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By Carol Davis
 SOLANA BEACH, California—If you’ve never seen Lanford Wilson’s Talley’s Folly, you must head to the North Coast Repertory Theatre in Solana Beach to see their current production of it. If you have seen it, see it again. It is by far one of the best I’ve seen during my many years of reviewing theatre. It’s a two-character play starring David Ellenstein as Matt Friedman and Amy Biedel as Sally Talley of the Talley clan.
Wilson, who was born one month to the day, same year, before yours truly (in case you ever get that on a Trivia question), wrote three plays about the Talley Family. His trilogy includes Fifth of July, Talley’s Folly and A Tale Told later called Talley’s Son. He received the Pulitzer Prize for Drama for Talley’s Folly, and I can understand why. It is a sentimental valentine; feel good comedydrama that makes you want the two protagonists to live happily ever. But not without clearing the air of cobwebs by purging some heavy-duty prejudices and social issues of the day to finally finding love among the ruins.
The action takes place in the early evening of the 4th of July in 1944 rural Missouri, Lebanon to be exact, in the boathouse that is on the Talley property and was built by Sally’s great uncle (‘he built follies all over town’) for her when she was a child. The gazebo looking building in its heyday had all the frills of a Victorian Boathouse, with intricate latticework woven throughout and louvered windows but now is over grown with weeds along the walls. An old rowboat that looks like it is actually shifting in the water is rocking beneath what might have been a dock. Marty Burnett masterfully designed this structure and it is another of his great works.
The boathouse still shows signs of what it once was. It’s a perfect place, away from the unwelcome glances and snooping ears of Sally’s family, to have a showdown. Matt’s ready to plead his case; Sally is shocked to see him waiting for her after not seeing him for about a year.
Matt is an accountant who lives in St. Louis. She is a nurse and has as her patients service men injured in the war. They had met over a year ago while he was on vacation in Lebanon. He thought that something clicked when they first met so over the past year he had been sending her letters; at least one a day. She, on the other hand, knew the family dynamics all too well to be enticed, so she politely wrote back and asked him to stop writing.
You see Matt is Jewish, of European heritage and regarded by Sally’s family as a ‘left wing Communist radical.' She’s from a conservative Protestant household.. He’s in his 40’s and never married; her family considers her a spinster at the ripe old age of 31. While they would love to marry Sally off, Matt’s not the guy and never will be in her family’s opinion. Oh! He has already spoken with her aunt who might be amenable (he had been calling her every two weeks over the past year) and her brother who, not so very politely ordered him off the property while holding a shotgun to him.
On this late afternoon, Matt makes his most convincing pitch as to why the two should marry not the least of which is that they are really attracted to each other, he knows that. They reminisce about their past meeting, which seemed to go well. Something however, in Sally’s past is keeping her at arms length. She in turn believes she needs to know more about Matt’s past. The two bob and weave as they try to find the right formula to tell their stories while managing to avoid anything of substance.
Matt is most persuasive as he closes in to seal the deal by joking, bantering and imitating members in her family. She counters with her own reasons why they should not become a couple. She confesses, at one point that she’s not like the rest of her family, she’s ‘even read the New Testament a second time’ and she got fired from her job as a Sunday school teacher for
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suggesting her students read books not approved by the church. As much she wants to leave the Tally house, he still should not have come. It still won’t work, she answers back.
On one go around Matt tries to persuade her while explaining the psychology of the eggshell theory he heard about while trying to break through her barrier. People, he told her are like eggs and are afraid of bumping in to one another because they are afraid they will crack and become scrambled. It’s a great metaphor for two fractured souls looking to become one whole. Later on in his quest to win her over he sees this Sally thing as a puzzle and tries methodically to fit the pieces together.
They talk into the night chipping away, little by little while something is happening. As the shells of their exteriors begin to crack exposing their individual sufferings, secrets, disappointments, misfortunes and losses they eventually find a common ground toward wholeness.
Ellenstein, who is the artistic director of North Coast Repertory Theatre and director of this production, is a strong presence around the theatre and we have had the pleasure of seeing him act in just one other play at this theatre the first year he took over the at the helm. He played Jonathan Waxman in the Donald Margulies Sight Unseen production some time ago. It’s been too long since David has taken to the stage as witnessed by his oh! so wonderfully convincing, witty and sweet portrayal of Matt Friedman.
From the moment he walks into the boathouse and addresses the audience as Matt, he draws us in. With wire rimmed glasses and stubbly beard wearing a conservative gray suit and tie (Jemima Dutra) he tells us what is going to happen over the next 97 minutes. He points out features in the boathouse and proceeds to give us a rundown of what to expect. That’s it, we are hooked!
Biedel is just as credible. When we first meet her, she is guarded and concerned that her family might find them together. She convincingly gives every reason in the book, and then some as to why they cannot be together. Slowly she warms to Matt and there is a definite chemistry that begins to grow. She wants to know more about him and what secrets he holds. She relaxes and lets her guard down smiling more and even laughing at some of his jokes, yet still serious about the effects the Depression and drought had on her family.
The two actors definitely play off each other and it all seems so genuine, so charming and so good. In the beginning of the show, Matt calls their dance a no holds barred waltz; 1,2,3, 1,2,3, romantic story. It’s just as he predicted.
Burnett’s set is another feather in his already top heavy cap, Jason Beiber’s lighting is perfect and Chris Luessmann’s sound design puts us near the water with crickets chirping close by, a barking dog and big band sounds off in the distance. I wish it were summer again.
Talley’s Folly continues through November 8th at the North Coast Repertory Theatre in Solana Beach.
For more information visit www.northcoastrep.org.
See you at the theatre.
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