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TACT throws A Cocktail Party
T.S. Eliot play makes comeback
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“And now for the party”
“There’s the doorbell”
“Oh, I’m glad. It’s begun.”
With those last lines the lights of the Beckett Theatre slowly dim and the room fills up with (more than a few) rounds of applause for The Actors Company Theatre’s premiere presentation of The Cocktail Party on March 7th. Sixty years ago T.S. Eliot finished writing The Cocktail Party. Set in London, it is a profound and witty piece that explores redemption and domestic life “while turning the classic ’drawing room comedy’ on its head” as the show’s press release states.
The play originally debuted at the Edinburg Festival in 1949 with the late British actor Alec Guinness in the role of the notorious Uninvited Guest. After some adjustments it premiered on Broadway January 21, 1950 and ran for 409 performances.
Forty-two years since the last time this play was presented in New York, director Scott Alan Evans is leading the production alongside fellow co- artistic directors Cynthia Harris (Julia Schuttlethwaite) and Simon Jones (The Uninvited Guest). The characters swagger around the parties and social encounters charmingly yet all with secrets to protect. The stage set up in the Beckett Theatre helps create a formal yet intimate atmosphere that integrates the audience, invites them to, as the characters, hear, see judge and inquire.
As is typical for TACT’s Sunday productions, the play was followed by a talkback with both cast and director. During this brief conversation, one of the main questions was why hasn’t this play been produced in the city in forty-two years? No direct answer was given, but there is one possible reason: in the “twitter age” as both actresses Cynthia Harris and Erika Rolfsrud called it, it’s hard to put on plays of substance that don’t go over ninety minutes. The audience’s capacity of thought is being taken for granted. Eliot’s play does precisely the opposite, it compels the audience to think about what they’re seeing, take from it what they need, and have a laugh while they’re at it.
With experienced actors on board, through this and previous choices of plays (Arthur Miller, Tennessee Williams) TACT constantly demonstrates its commitment to profound literature and great theatre.
The Cocktail Party is playing at Theatre Row’s Beckett Theatre until April 10, 2010. Visit www.tactnyc.org for more.