Word: martha
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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Former tennis players Martha Berkman and Louise Zonis, who have converted to squash, round out the Crimson's line...
Most of the acting in this show proves to be consistently superb. Both Heather Gunn (Martha) and Michael Starr (Nick) give tremendous performances...
...Martha is a loud-mouthed, overbearing alcoholic, and Gunn plays her well. Martha loves George, but she is disappointed with his lack of ambition, and as result she relentlessly degrades him publicly and privately. Gunn plays her nag role to the hilt. Her screams of "George" are perfectly annoying, her menacing looks towards him pack a lethal force, and when she criticizes George, her tone leaves a fire in its wake...
...moments where Martha shows her more sensitive, feminine side, Gunn performs with finese. Her seduction sequences with Nick are provocative. Her voice almost purrs and she does not merely walk, she saunters. At the end of the play, when she is left all alone, Martha reveals the tenderness that has remained hidden behind her tough exterior for most of the rest of the play. Gunn capably exposes Martha's major weakness, her deep love for George...
...good overall. He directs the actors well in highly emotional moments, including those mentioned above. The staging, however, is sometimes awkward. In Act Two, Starr's back is to the audience for a long time, and we miss the benefit of his facial expressions. But the feeling in Martha's seduction sequences is heightened because of the continuous circles she makes around Nick while he sits on the couch...