By Sheila Abrams Lucile Lichtblau’s drama, The English Bride, now in production by the Centenary Stage Company, is a very spare play. Three characters. A simple set with very few props and hardly any scenery. No time warps, no shape shifting, no obscure symbolism.
The beauty of it is that the story is cleanly told, straightforward and mostly chronologically, with flashbacks clearly indicated. We know what is going on. Except for one small problem. All three of the characters are given to lying. At the end, we sort-of know what happened but we’re left scratching our heads. About motive, blame and the reality of love. And that’s what makes the play so effective and so real. Because in life, there rarely are easy answers and neat endings. (Above: playwright Lucile Lichtblau)
Here’s the framework. An El Al plane, about to take off from London for Israel with 300 people on board, has been discovered to have a bomb on board. The bomb has been found in the luggage of a passenger, an English woman, Eileen Finney. The person who planted the bomb has been identified as her fiancé, Ali Said, an Israeli Arab. Ali has been arrested and does not deny his guilt. Eileen is being detained, her role in the bombing unclear. Both are being questioned by Dov, an Israeli agent who is trying to uncover the source of the bomb and the identities of the plotters.
Eileen is a working-class woman employed as a maid in a London hotel, self-described as plain, with no prospects and not much success with men. You might say she suffers from low self-esteem. Seduction by Ali, who she met apparently by chance, didn’t take much effort. As Dov’s questions get her to reveal a great deal about who she is, we find we have as many new questions as we have answers.
So also with Ali. He seems to love Eileen. He talks to her convincingly about how his conservative Muslim parents will love her, how she will learn to fit into their family. Is he doing this, all the time knowing that she will die when the bomb explodes in mid-air? Is he that cold-blooded?
Dov, the inquisitor, is perhaps the most puzzling of the characters. His professional motivation is to get to the bottom of the plot. But he seems to become emotionally involved with both Ali and Eileen. Some of his lies – yes, he tells lies too – are understandable, part of his stock in trade. But others seem pointless and gratuitous, just lying for the sake of lying.
Director Carl Wallnau has kept this production tight and straight to the point. The three actors are simply a wonderful ensemble, playing off each other beautifully. Amy Griffin brings Eileen to life as the Yorkshire girl hoping something will happen to her to make her life special. The only problem is that, despite the drabbest of costume, Griffin is hardly plain and Eileen is at moments beautiful. Well, maybe not a problem, really. (Left L-R: Ezra Barnes as “Dov,” Amy Griffin as “Eileen,” and Michael Gabriel Goodfriend as “Ali”)
Michael Gabriel Goodfriend brings out Ali’s tortured ambivalence. Like Eileen, Ali is desperate to make his life something special. Goodfriend succeeds at a tricky task, not turning Ali into a cultural stereotype, the Arab terrorist.
Similarly, Ezra Barnes, with the help of Lichtblau’s terrific dialogue, avoids becoming a cultural stereotype. Maybe Dov is the most puzzling of the three characters. But Barnes’ portrayal is understated and very persuasive. A special nod should go to Dudley Knight, listed on the program as Dialect Director. With three actors doing three different dialects (and doing them convincingly), Knight deserves a bouquet.
The English Bride, which won the 2011 Susan Glaspell Award as an entry in the Centenary Women Playwrights Series, is part of a “Rolling World Premiere” collaboration among Centenary Stage Company and other affiliate members of the National New Play Network. It was produced at the Theatre Exile in Philadelphia and will be performed at the 59E59 Theatre in New York in October, 2013.
It will be on stage through April 21 in the Kutz Black Box Theater in the Lackland Center on the campus of Centenary College in Hackettstown. The play is performed without intermission.
