THEATER REVIEWS : In the Heat of ‘Night of the Iguana’

A strong feeling of heat and humidity settles uneasily on the ocean-side patio of the Costa Verde Hotel, which scenic designer Todd Muffatti has shrunk to very workable and exquisitely effective dimensions on the small stage of Cal State Fullerton’s Arena Theatre.

The sun-dried foliage and Stacy Westbrook’s steamy lighting further draw the viewer into Tennessee Williams’ world of “Night of the Iguana,” an uncommon tragedy about some very common people whose lives are falling apart on the west coast of Mexico just before World War II.

Director Gretchen Kanne seems to have an affinity for the poetic Williams’ wry glances at the underbelly of desire. Just as she did in her 1993 staging of “A Streetcar Named Desire” in this same space, Kanne creates a framework that allows the text to speak for itself. She fills it with passion, flights of imagination and sometimes desperate obsession that breathe with honesty and glow with insight through her young casts.

Kanne also, as in “Streetcar,” finds much humor in Williams’ tortured heroes and thwarted heroines, humor that leaves them ringing with clarity and truth. Williams infused his dialogue with humor, but as directors usually paint Chekhov’s comedies in dark tones, they often stifle the laughs that round out Williams’ visions.

Todd W. Crabtree’s powerful Rev. T. Lawrence Shannon is not just the usual lethargic, shattered, defrocked Episcopal priest who is hanging onto his job as a bus tour guide with bitterness. Crabtree is a lighted stick of dynamite waiting to explode, an animal trapped in a box, spinning frantically like the iguana under the porch looking for an escape hole. His Shannon is not aware that he is sometimes funny, but he is, and that makes his final surrender to his fate more poignant and tragic.

Hilary Russell’s Maxine Faulk--with her brassy, obsessive, control-freak placidity--is nicely matched to Crabtree’s volatile danger. But Russell, as the ultimate survivor who runs the hotel, has a cheerful mien that doesn’t always dig into Maxine’s anger and self-denigration.

More solid is Riley H. Risso’s Hannah Jelkes, the sketch artist who has brought her 97-year-old grandfather, Nonno, to a hotel that might be the last inch of the rope they cling to. Risso has a luminous lyricism in her early scenes that disguises the panic underneath until the very last moments of the play. It’s a lovely portrait of hardness passing as gentility.

Forrest Robinson’s Nonno, the “world’s oldest living and practicing poet” (a valentine to Williams’ grandfather), is an enticing portrayal of an old man by a youngish actor. Robinson often makes one believe he is ancient and understands the character’s symbolism to the author.

The supporting cast is standard but fits easily into Kanne’s impeccable dramatic landscape. Jeff Cooper makes a strong impression as the burly, complacent bus driver who waits for Shannon at the bottom of the hill.

* “Night of the Iguana,” Arena Theatre, Cal State Fullerton Performing Arts Center, 800 N. Stage College Blvd., Fullerton. Today through Friday, 8 p.m.; Saturday, 2:30 and 8 p.m.; Sunday, 5 p.m. Ends Sunday. $8. (714) 773-3371. Running time: 2 hours, 40 minutes. Todd W. Crabtree The Rev. T. Lawrence Shannon

Hilary Russell: Maxine Faulk

Riley H. Risso: Hannah Jelkes

Forrest Robinson: Nonno (Jonathan Coffin)

Jeff Cooper: Hank

A Cal State Fullerton Department of Theatre & Dance production of Tennessee Williams’ drama. Directed by Gretchen Kanne. Scenic design: Todd Muffatti. Lighting design: Stacy Westbrook. Costume design: Kathleen Ziegler. Makeup/hair design: Robert Gonzalez. Sound design: John R. Fisher. Stage manager: Christina Kennedy.