The Love of the Nightingale

Play (1989)
by Timberlake Wertenbaker

With Liz Adams (Niobe), Aina Adler (Helen/Nurse), Rachel Belleman (Hero/Aphrodite), Blyss Cleveland (Iris/Chorus), Scot Colford(1st Soldier/Theseus/Male Ensemble), Lauren Elias (Philomele), Bridgette Hayes (Procne), Jenny Leopold (Queen/June), Ryan MacPherson (Captain/Male Ensemble), Will Madden (2nde Soldier/Hippolytus/Male ensemble), Jeff Marcus (Tereus), Eric McGowan (Greek Chorus/Male Ensemble), George Page (King Pandion/Male Ensemble), Shanie Schwartzman (Echo/Phaedre/Servant), Edan Zinn (Itys)

Procne (Bridgette Hayes), daughter of the king of Athens, has, against her will, as a war debt, been married to King Tereus (Jeff Marcus) of Thrace and leaves her father, King Pandion (George Page), and beloved sister Philomele (Lauren Elias) to be with him. Lonely and forlorn in her new home, Procne pleads with Tereus to go to Athens and bring Philomele back to Thrace, which he does.

But Tereus appears to have more than in-law-like appreciation of Philomele and, with passionate violence, rapes her, and when she threatens to spread word of his actions, cuts out her tongue.

Returning home, Tereus lies to Procne that Philomele has perished. Several years pass and Philomele, who has been living in hiding, comes to Thrace and performs a play that re-enacts the rape, informing Procne of what has happened.

Itys (Edan Zinn), the young son of Procne and Tereus is killed and as Tereus tries to kill Philomele the gods turn her into a nightingale.

What a terrific production of this modern account of this horrific Greek myth, recounted in Ovid’s Metamorphoses, about the rape, by a violent king, of his sister-in-law. The large cast is managed beautifully by director Rebecca Bradshaw. All of the performances are vivid and forthcoming in one way or another, testament to the overall quality of the production. The staging of the production, though done relatively simply, is artful and highly effective. The music, performed by a pianist, cellist and percussionist at the back of the stage, is exquisitely conceived and executed.

Lauren Elias as Philomela offers a heartrending portrayal of the central character, vulnerable, sensual and appropriately defiant when confronted by Jeff Marcus’ Tereus. Her verbal expostulations in response to Tereus are vividly insistent and compelling, and when she is deprived of speech, her body language convincingly expresses the sense of defeat and forlornness at the receiving end of the violent injustice.

Bridgette Hayes is a strong and convincing Procne, exhibiting with precision the character’s dauntedness at the outset with her forced marriage and isolation, her subsequent seeming quiescence with her husband and child, and her final outrage when she understands what he has done to her sister.

Jeff Marcus is a truly effective sonuvabitch as King Tereus, strong-willed, domineering and insensitive, wrapped in a veneer of grandeur that becomes peeled away with Philomele’s outrage and Procne’s final realization.

Edan Zinn is terrific as Itys, the son of Procne and Tereus, remarkably articulate and poised for a child actor, giving vivid and unexpected dimension to this role.

The large cast of supporting actors works together extremely effectively to produce the texture of this riveting production.

The play raises inevitable questions and concerns about violence against women, and Hub Theatre Company helpfully sponsored a talk-back after the show to address that theme in general.

Overall, this is a strikingly good production, done simply but effectively, with excellent acting and stagecraft, by one of Boston’s relatively new and up and coming small theater companies.

The Pay What You Can policy, for all seats and all shows of the Hub Theatre Company, is a great innovation, intended to attract a broad range of potential theatergoers, and a particularly great deal for a show of this distinctive quality.

– BADMan