STAGE REVIEW : The Eroticism of ‘Picnic’ Seems Too Quaint Today

“Picnic” has spent the last 35 years evolving into a piece of sweaty kitsch.

William Inge’s tale of the sexual awakening of Madge, a flower in the dreamy fields of America’s heartland, won a Pulitzer Prize in 1953, mainly because of its frank erotic identity. But what was hot then--the drama’s female characters swooned at the sight of big-shouldered, small-brained Hal’s perspiring torso, and the audience’s women were expected to do the same--seems lukewarm and even silly these days. “Picnic,” once something of a symbol of liberation, now has the look of self-conscious satire.

At the Garden Grove Community Theatre, director Josh Mowery keeps faith with the notion that it tells an important story. For the most part, this is a serious interpretation that tends to underscore the play’s antique quality. Mowery occasionally seems to josh wryly with “Picnic’s” attitudes and tone, especially in the scenes between old-maid schoolteacher Rosemary and reluctant beau Howard, but it’s not enough to lift it above itself.

“Picnic” begins with Hal (Jeffrey Orman), a hunky drifter who just days before was rolled by two women he had taken to bed, doing some yardwork around the rural Kansas homes of Flo Owens (Corrine Williams) and Helen Potts (Alene Duncan Hyatt). As he bends this way and that, muscles working overtime, the local women get hot and bothered--apparently, studs are rare around these parts.

Madge (Cheryl Lawson) is checking him out, too. But she’s involved, in a naive, pristine way, with Alan (Walter B. Durant), an affable square who happened to go to college with Hal. Madge tries to keep her cool, but the hormones are percolating. “Picnic” is on its primly suggestive way.

As Hal, Orman is reasonably jovial and unassuming about all the havoc he’s creating with the ladies. His strutting bravado even has an amusing edge that helps lighten the archness of it all.

Lawson’s Madge, however, is not much more than ingenue sighs and little whines. We get a notion that she wants something, but for all the clues that are given, it could be a cherry soda down at the drugstore. To her credit, Lawson does work up a lot of interest when she sidles into her Kim Novak dance that signals a broader dimension in her courtship with Hal.

This production scores most of its points with Shirlene Peterson Joseph as Rosemary and Joshua Kaye as Howard. Their moments have personality and humor, two elements that can refresh “Picnic” and keep it from becoming a bloated experience.

‘PICNIC’

A Garden Grove Community Theatre production of William Inge’s play. Directed by Josh Mowery. With Alene Duncan Hyatt, Jeffrey Orman, Stacia Hadley, Bryan Cooper, Cheryl Lawson, Corrine Williams, Shirlene Peterson Joseph, Walter B. Durant, Merrylue Charmaine, Jane Nunn and Joshua Kaye. Assistant director Michelle Bagley. Lighting by Tim Bagley. Plays Friday and Saturday at 8 p.m. at 12001 St. Mark St., Garden Grove. Tickets: $5 to $6. (714) 897-5122.