lives in Marie, and try to prevent her from making the same mistakes. Doc is a recovering alcoholic, a fact that Marie tells everyone, and has been sober for a year. Like Chekhov's gun, his impending relapse is hanging over the story like a dark cloud, and when it happens, it's devastating (to say Doc is a mean drunk is being kind). But Lola is a woman with limited choices and no way out of the situation. One can only hope that Marie's choices don't land her in a similar situation.
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Doc (Peter Christan Hansen) and Lola (Sara Marsh)
(photo by Alyssa Kristine) |
When I saw William Inge's Pulitzer Prize-winning play
Picnic (which I'm looking forward to seeing again at
American Players Theatre in Spring Green, WI next month) at
Lyric Arts in 2013 I wrote, "Inge is a bit like a Midwestern Tennessee Williams (which is a good thing in my book)." And Lola ranks right up there with the Blanche DuBoises and the Amanda Wingfields. Which makes her a perfect character for Dark & Stormy's Artistic Director Sara Marsh to play, and she does so with vulnerability and humanity and even a little humor. There are so many layers to what is going on with Lola, so much hidden underneath, and Sara plays it all. Gremlin's Artistic Director Peter Christian Hansen gives a devastating performance as Doc, so convincing as the facade of a mild-mannered dutiful husband, hiding mountains of inner torment, with a second act drunken scene that feels so real it's almost painful to watch. U of M theater student Madelyn Tax appears to be making her professional stage debut here as Maria, and she's great as this confident young "nice girl." This strong cast also includes Jack Bechard as Marie's brash boyfriend Turk, Alex Galick as her hometown boyfriend Bruce, Katherine Kupiecki as the kind neighbor Mrs. Coffman, and Bob Malos and Erik Haering in multiple roles.
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Marie (Madelyn Tax) and Turk (Jack Bechard)
(photo by Alyssa Kristine) |
Brian Joyce makes his debut with Dark & Stormy, directing the piece with a consistent tone and a realism, letting things play out in their own time yet keeping the momentum and tension building. The thrust stage at Gremlin is split into two areas, the kitchen in the back and the living room down front, separated by an invisible wall the actors never cross, instead moving between rooms through the freestanding swinging door. The period furniture looks worn and lived in, like it once was nice but has seen better days, complete with vintage kitchen appliances and coffee pot. Period costumes include pretty and youthful dresses for Marie, nice but less fashionable dresses for Lola, and neat suits for the men. Lighting helps to differentiate the areas, and changes with the time of day. The sound design reminds us we're in the country, with a great soundtrack of songs of the era before the show and during intermission, as well as coming right out of the radio during the show. (Scenic and props design by Bobby Smith, lighting design by Shannon Elliott, sound design by Aaron Newman, costume design uncredited.)
If you're looking for a great classic play to see in this time before the new season starts in earnest, look no further than
Come Back, Little Sheba. Spend a little time with Lola and Doc and friends in their sad lives, and be grateful for the choices you have in your own life. Who's Little Sheba, you ask? Lola's beloved dog that has run away, whom she calls for every day, until she gives up hope of her ever returning. A perfect metaphor for the bleakness of this story and these lives.
