STAGE REVIEW : ‘Agnes of God’ Is a Small Wonder

There’s nothing new about the murder of a young nun’s newborn infant in John Pielmeier’s “Agnes of God.” History has a long list of such crimes. Nor is there anything new about the mystery that surrounds the event. What the playwright invests in his examination of the crime that makes it fresh is his apposition of cloistered faith and secular logic in a seesaw game of wills. At stake is the young nun’s soul, and the chips are the values of theological ideology.

The game is played by Mother Miriam Ruth (Joyce Eriksen) and the court-appointed psychiatrist (Gail Godown) assigned to find out exactly what happened on the night in question. Director Dan Rosenblatt knows it’s a game; he knows who the players are and what moves the battle along in his spring-coiled staging at the Vanguard Theatre.

Davas Billanski’s setting, simply four corners of a square, raised slightly, like a boxing ring gone awry, is inventively lighted in Virginia Lynn Rudolph’s design. The lighting pinpoints the various rounds between Mother Miriam Ruth and Dr. Livingstone and highlights the doctor’s interior monologues as she tries to untie not only the knots in Agnes’ traumatic passage into madness, but Livingstone’s own knots of doubt about her own set of values.

Tamara Mello has just the right quality of fey hysteria as Agnes. She is young, very pretty, and her voice tinkles like a distant bell at vespers. Mello is a valid balance for the strength of the combatants for her future. Godown’s doctor seems on the edge of emotions she isn’t prepared for, and Eriksen’s Mother Miriam Ruth has roots in her past that keep her from making any missteps. The performances are all tightly knit, textually impeccable and honest.

“Agnes of God” works well in a small space that recognizes the play’s size. It might seem overblown in a larger frame.

‘Agnes of God’

* A Vanguard Theatre Ensemble production of the John Pielmeier play. Directed by Dan Rosenblatt. With Gail Godown, Joyce Eriksen and Tamara Mello. Set: Davas Billanski. Lighting: Virginia Lynn Rudolph. At the Vanguard Theatre, 699-A South State College Blvd., Fullerton. Thursdays to Saturdays, 8 p.m.; Sundays, 7 p.m. Ends Nov. 21. $10 to $14. (714) 526-8007. Running time: 2 hours, 20 minutes.