Can I get an Amen! for a play that gives dignity to a central character who is single,
working class and a grandmother with chronic pain? And let’s hear it for Chicago, a city
brimming with journeywoman actors like Linda Reiter. And props also to the American
theater for supporting the careers of original and prolific playwrights like Sarah Ruhl who
write plays that center on complicated, everyday heroes like Becky Nurse.
Shattered Globe Theatre chose an eerily timed moment for the Midwest Premiere of
“Becky Nurse of Salem.” Set in the small town of Salem, the play charts the economic
downturn of Becky Nurse, whose livelihood is built on giving history tours about the
witch trials that led to more than a dozen executions, including her own ancestor,
Rebecca Nurse.
Halloween’s witching season may be upon us, but what gave me more goosebumps
was the play’s resonance with the upcoming election. The presidential candidate with a
history of chanting “lock her up!” now boasts allies who accuse his opponent of
deploying witchcraft to cause his poor debate performance.
Into these rife circumstances, director Polly Noonan serves us the play in a court like
configuration, with the audience seated like jurors on opposing sides of the stage. Jack
Magaw’s set design features a versatile curtained cyclorama on one end of the stage,
creatively lit by Christine Binder and further enchanted by Andre Pluéss’s original music
and sound. The design team’s combined magic bends time and place, to hurtle the
audience from 2016 to 1692 and back again.
The strong ensemble of seven is anchored by lead actor Reiter’s vulnerable, cuss-laden
performance. Isabella Maria Valdés, who plays Becky’s granddaughter Gail, is another real
standout. She vibrates with the intensity of a young woman who is both anxious and
adrift yet possessed of a fierce streak of independence. The apple doesn’t fall far from
the tree.
Likewise, Diego Rivera-Rodriguez delivers a fleshed-out characterization as 17-year-old
Stan, Gail's boyfriend, who she recently met in the hospital where they were being
treated for depression. His charisma and grace, eyeliner, and tattoos, makes it easy to
see why he lights up young Gail's eyes, but also raises flags for Grandmother Becky.
One of the most refreshing elements of this play is the midlife romance between Bob
(Ramón Camín) and Becky (Reiter). Their playful lust and comfortable companionship
are as believable and authentic as it is cringey and off putting to young Gail.
As the witch – Rebecca Jordan is perfection. Is she a healer, a con artist or someone
who possesses supernatural powers? Her groovy best girlfriend’s aura kept me
guessing throughout the play.
“Becky Nurse of Salem” touches on many topics: misogyny, working class anger, teen
mental health, the economy and contested history.
At its root, it is about the intergenerational trauma passed down through the female line,
which is not the fault of the women, but rather due to the circumstances and the times
they lived in.
As she sips a long-neck beer at Bob’s bar, Becky observes that the world must be
divided into two groups: the people that left Salem and the people that stayed. And
those who stayed are becoming increasingly bereft of employment opportunities.
Bob, who manages the tavern he co-owns with his wife, and is on more stable
economic footing than Becky, tells her she just needs to stop shooting herself in the
foot. In other words, Becky is responsible for her own problems.
But is she? Or is the system stacked against women like Becky? After all, Big Pharma
got rich selling opioids to people with chronic pain like Becky; a college degreed woman
fired Becky from her museum job for not telling her own family history according to
current academia; Becky’s daughter and granddaughter are hospitalized at great cost
for depression. Yet given her life obstacles, women like Becky get the blame for their
troubles.
What about the women who don’t shoot themselves in the foot? Are they better off? Not
so in 1692 where one Salem woman heard muttering under her breath, was hanged for
hexing someone and another Salem woman with a hearing impairment couldn’t hear the
judge asking for her defense plea and was hanged when her silence was seen as proof
of guilt.
Compliant women were no better off prior to the mid-19th century, when the law
required a woman’s assets to be controlled by her husband, and if she became a
widow, her husband’s property and wealth had to be turned over to the state.
If you happened to be young and attractive, so much the worse for you. Social custom
and the law favored a man’s story over a woman’s. In cases of adultery, assault or
sexual impropriety, a woman would be labeled a whore and the man considered the
victim of a temptress.
It’s no wonder Becky seeks the aid of a witch to give her relief from one of her multitude
problems. Sadly, spells tend to bounce back and bite you in the end.
Will society get behind a political candidate who promises easy fixes to complicated
problems by demonizing others? Let’s hope history doesn’t repeat itself.
Shattered Globe Theatre’s “Becky Nurse of Salem” is playing Thursdays through
Saturdays at 8 p.m. and Sundays at 3 p.m. through Nov. 16 at Theater Wit, 1229 W.
Belmont in Chicago. For tickets and information go to http://sgtheatre.org/.
Photo by Liz Lauren
For more reviews go to https://www.theatreinchicago.com
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