BLUE DENIM
In this naive play written in and about an innocent time, the characters are all standard-issue 50s family: a caring but emotionally inept father, a sweet but passive mother, a girl next door (both literally and figuratively), and so on. The play begins and ends around the Bartley dinner table. We immediately discover that the teenaged son, Arthur, is in turmoil: subtly, he runs from the table. The family dog has been put to sleep without his knowledge or consent. His mother sends her husband after the boy to comfort him, and Major Bartley explains that the dog was old and sick–they were just trying to save Arthur the pain of confronting that. Arthur will not be comforted, however, and blames his father, saying he doesn’t understand him. This incident reveals the family psychology, and the problems to come.
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Talisman offers a very competent production of what is ultimately a trite and problematic script, though Hardiman’s staging tries to give the events more weight than they deserve. No character ever leaves the stage area; when not in a scene, they sit on the outskirts as silent observers. Though dramatically this is a strong choice, it goes against what the script suggests. The staging implies the characters all know what is going on but simply do nothing about it. But the story’s crises come about because the family is not paying attention–they’re basically good people whose “crime” is an inability to see what’s going on.
