Word: gardens
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Dates: during 1970-1979
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...Norman's oft-eschewed wife Ruth, achieves a balance of incisiveness and insightfulness that makes her character whole and believable. Although she seems to seethe with an underlying intensity, La Follette at times stifles her portrayal, as she does in act two, scene one of "Round and Round the Garden," when she converses with Sarah so quietly that some of her words are lost to the back rows...
...Follette is sometimes too subdued, Jerauld is all too often not subtle enough. She plays the prim, proper and meddlesome Sarah with a repertoire of grandiose and stereotypical gestures and inflections. Except for her garden conversation with Ruth, most of Jerauld's performance is forced and contrived. Prum, on the other hand, turns in a controlled, clearly delineated and uniformly excellent portrayal of Sarah's husband...
Seton combines naive hesitancy with repressed desire in her characterization of Reg's sister Annie. Although her mugging and hand-wringing border on slapstick in a garden discussion about the illicit weekend together, Seton's performance overall is humorous and believable...
...this garden conversation, Annie compares Norman to a shaggy Old English sheepdog. Zito translates that canine quality into a portrayal of the philandering Norman that outshines everyone in a show with several excellent performances. A natural on stage, Zito imbues Norman with a childish whimsicality and impetuousness that, like the three women in the play, you can't help adoring--and, ultimately, despising...
Credit for the show's success must go not only to the actors, but to director Reiffel, who also designed the music, lighting, and sparse but functional set. Only in the first scene of "Garden" when Norman enters carrying his pajamas, does Reiffel's staging falter. As Norman slinks about and Tom stalks a lost cat, the pacing is off, and the scene drags...