Talley's Folly

From: "will stackman" profwlll@yahoo.com

Subject: Quicktake - "Talley's Folly" by Lanford Wilson

Date: Sun, March 26, 11:50 PM

Quicktake on TALLEY'S FOLLY

     Some Pulitzer Prize dramas age better than others. Lanford Wilson's Talley's Folly , the second play in his hometown trilogy resonates just as deeply as it did in 1979 -- post- Vietnam. In this long one act with only two characters. Wilson evokes all the history which bedevils the Talley clan in "The Fifth of July" and "Talley & Son"

    Marianna Bassham is luminous as Sally Talley, thirty and unmarried, stuck living with her difficult family, the richest people in this rural town. WHAT's Steven Russell gets beyond the ghost of Judd Hirsch to create his own appealing Matt Friedman, an accountant from St. Louis, shipped to this county to escape WWI, come to claim Sally in marriage in the midst of WWII. Director Adam Zahler, in his usual economical style, brings the two together, eventually.

    Janie Howland's fragmented "folly" of a ruined boathouse floats on the Lyric stage, well lit by John Cuff. Dewey Dellay's soundscape evokes the riverside and distant band music across water nicely. Lanford Wilson's ouevre hasn't been seen here often enough recently. This fine Lyric production may reminds other producers of his mastery of language and almost Chekovian characterization.

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"Talley's Folly" by Lanford Wilson, Mar. 24 - Apr. 22

Lyric Stage Company at Copley YWCA

140 Clarendon, (617) 585 - 5678
Lyric Stage