Respect. Pride. Honour. What it means to be a man. The man.
In the family. In the neighbourhood. In an insulated world where work is scarce
and masculinity paramount. Where your name and reputation mean everything. To
lose that is to lose everything.
A View From The Bridge follows last year’s WAAPA production
of another Arthur Miller play, All My Sons. The depth of insight in Miller’s
writing about the male condition is exemplary and in the character of Eddie
finds a subject who is undone by his own misconceptions and anxieties about his
responsibilities as a man. It is a tragedy of Eddie’s own making which
heightens the devastating conclusion.
The setting is a waterfront neighbourhood of early 50s
Brooklyn. Longshoreman Eddie (Giuseppe Rotondella) works on the docks and lives
in an apartment with his wife Beatrice (Elle Mickel) and beautiful 17 year old
niece Catherine (Brittany Santariga). He is overly protective of “Catie” and reluctantly
acquiesces to allow her to take a job as a stenographer at a plumbing company.
When two brothers, Marco (Joel Davies) and Rodolpho (Rory
O’Keeffe) are taken in by Eddie after being smuggled into the US by ship from an
impoverished Italy, fractures begin to appear. Catie falls for the charming
Rodolpho which so disturbs Eddie that he seeks the advice of lawyer Alfieri
(Lachlan Ruffy). He claims “something ain’t right” about the blonde Italian who
sings, helps Catie make a dress, wants to visit Broadway, and shows other ‘effeminate’
traits. Eddie thinks Rodolpho is on the scam so he can stay in the country and
become a citizen but deeper, more troubling reasons emerge as to the true
source of Eddie’s anxiety.
He begins to persecute Rodolpho which alienates his wife,
his niece, and brings him into conflict with Marco. Eddie escalates matters out
of his control when Catie is determined to marry Rodolpho. The result of his
unthinkable betrayal so incenses Marco that the two men are bound together by
the strictures of disputed honour on a destructive trajectory neither can abandon.
Like All My Sons, the play slowly simmers and ratchets up the tension until it
all explodes in a powerhouse finale.
Rotondella as Eddie gives one of the finest performances I
have seen at WAAPA in the last few years. There are so many layers revealed
from the forthright, cocksure man’s man who is confident in his position and
status to the slow unravelling of that certainty as Eddie’s pre-eminence is
questioned by all around him. The sense of discomfort he displays as Eddie
tries to vocalise his disgust of Rodolpho to Alfieri – clutching his hat so
tightly he almost mangles it as he rotates the brim over and over. The sheer
anguish he bellows as Eddie is bent over double at the realisation of what he
has done and its horrible ramifications. There is a calculated moment of
machismo as he teaches Rodolpho to box, putting the young Italian in his place
with sharp authority and a gleam in the eye. This is matched by the dismay
Rotondella allows Eddie as Marco silently threatens him with a true display of
strength. Then there’s the ending where the actor cuts loose with all the pent
up bile and anger of self-loathing, masked in the name of reclaiming respect. From
start to finish it is a riveting performance.
It is followed very closely by Santariga as Catherine,
playing a 17 year old on the cusp of womanhood. She inhabits Catie with an
innocence that belies her beauty as the young girl is unaware of the impact of
how she dresses and behaves around the men in the neighbourhood. Santariga exhibits
a girlish enthusiasm as she scampers around the apartment keen to please her
Uncle and Aunty while pouting at setbacks and pleading for her independence.
The immediate infatuation she shows with Rodolpho is nicely portrayed as is the
growing strength as the young girl matures into a woman with marriage on the
horizon and the need to find her own way. The complex relationship with Eddie
is handled with assurance as is the exuberance of first love with Rodolpho.
O’Keeffe plays Rodolpho with a joyous disregard of the
judgements swirling around about the character’s sexuality and motives. His
suitor is charming and an idealist which is a nice counterpoint to the
hardnosed realism of the docks. It’s an engaging portrayal. By comparison the
powerfully built Davies is almost a silence presence, his Marco slow to talk
and to act but when he does it is with notable brutishness.
Mickel portrays Eddie’s wife as a pragmatist and voice of
reason within the household. Her Beatrice effectively stands up to Eddie and
gives Catie maternal advice which becomes more insistent as the true nature of
the situation dawns on the character. Exhibiting a fine comic sensibility in
previous WAAPA productions, it was refreshing to see Mickel tackle a dramatic role
which she imbued with moments of humour and humanity. Finally, of the principal
cast, Ruffy plays Alfieri who is both lawyer and narrator. He adds style - at
one point in top and tails - and a lovely singing voice as he croons Paper Doll
which becomes increasingly manic to reflect the shifting dynamics of certain
relationships on the stage below him.
The set itself was quite sparse with a small kitchen table
and chairs in the middle; a large backdrop with a circular cut-out that was lit
with different colours and used for actors to pose in silhouette; and a feature
I didn’t like – Eddie’s chair on the edge of the thrust facing away from the
audience. This meant for a section of the viewers, key moments were unseen with
Rotondella’s back to them. The lighting was also a little hit and miss – the
silhouettes were effective but too many times scenes were lit with actors in
partial shadow or dimness.
These are minor quibbles as this is a fine dramatic
production with excellent performances that builds to a compelling conclusion.
Directed by Lawrie Cullen-Tait, A View From The Bridge is on at The Roundhouse
Theatre until 5 May.
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