Planting Shelley Anne, a Workhaus Collective production at The Playwrights' Center on 1/31/09
By: David de Young
 |
| John Riedlinger and Carolyn Pool in Planting Shelley Anne - Photo by Kevin_McLaughlin |
Jeannine Coulombe’s new play Planting Shelley Anne that debuted Saturday at the Playwrights’ Center embodies some of The Tower card's issues. Directed by Kristin Horton, the play shows us a day in the life of a woman so overwhelmed by the items on her to do list that she has lost track of what’s actually important. It was apt that I saw the play on a weekend where my schedule was so overflowing that I barely had a sense of which way was up or down as I rushed from one appointment to another.
Planting Shelley Anne’s title character Shelley Anne (played thoughtfully by Carolyn Poole) is a modern mom, overloaded with chores, trying to raise a daughter and maintain a relationship with a workaholic husband who as it turns out is having an affair with her best friend. Shelley Anne has decided that before the first frost she must plant the 300 tulip bulbs she has bought so she will have “a blanket of color in the spring.” But with so much going on, how will she fit in tulip planting? The ground is to freeze that very night.
Over-scheduling has become a modern epidemic for both kids and grownups; and it’s amazing that anyone can get anything done at all anymore given all the distractions of life. (Even while writing this short review, how many times will I myself be interrupted by emails, Twitters or phone calls that threaten to derail me from my purpose?) It’s easier than most people realize to live a life of complete distraction, always off track, never making real progress. Shelley Anne knows this all too well as she attempts to fold a single basket of laundry for the entire 1 hour and 30 minute duration of the show and barely gets done what should likely have been a 5 minute task.
Another metaphor for the pace of her life, Shelley Anne’s teenage daughter Sherry (believably played by Renee Roden) scoots through her scenes (literally scoots, on a razor scooter then later on inline skates) never actually coming to rest until late in the play. Her husband Frank (John Riedlinger) lectures her heavy-handedly, “Time management is the key to life.” She resists, pointing out that even if you got all your chores done the world’s problems would not be solved. (Shelley Anne’s to-do list seems to keep growing by the minute until it includes items on the scale of solving the problem of world hunger or the melting polar ice caps.)
As well as playing Shelley Anne's best friend Monica, Katherine Kupiecki plays a dual role as the spunky and almost brash Caroline, a British explorer who knows how to set and reach goals and isn’t shy about sharing her wisdom. Riedlinger plays multiple roles as well, one being a Spanish lover straight out of a romance novel, who reminds her in his exotic accent that there’s “always time for a sex dream.” (Riedlinger’s role as the fantasy lover is so dashing it almost overshadows his primary role as Shelley Anne’s husband.) He also plays a character of an arc builder who comes off a bit like Woody Allen in a yellow raincoat.
Despite advice from all corners (most of it bad), nothing slows Shelley Anne’s life down until a catastrophic event late in the play makes everyone stop and start taking stock. As a few discrepancies between the action of the play as we the audience experienced it and what is then recalled by the perhaps finally grounded characters, it becomes clear that we’ve also been taken in. Though far from the only issue this play explores, one take-away for me was the importance of stopping on your own to take stock of your life instead of waiting for something to happen that shuts it all down for you.
As I wrap up, I notice this is less of a theater review than a piece about the issues this play raised in my own mind. But that’s exactly the reason I think this play and production was a success. Maybe it’s too late to plant the tulips. And the laundry can probably wait. Take a moment out of your own schedule to go see this show. It runs through February 14th.
Location Info:
The Playwrights' Center
Artist Info: Workhaus Collective
Share this story:
Article comments powered by Disqus