|
BABETTE'S FEAST Send This Review to a Friend
My recollection of the 1987 Oscar-winning movie “Babette’s Feast” is that of an ultimately delightful, triumphant ambience in the face of austerity with wonderful scenes involving sumptuous food. Perhaps this memory is faulty, but it endures in contrast to the grim austerity of the current stage production conceived and developed by Abigail Killeen, directed by Karin Coonrod and written by Rose Courtney as an adaptation of Isak Dinesen’s short story. That was the same source material for the film, although the location of the film was changed to Denmark, while the play adheres to the short story’s locale of Norway.
It is, of course, not very possible to do on stage what can be shown on film with respect to the creation of a mouth-watering feast. What does come across effectively in this production is the religious austerity of the 19th century Protestant community depicted with its fanatical view of life bereft of earthly pleasures and romantic fulfillment.
Two sisters are trapped in this environment—Philippa (Juliana Francis Kelly) and Martine (Abigail Killeen). A marriage for them was out of the question in the mind of their religious-leader father. The play dramatizes how after his death the aging sisters continue the established puritanical tradition in the tightly knit community.
The agent for bringing fresh life into the situation is Babette, who is a refugee from counter-revolutionary fighting in France and played rather solemnly by Michelle Hurst. She offers to work without pay and becomes a cook, and all leads up to her eventually winning a lottery. Babette opts to take all of her winnings to plan and execute an elaborate feast for the community that gave her refuge. It is a spark of light in the emotional darkness, and her generous gesture with her enormous skill constitutes a happy surprise for those who have only known austerity and now are in awe of imported foods they had never tasted and exotic cuisine totally out of their experience.
There are six other players in the cast, including Jo Mei, Elliot Nye, Steven Skybell, Sorab Wadia, Sturgis Warner and Jeorge Bennett Watson, who all contribute effectively to the ambience and unusual story that unfolds.
Seen today, the story of a refugee making such a contribution obviously evokes thoughts about current growing refugee needs, especially in light of the Trump administration’s hostility toward taking in those fleeing wars and seeking rescue.
However, as for the play itself, despite all of the effort, the sensuousness so essential to the concept is not there on stage as it was on film even though the production is very faithful to Dinesen. But credit the company with a worthy try that holds our interest. At the Theatre at St. Clements, 423 West 46th Street. Reviewed March 27, 2018.
|