With its Medea theme obvious from the start, there's little doubt what will happen in By the Bog of Cats. A gypsy-like bog denizen, Hester Swane (Sara Trembly,powerfully pagan) has been Carthage Kilbride's lover for years. She's killed to make him a success. She's had and raised his child , Josie (restrained, at ease Alexa Ditaranto), 7. Now Carthage (Mike DeSantis, well spoken but not old enough for the part) is about to marry young Caroline (beautiful, sensitive Chelsey Panisch), daughter of rich Xavier Cassidy (imposing Tom Bahring).
He's claiming Hester's home, and though he offers "compensation," she's refusing. A witchy but sympathetic Catwoman (Panisch, strong, though pitifully made up and done up in a welter of Goodwill furs) predicts disaster if Hester won't leave. But she goes to the wedding banquet anyway, wearing the bridal gown she feels she deserves. Ghosts, fire, and murder follow.
Ho-hum, they've been expected through a series of scenes that continually question if all will act as predicted and everything will happen that's always been sure to happen.
Director Kelly Woodland hasn't done a thing to alleviate the slow pace. By stressing so many high points in the action, she renders the climax anti-climactic.
Dialogue gets full stage "Oirish" treatment. Though the accent's sometimes lost by Nina Hughes as Cathage Kilbride's mother, she's mostly a stitch. Constantly grabbing for attention, she even wears a bride-like gown to the wedding.
Another minor character who gets distinctive treatment is Daniel Greene's funny Father Willow, three-sheets-to-the-wind at the oppressive banquet. Joan O'Dwyer, on the other hand, does a thankless turn as a townswoman who tries to persuade Hester to make the best of leaving.
Other than Sara Trembly, however, the star of the production is the set, though introducing it in a penetrating smoky fog is a bit much. (Cough.)
An amazing concoction in VLT's little black box, scenery incorporates a house, a down-center pit where Hester buries a swan, a well that belches smoke, a caravan with a front stoop full of tinker's wares, a downward staircase. The set also changes to curtained room for a banquet, complete with china-laden tables. Scenery changes may be the reason for three acts, where two might otherwise have served. Intermissions not only prolong the production but present two temptations.
