Kingdom of Earth
"an auspicious debut for Touchmark Theatre"
Robert Reid, The Record
Written by Tennessee Williams, featuring Paul Essiembre, Eric Woolfe and Patricia Yeatman
in the cast. The production was directed by Douglas Beattie and designed by Dennis Horn with
lighting by Renée Brode. Paula Steffler was the stage manager, assisted by Daniele Guillaume.
Kingdom of Earth ran for 9 performances, November 5 - 13, 1999
Synopsis
Myrtle, a down-on-her-luck entertainer, meets and marries a frail and delicate youth
named Lot who drives her home to his family farm on the Mississippi Delta. Although the
area is evacuating because the river is cresting to the north, Lot insists on completing
the journey. When they reach the farm Myrtle meets Lot’s half brother, Chicken,
(so-named because he survived the last flood by roosting on the roof with the chickens)
who confirms the house will be flooded by ten feet of water that night. On top of this
shock Myrtle learns that Lot has not been honest with her about his situation. He is
dying of tuberculosis. Several months before, in order to persuade Chicken to run the farm
for him, Lot signed an agreement with Chicken that the farm would go to Chicken in the
event of Lot’s death. Now that he’s in the final stages of his illness, Lot can’t stand
the idea that his despised half brother will inherit. He has married Myrtle so she can
inherit instead. As her husband lies coughing and gasping in an upstairs room, Myrtle
is faced with a dilemma. She would like a place of her own, but the only person who
looks as if he can save her from the flood is Chicken who isn’t disposed to like her.
In fact Chicken terrifies her. He is as coarse and rude and dangerous as her husband
is delicate and courtly and ineffectual. In a series of descents from the upper room to
Chicken’s realm in the kitchen, Myrtle takes on the task of ingratiating herself with
her new brother-in-law and attempts to tame the beast.
From Touchmark Theatre's Press Release on Kingdom of Earth, May 26, 1999
A little-known play by Tennessee Williams... will be
Touchmark Theatre’s inaugural production, Founding Artistic Director Douglas Beattie
announced today...
Originally produced on Broadway in 1968 under the title, The Seven Descents of Myrtle
(starring Estelle Parsons and Brian Bedford), Kingdom of Earth was renamed,
revised and revived in 1975, just eight years before the playwright’s death...
“Kingdom of Earth is buried treasure,” observes Beattie (best known for
directing and producing the Wingfield comedies). “It isn’t well known, probably
because it wasn’t a commercial success in its original version and staging. Williams
himself, in a self-deprecating mood, referred to it as his “funny melodrama”, which isn’t
a bad way of describing the play’s externals, but doesn’t come close to touching the
real interest of the play. It’s a suspenseful and powerful piece, an examination of the
uneasy bargains men and women make with each other to accommodate their ambitions and
desires and ultimately their survival. An added bonus for Williams fans is the chance to
see his final word on the Blanche/Stella/Stanley triangle from his earlier masterpiece,
A Streetcar Named Desire. In Kingdom of Earth he’s dealing with two men
and a woman, and he shuffles the character traits. In Myrtle we have a fusion of
Blanche and Stella, a remarkable character who, unlike the first two, seems to win her
struggle and face a triumphant future by the play’s end. She’s well worth another look
in these post-feminist, dying days of the century.”
The Cast (from Touchmark's Press Release, September 1, 1999)
Local audiences will remember Mr. Essiembre’s superb Malcolm in Stratford’s 1995
production of Macbeth. Paul’s recent roles at the Atlantic Theatre Festival include
Iago in Michael Langham’s production of Othello and Freddy in Douglas Campbell’s
production of Pygmalion.
Eric Woolfe’s local credits include roles at Hamilton’s Theatre Aquarius (Six
Degrees of Separation and House of Blue Leaves) and Theatre Orangeville
(Salt-Water Moon). His recent Summerworks show in Toronto, Billy Wuthergloom,
was singled out as a highlight of the festival.
“Paul and Eric worked together at the Centaur (Montreal’s largest English-speaking theatre)
in 1997,” Beattie said. “They played Picasso and Einstein, the protagonists of Steve Martin’s
Picasso at the Lapin Agile and were apparently wonderful together.” In Kingdom of
Earth they’ll play half-brothers, Woolfe taking the role of the frail and sickly
Lot Ravenstock, with Essiembre playing the dangerous, animalistic Chicken.
