By Perry S. Whitehair
Accompanied by my father, I had the real treat to see The Sting & Honey Company’s Desire under the Elms at the new Regent Street Black Box at the Eccles Theater in Salt Lake City. Let me tell you—we were blown away by the Sting & Honey Company and their production of Desire under the Elms. It was a nice change of pace to see a theatre company do something other than musical theatre and do something as emotional and heavy of piece like a play written by Eugene O’Neill.
Desire under the Elms is based on Euripides’ Greek tragedy, Hippolytus. Widower Ephraim Cabot (Bob Nelson) abandons his New England farm so that he may go into the neighboring village while his three sons watch the farm in his absence. Peter (Cam Deaver), Simeon (Daniel Beecher), and Eben (Topher Rasmussen), though they hate their father, they have inherited his greed. Eben, the youngest and brightest sibling, feels the farm is his birthright, as it originally belonged to his deceased mother, who was his father’s second wife. Eben convinces his half-brothers to go off in search for gold in “Californ-I-A” and sell him their shares of the farm with money that was stolen from their father. Peter and Simeon initially hesitate to sell, but head off to seek their fortune. Later, Ephraim returns from his travels with a new wife, the beautiful and headstrong Abbie (Melanie Nelson), who seeks a home and a farm of her own. Abbie and Eben meet each other and there is a plenty of tension over each other’s desire to own the farm after the death of Ephraim. While discussing the farm with Abbie, it is revealed that Ephraim would rather set fire to his own farm and release his livestock than to have someone else inherit what is his property, Abbie conjures a way for her to get the farm and she and Ephraim make a deal that if Abbie has a child with Ephraim, he will give the farm to her. However, in the next scene it is soon discovered that Abbie does not care for Ephraim sexually and in fact she has feelings for Eben, her stepson. Abbie and Eben enter into an adulterous affair. Act 2 of this production is wonderful twist that I will let you experience for yourself showing how Abbie and Eben try to get the farm from Ephraim.
The play was written in 1924 by Eugene O’Neill. O’Neill is a popular name in the theatre community. writing plays such as Ah, Wilderness, The Iceman Cometh and Long Day’s Journey into Night. However, this play, Desire Under the Elms, is O’Neill’s attempt at adapting plot devices and utilizing themes from Greek tragedy and putting them into his realm of writing. This play has had productions on Broadway and several other places around the world after making its off-Broadway debut in 1924.
The new Eccles Black Box has the perfect vibe for a nice formal night at the theatre The seats are fairly comfortable. Parking is pretty easy if you don’t have a preference of where to park and don’t mind walking. My father and I simply walked over from City Creek and paid only $2 for parking for the entire evening.
While this show has an intimate cast of eight people the show largely follows three individuals throughout the play: Eben, Ephraim, and Abbie. Desire Under the Elms is extremely emotional and it is outstanding to watch the journey that these actors take us on. Nelson as Abbie walks the audience through as her character cunningly tries to get the farm. She is magnificent as, later in the play, she wants to understand, help, love, and protect Eben in the complicated role as stepmother and lover. Eben is our story’s protagonist as we follow his story the most and I wanted to cheer for him to get the farm so he may honor his mother’s memory. I was enthralled with Rasmussen’s performance—could feel his conflict, his pain, his passion. Nelson as Ephraim never hints at the surprise ending of the play, and while Ephraim is painted as very abusive, greedy, poor father figure and husband, you feel start to feel sorry for him. Nelson made me hate him, then feel compassion for him.
The rest of the cast is just as strong as leads even with their short time out onstage that they made the best of their stage time. Tim Coray, Kylee Reynolds, Juliana Scheding, Rain Tanner, Beecher, and Deaver portray various townspeople characters. All members of this ensemble make sure not to upstage one another and live in the moment that the director (Javen Tanner) created.
Javen Tanner, one of the founding members of The Sting & Honey Company and its artistic director does a great job in utilizing his stage well and creating stage pictures that help tell the story while subtly hinting what would happen next. The theatre company’s mission, as listed in their bio on the back of the playbill, states that, “theatre should be a place of creation and soul, beauty and astonishment through the process of producing classical and contemporary works.” In short, their project is to please and Tanner with the help of his assistant director, Kathryn Atwood, do great job of doing just that with this Desire Under the Elms.
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While there may not have been a lot choreography or fight choreography in this play, props to Tamari Dunbar (choreography) and Roger Dunbar (fight choreography) for putting their mark on the show in a big way with not many opportunities.
There isn’t much in terms of sound design or sound effects at all really but there the use of real live fiddle is fantastic. Playing different renditions of songs including an elegant rendition of “Amazing Grace,” the character simply named The Fiddler, Tim Coray plays his fiddle beautifully. It is haunting and lovely and sets the mood perfectly.
The costumes (Tara Tanner), set (Javen Tanner), and lighting design (Matt Taylor) help solidify this already great production by creating a world in which the director’s vision and the characters of the story thrive. These elements make use of the tall black box with a two-level set, the use of lights to make it seem a character is looking through a window, and costumes that suit the time period and location of the story.
This show does have few things that may not be suitable for kids under 14 as the theatre company has stated: mild profanity, intense kissing, mature themes.
Desire Under the Elms is a great production in a great space with a great cast who do a fantastic job. It really shouldn’t be missed. Find the desire to see Desire Under the Elms and be prepared for an emotional, deep, and passionate evening of excellent theater.
Sting & Honey Company presents Desire Under the Elms, written by Nobel and Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Eugene O’Neill. The Regent Street Black Box at the Eccles Theater, 131 S Main St, Salt Lake City, Utah 84111 Thursday, Friday and Saturday through September 16. Evening performances begin at 7:30 PM and there are additional Saturday matinees at 2:00 PM.
Tickets: $18, online ticketing Contact: 801-355-2787 Sting & Honey Company Facebook Page Facebook Event
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