STAGE REVIEW : ‘Trip to Bountiful’ a Dull Journey

Lamb’s Players Theatre’scurrent production of Horton Foote’s “The Trip to Bountiful” is a slow-moving train of a play--a steady yet plodding trip through memory landscapes. Director Robert Smyth’s staging captures the play’s delicate, romantic feel, but with a running time of nearly 2 1/2 hours, this overly sentimental production drags.

Foote’s 1953 drama centers on Carrie Watts (Jeanette Clift George), an older woman living with her inert son Ludie (David Cochran Heath) and his shrewish wife, Jessie Mae (Deborah Gilmour Smyth). Carrie is a sweet, earnest, hard-working soul, but daughter-in-law Jessie Mae inexplicably loathes her.

Foote devotes almost an hour of stage time to establishing the relationship between Carrie and Jessie Mae. Every time Carrie hums hymns, Jessie Mae implores Carrie to shut up; whenever Carrie rushes to fetch Jessie Mae a recipe, Jessie Mae tells her mother-in-law to “stop running.” Carrie’s son Ludie is too feeble to make peace between his wife and mother, so the tedious bickering proceeds throughout the first act.

Driven by Jessie Mae, Carrie secretly plans a trip to her hometown, Bountiful, Texas. Bountiful is a barren, decrepit town, but Carrie wants to go there anyway. She grew up in Bountiful, her best friend lives there, and Carrie remembers a time when Bountiful flourished with pleasant people and a pleasant way of life. “I still think it’s the prettiest place in the world,” Carrie says midway through the play. “Jessie Mae thinks it’s the ugliest.”

The second act follows Carrie to Bountiful, but the dialogue en route is virtually empty. On the bus, Carrie befriends Thelma (Cynthia Peters), a young woman whose husband recently left for Korea. They chat about love and life and then Thelma simply leaves. Later, Carrie strikes up conversations with a bus attendant (Mark Howen) and a sheriff (Ronald B. Lang), but these encounters go nowhere, adding nothing but “environment” to the play.

The play seems incredibly dated, particularly because all of the characters lack dimension and depth. Carrie is goodness personified; Jessie Mae is selfish and spiteful; Ludie is the picture of impotence; the supporting characters are simply “good folks” who push the plot along and serve to remind us that Carrie is a sweet, old woman.

The three main characters don’t develop substantially in the course of the play. At the conclusion, Jessie Mae remains her domineering self, Ludie is still timid, and Carrie, content to have made her journey to Bountiful, vows to return to her son’s home and adhere to house rules and regulations.

Carrie does make a few poignant observations toward the end of the play. “Maybe I had to spend 20 years cooped up in the city before I could appreciate being here,” she says, and, “When you’ve outlived your house and your family, maybe you’ve lived too long.” But this is hardly a sufficient culmination for a full-length play.

George captures Carrie Watts’ grandmotherly good demeanor with a subtle sense of timing and considerable comic wit. Unfortunately for George, she has little to do aside from “be nice.” At play’s end, George is left to smile blankly and accept her home town’s decaying state.

Lamb’s Players regular Smyth storms around the set in her manic portrayal of Jessie Mae. Constantly fumbling with her hair or her purse or her cigarette, Smyth’s performance is appropriately obtrusive, though a bit too wild and ragged. Heath finds and maintains a suitably understated manner for Ludie. In the smaller roles, Peters’ Thelma is sweet without being smarmy, Howen portrays two bus attendants credibly, and Lang’s sheriff is simple and believable. The Lamb’s Players design crew delivers its usual solid work. In particular, scenic designer Mike Buckley brought a sense of imagination to his design, utilizing suspended props such as porch swings and ceiling fans to establish different locales. Veronica Murphy Smith’s costumes succeed in bringing a 1950s feel to the production.

Unfortunately, Lamb’s Players Theatre did not bring a 1990s relevance to this play.

‘THE TRIP TO BOUNTIFUL’

By Horton Foote. Director is Robert Smyth. Sets and lights by Mike Buckley. Costumes by Vicki Smith. Stage manager is Tim Peirson. With Jeanette Clift George, Deborah Gilmour Smyth, David Cochran Heath, Cynthia Peters and Mark Howen. At 7:30 p.m. Wednesdays-Thursdays, 8 p.m. Fridays-Saturdays, with 2 p.m. Saturday matinees and 2 p.m. Sunday matinees on July 7 and 14 only, through July 20. Tickets are $14-$18. At Lamb’s Players Theatre, 500 Plaza Blvd., National City. 474-4542.