Artist:
Going To St. Ives
Genre: Off Broadway
Background:
Going To St. Ives by the acclaimed author, Lee Blessing. Blessing is most famous for his 1988 Tony Award and Pulitzer Prize-nominated play, ”A Walk in the Woods,” a captivating story of two nuclear arms negotiators trying to find a way to save the world from destruction.
Going to St. Ives is a quiet little event in which two women, one white and one black, talk to each other. While nothing significant "happens" on-stage, it is really what happens on the faces of the two actresses that leaves the audience enthralled. The two women are an eminent British eye surgeon, Dr. Cora Gage and her most eminent patient, May N'kame, the English-born mother of a Central African "emperor." May has not come to drink tea, nor even to discuss her impending eye surgery, she has come to ask the doctor for a pharmaceutical weapon she can use to kill her son and end his bloody dictatorship. The play establishes the underlying moral dilemma very early on. Cora on the other hand wants May to intervene with her son and have four doctors he has imprisoned released.
The soul of the play is hidden in the underlying motives of both women. Both characters are superlatively interpreted by L. Scott Caldwell and Vivienne Benesch, they are both amusing and dramatic in their performances. This is not just another mere “issue” play. Maria Mileaf’s flawless direction grinds and polishes the complex characters and the strengths of Blessing superb script. The sets of St. Ives and central Africa, have been fascinatingly created by set designer Neil Patel. The play's original music has been composed by Michael Roth. All these factors enhance the understated mood of the play.
It should be pointed out that the show's title is derived from a popular riddle that begins "As I was going to St. Ives / I met a man with seven wives." The riddle and its deceptively simple solution are quoted in the play, it has been woven in to serve as a reminder that we must always keep your final goal in sight and not loose focus by concentrating on unimportant information. The play overall highlights the violence that has been the bitter harvest of many parts of post-colonial Africa. An intriguing and gripping play. If you want to be there, contact your on-line ticket vendor and get the tickets now!!
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