The Mother of All Dilemmas in ‘St. Ives’

Two women are taking tea in a proper English parlor. One of them makes a request that will turn both of their lives upside down.

As you enter La Jolla Playhouse’s Mandell Weiss Forum for Lee Blessing’s engrossing “Going to St. Ives,” you don’t really want to know the details of that request. The moment wouldn’t be nearly as startling. However, it’s difficult to convey the complexity of this play without divulging the bombshell, so here is your first warning that this moment will be more specifically addressed late in this review.

For now, we can say that the two women are an English eye surgeon, Cora (Amy Morton), and her patient May (L. Scott Caldwell), the mother of a famously cruel despot who rules an unnamed “empire” in sub-Saharan Africa.

The doctor is glad to wield her lasers to treat May’s glaucoma, but she has one favor to ask of May: that she use her influence to obtain the release of four fellow doctors who may otherwise be executed by May’s son.

May has her own favor to ask of Cora. This is the revelation that we can’t talk about, just yet.

With this play, Blessing returns to the format that brought him fame with “A Walk in the Woods”: the duologue that blends political and personal themes. “Walk” featured two men: Soviet and U.S. arms negotiators. This one is for two women--and it has a stronger narrative, as indicated by the fuss made here over the plot.

Also, “St. Ives” appears, at this early date, to be much more timeless. Its themes--the maternal bond, the persistence of evil and the dilemma of weighing means and ends when fighting it--have recurred for eons, without depending on temporary affairs of state as much as the earlier play did.

At La Jolla, “Going to St. Ives” comes with two knockout performances, guided by director Maria Mileaf. Morton’s Cora begins the play as the soul of civility, but her confrontation with May soon leads her into deeper water. Cora’s only child recently was killed in Los Angeles, and she feels responsible for his death. Her marriage is beginning to unravel. While these offstage events may look a little too schematic on paper, Morton charts every measure of Cora’s evolution with convincing precision and power.

May is a much more flamboyant character, ever ready with a cutting interruption or an acerbic aside--until late in the second act, when she becomes undone by a memory. Caldwell’s journey is remarkably clear. She retains her iconic dignity until just about the last possible moment, when her oceanic emotions finally break through her wall of reserve.

OK, it’s time to address the big bombshell. It’s revealed about midway through the first act, so it’s not as if we’re giving away the whole store. In fact, after we hear the news, the suspense becomes more intense. At intermission, when the action switches from England to Africa, you can’t help but wonder what will happen next. Still, if you would rather be surprised by even the premise for that suspense, stop reading now.

May appears at first glance to be somewhat defensive about her son and any attempts to impugn his reputation. Soon it becomes apparent, however, that she is determined to do something about the brutality of his regime. She asks her new doctor to help her obtain some poison, for the purpose of killing her son. Cora, a recently bereaved mother herself, is horrified. But May is very persuasive.

While the first act focuses on whether Cora will help May, the second act--set six months later--examines the limits of Cora’s help. The play never becomes overtly violent, nor is it a conventional thriller. But it’s likely to start a round of soul-searching on one of the oldest questions in drama: What are the responsibilities of human beings to one another? Blessing’s rephrasing of that question is original and compelling.

*

* “Going to St. Ives,” La Jolla Playhouse, La Jolla Village Drive and Torrey Pines Road, Tuesdays-Saturdays, 8 p.m.; Sundays, 7 p.m.; Saturdays-Sundays, 2 p.m. Ends Oct. 15. $19-$39. (858) 550-1010. Running time: 2 hours, 10 minutes.

Amy Morton: Dr. Cora Gage

L. Scott Caldwell: May N’Kame

Written by Lee Blessing. Directed by Maria Mileaf. Set by Annie Smart. Costumes by Ann Hould-Ward. Lighting by Lenore Doxsee. Music and sound by Michael Roth. Stage manager Joyce Davidson.