A ‘Vengeful Redhead’ succeeds in Australia and Canada; next up: the U.S.

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This article was published 15/07/2007 (7007 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

STRATFORD, Ont. (AP) – The title grabs you right away – “The Blonde, the Brunette and the Vengeful Redhead.”

Smacks of infidelity, doesn’t it? Or at least indiscretion. But the one-person show by Australian playwright Robert Hewett has more on its mind than hanky-panky.

In a—play repertory season that also includes the spirited revival of Rodgers and Hammerstein’s “Oklahoma!” and a Brian Bedford “King Lear,” the Stratford Festival’s hottest ticket is a small, intriguing drama with a plum, showy part for that most neglected of performers: actresses over the age of 40.

The acclaimed production, first seen here in 2006 and now back, features Lucy Peacock as seven startlingly different characters.

For Peacock, a veteran of the festival for 20 seasons, “Vengeful Redhead” offers a chance to play roles outside her usual classical repertory. For Hewett, an actor turned playwright not known outside Australia and New Zealand, it has been an impressive debut that already has attracted the attention of regional theatres in the United States.

“It’s a great opportunity for a virtuoso performance, and you’re always interested in that on the stage,” says David Kennedy, associate director of the Dallas Theater Center, which will present the play next year (March 5-March 23) in a co-production with Cincinnati’s Playhouse in the Park (Jan. 15-Feb. 15). A different, smaller studio production is planned for the Asolo Repertory Theatre in Sarasota, Fla. (Jan. 11-Feb. 2).

No word yet on who will get the choice role in Cincinnati and Dallas, although Mark Lamos, a veteran of the American nonprofit theatre, will direct.

Unexpected is one way to describe the plot of “The Blonde, the Brunette and the Vengeful Redhead,” so it is difficult to talk about the story without giving too much away. The bare-bones plot concerns a suburban housewife (the redhead), whose husband announces he is leaving her for another woman (the blond) and what the wife’s learns from her best friend (the brunette). Complications, as they say, ensue.

“The play is about the nature of truth – how people perceive it – and obligation and blame. Those sorts of things,” Hewett says. “But I don’t want to make it sound too heavy.”

What Kennedy likes about the play is its “Rashomon”-like quality – “in which the story you are told is revealed to you in multiple perspectives and each perspective is slightly different. … The story keeps unfolding and revealing new facets.”

Peacock adores its storytelling. “It seems to draw people in so quickly,” she says. “I don’t think it’s like anything they expect. The audience leans forward and starts trying to put the puzzle of the story together – and as soon as they do that, we’re on our way.”

Plans for the play’s North American premiere were sparked in January 2005 when Canadian actor Geordie Johnson, while visiting his sister in Australia, saw a production. He immediately thought of Peacock.

“She has a great chameleonlike quality and she’s a dear friend of mine – and I loved working with her when we acted together,” he recalls. “She’s also at a beautiful age for an actress to come into her own – in terms of moving into real character work.”

Peacock agreed to star, but only if Johnson directed – something he had never done before. Together with designer Michael Gianfrancesco, another Stratford veteran, they mounted a small production at the Grand Theatre in London, Ont. The Festival, which was looking for a one-person show, picked it up for the 2006 season.

“This was a complete U-turn for me,” explains Peacock, who, besides “Vengeful Redhead,” is appearing at Stratford as Emilia in “Othello” and Gabriella Pecs in David Edgar’s “Pentecost.”

“And (it’s) also what audiences up here are really not used to seeing me do. … (It’s) very modern,” she says. “I feel like I am back in theatre school doing character work. I am learning so much.”

Hewett wrote “Vengeful Redhead” in 2004 for a friend who was looking for a good role. When the actress couldn’t get financing together for a production, another performer, Jacki Weaver, stepped in and has toured the play all over Australia to great reviews.

The Stratford production was a close collaboration among actress, director and set designer.

“The script leaves the design quite open – which I think is great,” Gianfrancesco says. “One of the most important things to us was, because Lucy plays seven different characters, each involves a full wig and costume change. They are quite specifically defined characters and quite strong transformations.

“And we wanted the audience to be part of those transformations so that Lucy wasn’t just going offstage and coming back as a new person. But that you could see how she was changing and turning into the next character.”

The solution? To have Peacock disrobe behind a series of screens, so the actress could be seen in silhouette, yet still maintain an air of mystery until the character came into view. That differed from the Australian production, which had Weaver changing in full view of the audience.

The Australian script was slightly tweaked for Canadian audiences, too, with minor changes made in language and cultural references. Slide projections of suburban Toronto firmly rooted the play in Canada. The upcoming American productions will be similarly localized, according to the playwright, and so will the design.

“What I love about the piece is that like all good theatre, it makes you reflect on your own life,” Johnson says. “This play really spoke to me in terms of what an element in our lives luck and timing play.”

And the timing seems right to continue with the play.

For Peacock and Johnson (who have only the Canadian rights), the next stop after “Vengeful Redhead” closes Aug. 26 in Stratford is British Columbia and a production at Vancouver’s Playhouse Theatre (Jan. 12-Feb. 2). Then there’s a possibility of a commercial production in Toronto.

For the moment, no other American productions are planned.

Hewett says he wants to establish the plays with the Cincinnati-Dallas and Sarasota productions and then allow it to evolve.

“It would be nice if the play came to New York. I would love it,” the author says. “I think New York would love this play – to see some of those top-quality actresses there strut their stuff. That’s what I’m wishing for.”