The Actors Theatre of Orcas Island has put on some well-directed plays we’ve all enjoyed, but the play that opened last Friday at the Grange is in a class by itself.
Fred Whitridge channels Judge Francis Biddle in Doug Bechtel’s amazing production of “Trying,” Joanna McClelland Glass’s touching play about a patrician politician reluctantly engaging with a new, young secretary. Biddle, a product of Groton and Harvard, FDR’s Attorney General and the Chief Judge at the Nuremberg Trials, sits atop a lofty peak of social and historical prominence that would intimidate almost anyone. Whitridge, at home with both the altitude and the behavior, gives a wonderful, completely believable performance as the hypercritical, uncompromising judge. Cara Russell, as Sarah Schorr, the spunky young Canadian girl with a provincial education, is the ideal counterfoil to the flinty magistrate.
From a split infinitive to a too-familiar offer to rub lotion on his hands, Biddle sits in judgement of Sarah’s behavior at every turn. Born on the prairie, but not yesterday, Sarah quickly learns to adapt to his critical eye. Russell demonstrates a fine emotional balance as she navigates the sudden eruptions of Whitridge’s disapproval, deferring to his anger while maintaining her course. Her empathy for him is palpable as we watch them learn to work together, and precious in the art of its expression. Russell is a deceptively fine actress, on many levels, and connects well with the audience.
Excellent sound and staging on a well designed set highlight the actors wonderfully in this artful exposition of near-opposites trying, despite their differences, to get along. The casting of this play demonstrates, perhaps, Bechtel’s greatest talent. Whitridge is as ideal in his role as Russell is in hers, and both offer testimony to Bechtel’s unerring eye. “Trying” is the name of this fascinating play, and this effort is wholly successful. Kudos to Bechtel, the Actors Theatre of Orcas Island, and to the two wonderful actors who bestow this delightful gift of art to our community.
“Trying” will be performed on Aug. 5, 6, 7 at the Orcas Grange starting at 7:30 p.m. Tickets are $10 at Darvill’s Bookstore and online at www.orcasactors.com.
