DESIRE UNDER THE ELMS
Just as the two brothers are leaving, Ephraim, their father, returns with his third wife, a lovely young woman named Abbie. She’s married the old man because she wants to inherit the farm herself and achieve some financial security.
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Payne’s lack of direction remains apparent, however. For example, the townspeople who attend the party celebrating the birth of Abbie’s baby all know that Eben is the father; their function is to laugh at Ephraim behind his back. But Payne apparently mistakes them for a Greek chorus and has them wear ugly translucent masks. The masks are distractingly inappropriate, as if the townspeople have wandered in from some other play.
Edward Blatchford has the perfect look for his role as Eben. Young and lithe, with a strong jaw and dark, forbidding eyes, he looks the boy/man intent on achieving power. Although his performance is a bit one-dimensional seen next to Dunagan’s, Blatchford’s callowness does enhance our sense of Eben as a withdrawn young man, his emotions held carefully in check.
