Back
This 'Trip to Bountiful' well worth taking
THEATER REVIEW | Smith's portrayal accents Foote's brilliance
Taken from the March 11, 2008 issue of the Chicago Sun-Times
By Hedy Weiss
For weeks now at the Goodman Theatre, playwright Horton Foote has been giving us back our humanity -- first in his bittersweet "Talking Pictures," next in a beguiling set of one-acts, and now by way of his most beloved and universal play, "The Trip to Bountiful." This remount of director Harris Yulin's magnificently realized Off-Broadway production of "Bountiful" serves as the luminous crown on the two-month Horton Foote Festival.
Foote, whose upbringing in a small Texas town during the Depression shaped his enduring world view, is certainly not oblivious to the cruel things people can do to one another. He is keenly aware of the failures and frustrations that are the norms in life, and of the sheer pettiness that can be the only revenge of unhappy people. But in a world that more often than not can be cold, cruel and unforgiving, Foote also shows us how human beings can prevail in little acts of kindness, huge efforts of determination and will, and the magical healing powers (and coincident pain) of memory. Foote never sugarcoats reality, but also repeatedly reminds us of the beauty of chirping birds, the simple escapist delights of movie magazines and the sheer nuttiness of that stuff we call "the human comedy."
And so it is in "The Trip to Bountiful," in which actress Lois Smith gives what is surely the most achingly beautiful performance of her long and distinguished career. She plays the role of Carrie Watts, the elderly woman hellbent on making one final journey back to her roots -- traveling by bus from Houston to the Gulf town of Bountiful, Texas, after 20 years to see her crumbling house, relive memories of a lost love and buried children, and feel the soil beneath her feet and the smell of sea air. In Smith's performance, certain to linger for decades in the hearts of all those lucky enough to see it, you get the sense she has stitched her own soul to her character's, for they appear to breath as one. She also gets impeccable support from a peerless supporting cast.
Carrie's return to Bountiful is in large part a rebellion. For years she has had to live in a tiny Houston apartment with her married, not-quite-successful but gently loving son Ludie (a subtle and poignant turn by Devon Abner) and his rather shallow, childless wife, Jessie Mae (Hallie Foote, the playwright's daughter and inspired interpreter, who nails every caustic laugh). Ludie is forever torn by loyalties to his mother and wife. And both Carrie and Jessie Mae understandably drive each other to the breaking point -- equally resentful of their lack of privacy and independence, with money (or the lack of it), part of the subtext. Of course Foote sees everyone's side.
As Carrie embarks on her great escape (a journey less long than long-in-the-making, wonderfully conjured by means of E. David Cosier's movable sets and John McKernon's painterly lighting), she is befriended by Thelma (a quietly flawless portrayal by Meghan Andrews), a newlywed whose husband is off at war, and by a sheriff (the dryly funny James Demarse) who breaks the mold.
In Japan, both Foote and Smith would very surely be dubbed "national treasures." Audiences here should demand similar treatment.
Theater Review
'The Trip to Bountiful'
Highly Recommended
When: Through April 6
Where: Goodman Theatre, 170 N. Dearborn
Tickets: $23 - $75
Call: (312) 443-3800
Back