Is it pretentious or is it fun? This is the question I must ask about provocative and puzzling Big Love, written by Charles Mee, which was the hit of the 2000 Humana Festival of New American Plays, now on the Main Stage of the Long Wharf Theater. The playwright, also an historian, has used for the basis of his wildly inventive-Millennium piece, the classic Greek fable, The Suppliant Women; by Aeschylus. In this drama, thought to be the world's oldest, fifty sisters murder 50 brothers, in actuality, their cousins, rather than marry these young men with whom their families have contracts. Led by the focused and strong-willed Thyona (played by K.J. Sanchez, who is the remarkable dance-fight Captain) as well, the three women representing 50, insist they will not be forced into these alliances that they compare to enforced rape. Love, the operative, is missing from the equation.
When the play opens, they have fled Greece, landing somewhere in Italy, and seek sanctuary in the seaside villa of Piero, a man with "connections," acted with detached sophistication by handsome J. Michael Flynn. He also plays the mustachioed and bearded Leo, a guest of the household. Things gets off to a rousing start when Lydia, a part Carolyn Baeumler imbues with verve and freshness, strides across a sea of pink plastic designed by Annie Smart, removes her wedding gown, and stark naked submerges herself in a bathtub, which remains a fixture throughout the play. In short order, Lydia, Thyona, and Olympia, played flirtatiously by pretty blond Aimee Guillot, meet Piero's old-world Italian mother, Bella, a philosopher of a sorts, who describes each of her 13 sons with humorous tosses of tomatoes. Lauren Klein is splendid in that part and surprises as Eleanor, a sweet and simpering blond guest of the household. The suitors invade their territory by means of a helicopter (heard not seen). Led by Mark Zeisler's hard hearted, male chauvinist, Constantine, they demand the women follow through with their promises. Nikos is the only one who approaches and captivates Lydia, expressing love in such a sincere speech delivered so haltingly and endearingly by Bruce McKenzie, she is dissuaded from doing away with him; thus she is accused of being a traitor.á The balletic scene between Nikos and Lydia, as they sense the shape of each other, is the most sensitive we have seen in some time. However, Lydia's defense of her position, falling in love with Nikos, could be stronger.
While Big Love is a love story of epic proportion splintered into jagged points that seriously discusses the relationships and values of women and men, it takes the word "play" literally, employing a series of euphoric wrestling moves, which are extraordinary and attention-getting. Young women and men dressed in beautiful wedding clothes, designed by James Schuette, repeatedly fly up and through the air, twirling like whirling dervishes, and smash to the ground, shouting hysterically, climb to the top of poles, and are eventually splattered with crimson blood. They break into songs like, "You Don't Own Me" and "Bewitched, Bothered and Bewildered." Part Theater of the Absurd and part classical theater, it is, at times, pretentious, and it is fun.
