By Meghan McGinnis
Big Love, written by Charles L Mee and presented by University of Utah Theatre in Salt Lake City, is a fresh and modern examination of a work about the trauma we all carry by living in a gendered world. Originally produced at the Actors Theatre of Louisville in 2000, it’s been taken on 18 years later by University of Utah director Robert Scott Smith. Smith took on the challenge of producing a play that was of the moment in 2000 on gender, and to make it fresh for the audience of 2018, an audience that is exhausted on political discussions of the worth of a human life. Smith endeavored to create a show we could both savor and analyze for its discussion of gender relations in a world where we are weary of the very notion. This isn’t a show that allows you to enjoy single moments as they occur. It’s a show that forces you to take in each moment, terrified and anxious of what the outcome would be. The result is invigorating theatre.
Big Love is about 50 sisters who are fleeing from marriage to their 50 cousins at an Italian villa. The sisters ultimately make the choice to murder their husbands when they cannot escape, with mixed results. Our three central heroines, Lydia (Allison Billmeyer), Olympia (Mary Nikols), and Thyona (Morgan Werder) all shine in unique ways as three women who could have easily fallen flat if played with less nuance. Billmeyer immediately captures the audience in a gorgeous opening scene, with much credit owed to the actress, who gives a brief moment in the show during which a woman is beautiful and vulnerable only for herself, without a question of male desire or gaze. But also credit must be given to set designer Thomas George and lighting designer Michael Horeisi. I would also be so remiss not to note that the romance between Billmeyer and her male opposite, Harrison Lind as Nikos, is some of the most believable chemistry I’ve ever seen on a stage. The moment of Lind stroking Billmeyer’s arm and their kiss felt like I was spying on two true-to-life lovers. It is so good I felt like a peeping tom.
Nikols has an incredible stage presence and is ever dripping with gravitas, so to see her portray the most typically feminine woman longing for a man to care for her was fascinating and she gives depth to a seemingly shallow character. There aren’t enough words for the power that Werder gives to the stage, playing a protagonist of pure feminine rage. I believe that feminine rage is the most powerful force on earth. Werder plays it with a root of sorrow that is so perfect, so true to the rage I feel every day as a queer woman in 2018, and I know her portrayal will stay with me for years to come.
The character who captured my heart the most, however, has to be Jacob Weitlauf as Giuliano. Each time Weitlauf has a vocal number, the show obviously hits its stride. The single most visually and emotionally striking moment of the night is when prior to the “red wedding”, Weitlauf walks on stage in a wedding dress and bouquet with a full face of makeup, looking absolutely radiant, singing “Ave Maria”, and Weitlauf turns their face to view the lighting pouring down on them (again, kudos to Horeisi) and amidst a production about the violence of womanhood and the trappings of domesticity, we watch a queer character have a moment of glamour, of beauty, of tenderness, and of longing. It’s simply stunning.
I could not find sufficient praise for the murder scene. The costuming the brides are wearing is extraordinary, truly so exquisitely done, costume designer K.L. Alberts deserves all the praise solely for the dress and tiara combo Nikols wears, not to mention the pants and crop-top combo Werder is in. I would not have minded if any of those women murdered me, as long as they looked that fierce. But then the choice to have the blood depicted as sequined, glittering fabric? Incredible. The resonance of having these men pay for the crime of patriarchy by shedding glimmering, prissy red fabric is breathtaking.
To be true, there were moments of cringe in this show when it was perhaps too on the nose. But this is a risk we take in any politically furious work. Thyona shouting “these supreme court justices, these pussy grabbers!” I could have lived without, if only because I’ve heard those very words so many times these last two years, I’m sick of it. Give me nuance with fury. The amount of outright shouting was more than I was prepared for, and some musical numbers felt out of place and uncomfortable. The show seems unsure if it is prepared to be abstract, or realistic, or to even find a place in between. Often the banter between the women falls short of sisterhood and more of an acting exercise of each individual character. But these are small risks with any show that promises on premise alone to be messy, with loose strings.
I’m haunted by the curtain call of Big Love. In the hours since I’ve seen it, I keep finding my mind coming back to Billmeyer, seemingly still in character as Lydia. After being abandoned by her sisters in the final scene, Billmeyer was still visibly weeping through the curtain call. After the show I found a friend in the lobby and we both were confused. Was she still in character? Was she all right? What was happening? And I was upset too. To watch the sisters who endured violence together separate for love, or for tenderness, or for an idea of what was “right.” I felt for Thyona throughout the play, and was almost furious at all moments to consider that audience members might not be on her side. Big Love never offers solutions, even when Bella (Camie Jones) receives the seeming word of God refusing to condemn the sister’s actions, it is clear the world is still a patriarchal one, and these women will never truly be free. Lydia has married a man who was willing to let her and her sisters be forced into a marriage against her will. Olympia will likely always resent Thyona. Thyona tried to do what was right from start to finish, to save herself and her 49 sisters. And yet, even to the curtain call and beyond, she is standing alone, sobbing.
University of Utah’s Big Love is a visceral experience, and one I would highly recommend. Note, it would be rated R for language, nudity, and mature themes. But it is a show that will stay with you to think about, feel, and digest.
University of Utah Theatre presents Big Love, by Charles L Mee.
Babcock Theatre, lower level of Pioneer Theatre at 300 1400 E, 84112
November 15-18, 2018 7:30 PM, Sat and Sun matinee 2:00 PM.
Tickets: $8.50-$18
University of Utah Facebook Page
Big Love Facebook Event
Big Love and Me Too Movement Facebook Event
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