GAY PEOPLE'S CHRONICLE SEPTEMBER 17, 1993

ENTERTAINMENT

Independent woman fends off emotional man-ipulation

The Water Principle Cleveland Public Theatre Through Sept 26

Reviewed by Barry Daniels

Eliza Anderson's The Water Principle, which opens the season at the Cleveland Public Theatre, is an allegory set in the future after an ecological disaster has left the planet almost barren. It is also a feminist fable in which the protagonist, Addie, struggles to preserve her own identity and beliefs

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when confronted with different forms of male aggression and control.

Addie, an independent woman who survives by trapping small birds, is the guardian of a stream that flows beneath her house. Her mission is to protect the pure water from exploitation or contamination. "I got responsibilities," is her verbal motif. Throughout the play she is given monologues describing the natural world-birds, beavers, water-before it has been destroyed by man. Woman preserves, man destroys, is clearly one of the play's messages.

Weed, Addie's neighbor, is the Man of Action: he thinks, he plans, he moves forward, he builds. He is a farmer and a hunter. He establishes principles. He has a cache of food-canned beans-which he uses to ingratiate himself with Addie. Although he tries half-heartedly to seduce her, he is really interested in tricking her out of her property. He seems to know about the stream and has plans to exploit it.

Skimmer, who enters the scene looking for food, represents the weak, but sexually alluring male. He's the infantile man who uses women and gives them pleasure, but flees as soon as he feels domesticated. Skimmer breaks down Addie's resistance and teaches her to love.

But Skimmer is hungry and enters into a pact with Weed in exchange for food. The action complicates as Weed pursues his plan to eliminate Addie. Skimmer becomes the focus of our attention: will he honor his male bond or will he be true to Addie? Once he learns about the water, will he try to exploit Addie?

If men are wrecking the environment, can women save it? Are women doomed to martyrdom at the hands of aggressive men or through the emotional manipulation of

soft-willed charmers? These are the questions the play raises, and if it sounds simplistic, it is. However, playwright Anderson has managed to make it interesting. Her language is compressed and uses repeating motifs that establish a poetic rhythm. The lost paradise of the natural world is evoked in passages of great beauty. Her short scenes are nicely constructed to make their dramatic points, and they are often colored by a quirky humor. Director Jan Bruml's staging is not entirely successful. There is not much variety in its rhythms, nor have the actors been encouraged to find subtleties and shadings to their characters. The result is a kind of flatness that makes the evening seem much longer than it is. Each of the talented actors, however, is in touch with the reality of the character, and each succeeds at realizing the broad theatrical outline of the role. Louisa Heinrich's Addie is beautifully spoken and has a quiet strength. William Beck's Weed is an amusingly macho, sandpaper-voiced, villain. Ron Link is suitably seductive and appealing as Skimmer, although his use of bird sounds and movements is stylistically at odds with the

LOUIS MCCLUNG

Skimmer (Ron Link) snoozes under a mattress-spring.

other performers. Musicians Oliver Soehngen, Ian Zickler, and Walleed Alabsi create a sonic environment that underscores the action.

The Water Principle runs through September 26 at the Cleveland Public Theatre, Thursday-Saturday at 8 pm, Sunday at 7 pm. Tickets are $8 ($5 for students and seniors). On Thursdays all tickets are $2. For reservations telephone 631-2727. ✔

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