Caught between these two will be Patricia Yeatman as the down-on-her-luck burlesque
entertainer, Myrtle. “Lots of Guelph people will know of Pat’s lovely, natural presence on
stage and her gift for comedy,” Beattie observed. “She’s appeared at Aquarius in such plays
as Sinners and House of Blue Leaves and in many productions at Theatre on the
Grand, including The Dining Room and The Foreigner.” Yeatman’s recent
regional theatre credits include Shirley in Shirley Valentine (Imperial Oil Centre
for the Performing Arts, Sarnia) and Jean in The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie (Centaur
Theatre).
Supporting the excellent cast will be Elora-based set and costume designer, Dennis Horn,
and Stratford-based lighting designer, Renée Brode. Guelph native, Paula Steffler
, will stage manage.
Reviews
Eric Woolfe... Patricia Yeatman and Paul Essiembre gave skilled, intense performances.
Anyone who missed Touchmark's powerful and polished debut (I couldn't sleep until 3 a.m.)
can redeem themselves by attending Vigil Nov 3 - 11, 2000, and Playboy of the Western
World Feb 16 - 24, 2001.
Virginia Wilson, The Guelph Tribune
Beattie has done a masterful job casting Eric Woolfe as Lot, Patricia Yeatman as Myrtle and
Paul Essiembre as Chicken. Not only does each paint a character in meticulous detail, they
combine to paint a group portrait at once disconcerting and poignant... Dennis Horn's set is
a model of Southern dilapidation, while Renée Brode's lighting design is dramatically subtle.
Robert Reid,
Kitchener-Waterloo Record
As a venue, the Co-operators Hall Studio Theatre at the River Run Centre is perfect... Eric
Woolfe brings a well-judged, understated performance... Myrtle is all see-through blouse and
bluster, but Patricia Yeatman brings a sensitivity to the role, creating a distinct feeling of
sympathy for a woman facing perhaps her last opportunity to find a life-mate and companion...
Paul Essiembre's riveting characterization of Chicken starts out as ominously threatening, turns
to pathos and emerges triumphant... Touchmark Theatre has well and truly established its
credentials.
Kevin Lack,
The Guelph Mercury
Kingdom of Earth... was terrific. I wasn't a Tennessee Williams fan until Saturday night!...
It was truly a moving experience...
Marilyn Swaby,
Guelph
I really appreciated the little touches and care to detail... My compliments to the cast.
A very fine job by all.
Cheryl A. Ewing,
Elora
Douglas Beattie... invites unabashed applause in every major area of a director's
responsibility to guide, enhance and focus the actors' collective creative process, to
choreograph the development of each scene and finally to orchestrate the fine tuning of the
play's flow of action... The performers provided Kingdom of Earth with the highest level of
integrity and an evening of exceptional theatre... The only down note regarding the newest
addition to this area's arts community is that we will have to wait until next year for the
staging of their next offering.
Alan Argue,
The Wellington Advertiser
The production has the same intensity and high level of quality as a Soulpepper production
in Toronto... As Lot, Eric Woolfe expertly embodies what is surely Williams' own negative
self-portrait -- a man who is weak, self-absorbed and obsessed with his dead mother... His
descent into a kind of morbid solipsism through the course of the play is quite chilling...
As Chicken, Paul Essiembre gives what is one of the finest performances I have seen on stage
this year in Ontario. In the first half of the play when his character is mostly silent or
uncommunicative, Essiembre displays such a combination of repressed rage, sexuality and
violence that when he finally does speak and interact with the others there's a palpable
sense of danger in the air. As Myrtle,... Patricia Yeatman gives a wonderfully believable
performance as a woman who has somehow managed to maintain a sense of innocence and decency
despite all the indignities she has had to suffer and continues to suffer in the play. The
set by Dennis Horn captures the sense of the real world gone askew in its sloping lines, and
the soundscape of rain, storm and noise of the impending flood is superb.
Christopher Hoile,
Stage Door
Moving and entertaining! A wonderful evening of theatre!... Each of the three actors
took risks that worked. Myrtle, Chicken and Lot were believable and tragic and funny...
a memorable experience for all who attended.
Sandra McCormick,
Guelph
©copyright 1999 - 2007 by Touchmark Theatre all rights reserved
Photo by Bob Housser. From left: Patricia Yeatman,
Paul Essiembre & Eric Woolfe