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Review: Characters and pacing carry “Eccentricities of a Nightingale” Nick Walker plays John Buchanan and Caitlyn Olson is Alma Winemiller in Collaborative Theatre Project's production of "Eccentricities of a Nightingale." [Photo by Susan Aversa Orrego] Tuesday Jun 20, 2017 at 3:22 PM Jun 20, 2017 at 3:46 PM By Evalyn Hansen for the Mail Tribune In Tennessee Williams’ “Eccentricities of a Nightingale,” now playing at the Collaborative Theatre Project in Medford, Alma finds the world closing in around her. As the spinster daughter of an Episcopal minister, Alma’s activities are under scrutiny. She seems strange. She is the local laughing stock. In the delta town of Glorious Hill, Mississippi, shortly before World War I, strict social mores hold the small-town society together. Alma Winemiller is larger than life. Her emotions are barely controllable. Her spirit is aching for liberation. Yet she ekes out a quiet life: teaching music, singing at local events, feeding birds in the park, and organizing literary meetings with fellow misfit intellectuals. But even those innocent activities are frowned upon. The Reverend scolds her, “Little habits, little mannerisms, little peculiarities of behavior — they are what get people known, eventually, as eccentrics! And eccentric people are not happy; they are not happy people, Alma.” Rev. Winemiller has his own cross to bear: Mrs. Winemiller is not at all sane, and her “bad behavior” is increasingly difficult to hide. He also blames his dwindling congregation on his wife’s mental illness, which he regards as her deliberate sabotage, “The failure of a vocation is a terrible thing, and it’s all the more terrible when you’re not responsible for the failure yourself, when it’s the result of a vicious impulse to destroy in some other person.” Alma’s childhood friend, John Buchanan, now a young doctor, is handsome, worldly, and home for the holidays. “His mother stands guard over him like an old dragon!” exclaims Alma. And yet the vital attraction between Alma — deeply in love — and John — intrigued by this strong, strange and honest young woman — evolves into tender moments and unexpected passion. Alma exclaims, “Give me an hour, and I’ll make a lifetime of it.” Williams once said, “Poetry doesn’t have to be words. In the theater it can be situations, it can be silences.” Director Russell Lloyd’s staging of Alma and John, alone in a rented room, demonstrates just that. As Williams stated, “The drama in my plays is nearly always people trying to reach each other.” The play takes on an exquisite surreal quality as spirits of the characters wander in and out of scenes revealing their own psychological yearnings to affect each other’s lives. “The whole meaning of my work is that there is no such thing as complete right and complete wrong, complete black, complete white,” Williams said. As time passes, Alma becomes victorious; she owns her own fate with strength and vitality. She glows as she encounters a young and attractive stranger, played by Jeff Mercer. Caitlyn Olson’s Alma is a strong, outspoken woman, a woman who is ahead of her time rather than the hysterical Southern belle (with fluttering hands and heart palpitations) that Williams describes in his script. Olson has a lovely singing voice, and one would wish to hear more, as her voice is an essential element in the story. Nicholas Walker as John Buchanan inserts a great deal of furtive hostility and sarcasm toward his smothering mother, delivering a baseline of humor that becomes a major pulse throughout the play. Diane Nichols infuses the tortured, tempestuous Mrs. Winemiller with a sweet sadness that is heartbreaking. William Coyne, as Rev. Winemiller, portrays a compelling lost quality while he desperately tries to control his family. Grace Buchanan, the cloying, controlling mother, could become a cartoonish character, but as performed by Cynthia Tank is perfectly convincing. Pam Ward, Lauren Taylor and Jeff Mercer, the intellectual outcasts, each portray memorable characters as they demonstrate how lonely it is to be an original, marginalized in a suppressive society. The lovely delicate costumes and the realistic set are seriously underserved by the minimal lighting, which renders the atmosphere flat and colorless. The play flows evenly from one scene to the next — on one set — which takes in numerous locations throughout the town. The pathos and poetry that Williams instilled in the play, the emotional intensity of the characters, the subtle comedy and the dynamic pacing throughout kept the opening-night audience enthralled. “Eccentricities of a Nightingale” runs through July 2 at the Collaborative Theatre’s performing arts center, 555 Medford Center, directly across the sidewalk from Tinseltown. Curtain is at 7:30 p.m. Thursdays through Saturdays and 1:30 p.m. Sundays. For tickets and information, see ctporegon.org or call 541-779-1055. — Evalyn Hansen is a freelance writer based in Ashland. Reach her at [email protected] or see her blog ashlandtheater.wordpress.com.