If I Hold My Tongue is a new work by playwright Patricia Henley. Focusing on a group of women in a halfway house in Baltimore, it explores what it is to be a parent, a member of the community, and finally, a responsible adult.
With this production, part of the Women’s Voices Theatre Festival, Compass Rose Theater in Annapolis takes a risk in producing such a serious work by an unknown playwright. Smaller theaters can rarely take such financial chances; with little chance of commercial success, works in progress are usually produced by larger theaters with larger budgets.
But Compass Rose takes its mission of serving its audience with a passion that belies its small venue. For the last five years, they have produced works of quality within a slim budget. It’s a commendable achievement; we need more places to actively take chances in order for new playwrights to find their voices.
That being said, a voice must speak with some authority, and If I Hold My Tongue just doesn’t have it. It isn’t that the characters aren’t interesting or the plot compelling; it is simply that nothing about the dialogue or even plain facts rings true. If the author wishes for realism, then some semblance of research must be done. Take, for example, the setting- a halfway house in Fells Point in Baltimore. Fells Point? Where rowhomes go for $440K? Not even remotely possible. Given that this is easily Googled, the lack of knowledge about what parts of the city are prohibitively expensive or are poorer is distressing. (This reviewer must reveal that she lives in Baltimore, in a less-than-fashionable area, where there are at least four church-run halfway houses to her knowledge.)
And the dialogue is no better- veering between stilted and poetical, the characters are just mouthpieces; how they speak is simply not how street talk sounds these days. There are a few naughty words scattered about for effect, but it’s very evident that the author doesn’t use these herself and knows no-one who does: it just rings false, again and again.
This isn’t to say that there aren’t some real moments in the play: the basic premise of Tell or Don’t Tell is a strong one, and there are glimmerings of a social conscience underneath the artifice.
IF I HOLD MY TONGUE
Part of the Women’s Voices Theater Festival
September 17 – 27, 2015
Compass Rose Theatre
49 Spa Road
Annapolis 21401
1 hour, 10 minutes with no intermission
Tickets: $38
Details
Tickets
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The cast ranged from amateur to strong: in particular, Theresa Cunningham as Moodge took a thin and poorly sketched character and filled her as full of life as she could- it was like watching an artist sketch a Vermeer on a helium balloon. Ayune Boone likewise made her character of Lateesh all the more sympathetic, impressive given the unlikely storyline that was written for the character. And in the tiniest of roles, Clayton Pelham as Russell brought some balance to the play, though the romance between his character and the lead character of CC, a still-struggling prostitute, seemed just as unlikely.
Direction by Lucinda Merry-Brown was clear and decisive, though watching actors edge past each other on the tall, narrow stairway made us gasp and the stairway creak ominously. Lighting, though, was dim as dim could be; given that the barebones production was done on a simple black stage with little décor, we had a hard time just seeing faces in several scenes.
This is a workshop production, not yet a finished piece, and If I Hold My Tongue did have some things to say. I’d like to come back and see the second incarnation next year – each of its performances featured a talkback session after the show. Let’s hope the playwright took notes, and takes some time to finesse this piece over the next year, so that the voices of these women can be heard.
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If I Hold My Tongue by Patricia Henley . Directed by Lucinda Merry-Browne . Produced by Compass Rose Theater . Reviewed by Jill Kyle-Keith.
Ms. Kyle-Keith has provided us with an unfortunately narrow perspective here. Of the more important criticisms she has leveled against the playwright, whose fiction is well-regarded (Ms. Henley was a National Book Award finalist, for example) — the dialogue of the women absolutely does ring true. I say this as director of a drop-in program for prostituted women and children, which I founded and led for 15 years, and which Ms. Henley observed for research. Moreover, what part of Ms. Boone’s character’s life constitutes “an unlikely story line”? That she is living with HIV, after years of abuse and sexual exploitation? That the resulting paranoia combined with a new experience of predatory behavior from a random man to trigger her violent reaction? No, these and other events in the lives of the women portrayed here are dead-on, and anyone who has spent time with folks who’ve experienced this (or read their stories) would know it.
That we couldn’t see the faces at times in what can only be described as inspired staging seemed an apt metaphor for our inability to see the women for who they truly are. That the only actors praised in this review for their truly amazing performances were people of color is in itself problematic. Does the reviewer believe that only African-Americans can effectively portray those who have suffered? There are prostituted women, children and men of all races, transgendered women and men and others exploited and trafficked within “the game.” Prostitution is, like many profoundly distressing circumstances in life, often rooted in early abuse (although not always — sometimes it’s a product of other kinds of vulnerability). Finally, a quick look at zillow.com reveals several houses in Fells Point priced under $250K, affordable for most non-profits which engage in fundraising activities.