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| BRADFORD ANDERSON as William Faulkner and KEN GLICKFELD as his father Murray Falkner |
| Photo Credit:Joe Caffrey |
| William Faulkner was the master narrator of a decaying South. With famous novels such as The Sound and the Fury, As I Lay Dying, and Absolam, Absolam!, his amazingly complex characters and vivid use of stream of consciousness revealed the darkness, struggle, and tragedy that pervaded the once dignified and strong South. He was a brilliant and completely disturbed man who left writers with innovative ways to write and readers with a new vocabulary by which to read.
This William Faulkner, however, is almost entirely absent from the Workshop Theater Company�s Blood of the Bear, a cookie-cutter coming-of-age play by Maureen McGranaghan. The featured character is supposedly a 17 year-old Bill Faulkner on a hunting trip with his father and tradition-obsessed grandfather. The stakes are raised when the aspiring writer decides to go after Reelfoot, a legendary bear in the woods. This search brings about dissonance among the different generations of Faulkner men. As a symbol of manhood, compassion, and custom, the bear brings out each character�s true colors and values.
But from beginning to end, there is very little reason why Faulkner is the vehicle for the story. McGranaghan gives no sign of Faulkner�s world-view, other than a portrait of his dysfunctional family, that would explain �Why Faulkner and not anyone else?� There are a few recognizable lines from his stories that the character comes upon and conspicuously writes down. There is a brief, ill-conceived sequence of how Faulkner may have experienced his stream of consciousness himself. Sometimes, however, the play works against the writer�s persona with flashbacks awash with nostalgia.
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| BRADFORD ANDERSON as William Faulkner and ERIC MILLER as his mentor and friend Phil Stone |
| Photo Credit:Joe Caffrey |
| All this might be pardonable had the rest of the production compensated, but Blood of the Bear seems to have fallen prey to mis-matched and mediocre direction and design. The action is a bit messy and, ultimately, the audience is not brought to care for the characters.
The one beacon of light in the production is the talented cast. The quiet but outstanding performance is Eric Miller, who plays Faulkner�s learned friend Phil Stone amd his only support in his quest to become a writer. William�s father and grandfather, played by Ken Glickfeld and Noah Keen respectively, have great turns that keep the story worth watching. Bradford William Anderson, who plays the adolescent William, unfortunately further distances McGranaghan�s character from the actual Faulkner, mistaking frenetic energy for youthful enthusiasm.
It is always a challenge to write the stories of the great writers. Blood of the Bear does not succeed within the genre, ending up as a slow and unremarkable family drama, signifying nothing.
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Workshop Theater Mainstage
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Category: Drama
Written by: Maureen McGranaghan
Directed by: Jeff Edgerton
Produced by: Workshop Theater Company
Opened: August 7, 2004
Closed: August 28, 2004
Running Time: 90 minutes
Theater: Workshop Theater Mainstage
Address: 312 West 36th Street, 4th Floor
New York, NY 10014
Yahoo! Maps Directions
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Tickets: $-1.00
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Creative Team
Written by: Maureen McGranaghan
Directed by: Jeff Edgerton
Produced by: The Workshop Theater Company
Lighting Designer: Jeff McCrum
Set Designer: Tania G. Bijlani
Costume Designer: Daryl A. Stone
Sound Designer: David Schulder
Cast
Bradford William Anderson as William Faulkner
Eric Miller as Phil Stone
Michael Grey as Young William
Ken Glickfeld as Murry Falkner
Noah Keen as John Wesley Falkner
Joe Caffrey as The Swamper
Crew
Production Stage Manager: Judith Scheir
Light Board Operator: Reg Metcalf
Sound Board Operator: Donald Gerber
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