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Worth the journey
Horton Foote's 'Trip to Bountiful' is timeless
Taken from the March 14, 2008 issue of the SouthtownStar
By Betty Mohr, Theater critic
The breathtaking, heart-wrenching production of "The Trip to Bountiful" is as profound, poignant and powerful an American classic as I've ever seen.
Horton Foote originated this gem as a television teleplay in 1953, then adapted it into a play and wrote the screenplay for the 1985 film.
Now, the Goodman Theatre in Chicago has made the play the centerpiece of its Horton Foote Festival.
As revived by Harris Yulin's exquisite, pitch-perfect direction and, with Lois Smith's mesmerizing performance, this is the kind of theater that pierces your heart and brings chills down your spine long after the final curtain.
Set in the 1940s, the story centers on Carrie Watts, an old woman who lives with her son, Ludie and his wife, Jessie Mae, in a cramped, claustrophobic apartment in Houston.
Jessie makes Carrie's life miserable.
She won't allow her mother-in-law to sing religious hymns because she says they're too old-fashioned, she nags the elderly woman to walk instead of run and screams commands such as:
"This is my house, and you'll do as you're told."
It's no wonder that Carrie develops a fanatical determination to escape what she considers a prison-like existence to return to her idyllic childhood home in the town of Bountiful, Texas.
Throughout, Foote's down-to-earth characters come through with real-life authenticity because of the honest portrayals of a terrific ensemble.
As Carrie, Smith lights up the stage with an awesome, impassioned radiant presence that has you falling in love with her.
Hallie Foote, the playwright's very talented daughter, also dazzles as the shrewish, self-centered and shallow Jessie Mae, and Devon Abner is just right as Ludie, the man torn between his mother and wife.
The honeyed Southern drawl of the play's characters reflects Foote's Texas roots from which all his characters are drawn.
Also conveying the atmosphere of the time are period furniture pieces by set designer E. David Cosier, costuming by Martin Pakledinaz and sound effects by Brett Jarvis.
While the setting evokes a particular time and place, "The Trip to Bountiful" is not dated.
Foote's characters have to confront timeless and universal problems on the loss of control over one's destiny and the hopeless sense of not belonging.
Moreover, the problems of aging, which in our frenzied modern times can strip us of our humanity, are as important today as they were when Foote wrote the play.
It has been said that good theater is a transformative experience.
Indeed, this play is the kind of life-changing trip that can change one's life.
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