Acclaimed 'Bountiful' concludes Goodman's salute to Horton Foote
"The Trip to Bountiful" makes no grand pronouncements.
Yet Horton Foote's bittersweet play, a study in character about an elderly woman returning to her childhood home for a last visit, has a lot to say about loneliness and belonging, loss and acceptance. That it says these things so movingly speaks to Foote's unassuming eloquence and to the quality of his quiet 1953 drama about a displaced woman yearning for home.
That Goodman Theatre's lovely production -- a remount of Signature Theatre Company's acclaimed 2005 revival -- succeeds as well as it does speaks to Harris Yulin's delicate, detailed, unhurried direction; a top-flight creative team and finely etched performances from the accomplished cast, nearly half of whom reprise their Signature roles.
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Leading the ensemble is Steppenwolf Theatre member Lois Smith, in a touching, meticulously acted performance as the ailing Carrie Watts. Carrie sneaks away from the cramped Houston apartment she shares with her son Ludie (quietly affectionate Devon Abner) and his scolding Jessie Mae (a feisty Hallie Foote, Horton Foote's daughter who expertly conveys bitterness born of disappointment) to return to her hometown on the Gulf Coast.
Like the others, Carrie is disconnected: hurting, yearning for that unnamed something -- peace, security, contentment -- embodied in that place called 'home.' Unfortunately, the town she remembered has faded. It can't provide the contentment she craves. Maybe no place can.
"Maybe when you live longer than your house and family, you lived too long," she says. "Maybe the need to belong to a house and family is gone from the world." That's a hard thing for Carrie to accept. Yet by the play's end, she has. In doing so she reclaims not just her lost dignity, but a little peace as well.
Praising Smith -- whose luminous performance has earned her Obie and Drama Desk awards along with a handful of other honors -- amounts to gilding the lily. Her Carrie is a combination of strength and resourcefulness, determination and despair. Often Smith appears lit from within. And while lighting designer John McKernon deserves credit for his glowing lighting, I can't help feeling that much of the radiance emanates from Smith herself.
Hers isn't the only performance of depth and grace. There's Hallie Foote's turn as Jessie Mae. In the hands of the award-winning Foote, another Signature veteran, Jessie Mae becomes more than a nit-picking shrew. Foote's artful combination of selfishness, exasperation and concern reveals the pathos that underscores this character, whose hard edges belie her heartbreak.
Abner reprises his role from the Signature production with an understated, wholly convincing performance as the decent Ludie, who stoically negotiates a rapprochement between the women in his life. Also reprising their roles from the Signature production are Meghan Andrews, sweetness personified as the gracious Thelma, Carrie's traveling companion; Frank Girardeau as Roy, the small town ticket attendant; and James Demarse as a sympathetic sheriff who escorts Carrie home, which turns out to be a ramshackle, vine-covered shack from set designer E. David Cosier.
Speaking of which, Cosier's sliding set is top-notch. The two-hour, intermission-less "Bountiful" moves seamlessly, thanks to set pieces that glide into place, morphing seamlessly from the apartment building exterior with its faint light shining from a tiny, lace-covered window; to the Watts' cramped Houston apartment; to the elegant train station to the overgrown country plot Carrie calls home. Also deserving kudos is McKernon's lighting, Martin Pakledinaz's costumes, Brett Jarvis' sound and Loren Toolajian's music, all of which are holdovers from the original production.
"The Trip to Bountiful"
Rating: 3#189; stars
Location: Goodman Theatre, 170 N. Dearborn St., Chicago
Times: 7:30 p.m. Wednesdays and Thursdays; 8 p.m. Fridays; 2 and 8 p.m. Saturdays, 2 and 7:30 p.m. Sundays through April 6, also 7:30 p.m. March 25; 2 p.m. March 20, 27; no 2 p.m. show March 15; no 7:30 p.m. show March 30 or April 6
Running time: Two hours, no intermission
Parking: Paid lots nearby
Tickets: $23-$75
Box office: (312) 443-3800 or goodmantheatre.org
Rating: For all audiences