Theatre Review: Cider House Rules Ensemble is More Than Just a Cast

For the last twenty years, Book-It Repertory Theatre has made the wearying task of adapting novels for the stage look easy.

For those who haven’t seen a production: the unique style weaves expository narration from the original text into the lines of the play. So Homer, while in the act of looking frantically for a lost photo, will cry out, “Homer looked frantically for the lost photo!”

Book-It has, in this way, consistently produced shows that have all the lyricism of a novel and all the sharpness of a live show. John Irvings’ The Cider House Rules, Part One: Here in St. Cloud’s was the first novel this company adapted for the stage in 1997. To celebrate the theatre’s twentieth anniversary, the company revisit the novel, this time with strong direction by Jane Jones and a compelling new cast, led by Peter Crook’s rock-solid work as Dr. Wilbur Larch.

Following the life of an orphan, this story quickly evolves from a youthful daydream to a navigation of a minefield of illicit relationships. Drugs, sex and abortion are primary themes, and the emotional and moral struggles behind each are presented in an accessible manner, although graphic. Homer’s discovery of a fetus’ corpse is just as horrifying as the rape that convinces Dr. Larch to perform his first abortion, and both make us question the status quo. 

Read the full review after the jump.

The strong cultivation of character contributed greatly to this accessibility. Though many of the actors play multiple roles, each role is distinct; I would not have noticed that one of the nurses, actress Julie Jamieson, also played a prostitute had I not carefully reviewed my program.

The relationship that is carefully developed onstage between Dr. Larch and Homer Wells (Connor Toms) is an exquisite depiction of a father-son relationship; I literally held my breath when the doctor silently kissed Homer’s sleeping figure. Toms portrays the character’s growth and development beautifully — he begins as a boy barely old enough to walk, but when he leaves St. Cloud’s twenty years later, the same actor is clearly a young man. Terri Weagent is a terrifying force onstage as the fearsome Melony, and although her constant screams are at times contrived, they do command the attention of both Homer and the audience.

But it is the cast as a whole, even more then the strength of each player, which made this show riveting. The visible chemistry in each relationship was as bright in my eyes as Homer’s third family’s campfire as I watched the characters move around and into each other — they act as a team, rather than a collection of performers who just happen to be onstage at the same time.

Actor Richard Nguyen Sloniker, who played Wally among other characters, credited the distinct unity of the cast to director Jane Jones: “She didn’t want to just make a cast,” he stated after a show preview, “she wanted to make a company.”

Indeed, Jones’ presence was clearly felt throughout a show which, though long — it runs nearly three hours — still left me anxious for part two at its finish.

To watch the connection of sound cues, light cues, and scene changes was very nearly like watching a well-timed dance, though it never appeared unnatural. The set was minimalistic; everything but a few chairs, benches, and medical instruments are mimed. This is executed so adroitly that as an audience we saw it all – even what wasn’t there. I even flinched when Melony swung a non-existent plank of wood across the stage’s edge.

The actors’ entrances amidst the audience, who are seated in front of and behind the stage, added to this visual element. Just as when reading a book, wherein our mind’s eye is surrounded by images as we trace the words across the page, so we were surrounded by imagery here.

Book-It Repertory Theatre
Cider House Rules, Part I
Through July 11

Note: run time is approximately 2 hours and 45 minutes, including two ten-minute intermissions.