Regional

'Tis Pity She's a Whore

 (American Conservatory Theater, San Francisco; 1,035 seats; $82 top)

By DENNIS HARVEY

An ACT presentation of a play in two acts by John Ford. Directed by Carey Perloff.
 
With: Rene Augesen, James Carpenter, Michael Earle Fajardo, Anthony Fusco, Susan Gibney, Rod Gnapp, Michael Hayden, Steven Anthony Jones, Warren David Keith, Sharon Lockwood, Kevin Rolston, Bonfire Madigan Shive, Robert Sicular, Amanda Sykes, Stephan Barker Turner, Kelsey Venter, Gregory Wallace, Jud Williford, Jack Willis.
 

Incest is the gentlest sin exhibited in ACT's "'Tis Pity She's a Whore." John Ford's lurid Jacobean tragedy offers mixed aesthetic and emotional rewards in artistic director Carey Perloff's splashy new staging -- though it's a relative joy after her "The Government Inspector" last month, one of the company's most disliked shows in many years. While "Pity" focuses on engrossing intrigue rather than repellant stage effects, it could use a little more dread and horror.

Confessing forbidden love for sister Annabella (Rene Augesen) to his alarmed mentor Friar Bonaventura (Steven Anthony Jones), young Parma nobleman Giovanni (Michael Hayden) isn't looking for moral instruction so much as permission -- he's willing to chuck all God's rules if they stand in the way of his passion. Surprisingly, she's like-minded. "Love me or kill me" they both chant before getting horizontal.

This secret affair commences as there's already considerable pressure on the sibs to marry. Giovanni is forgiven for now, and his odd behavior misread as being "an overbookish humor."

But Annabella is pushed to choose between suitors including Soranzo (Michael Earle Fajardo), his bitter rival Grimaldi (Jud Williford), and clownish Bergetto (Gregory Wallace), who prefers horsing around with servant Poggio (Stephen Barker Turner).

Among many catastrophes brewing, disaster strikes when as-yet-unbetrothed Annabella discovers she's pregnant, and corpses of both genders pile up in the Grand Guignol climax.

It's striking how the men at least participate in their downfalls, while the women are powerlessly, invariably abused -- not excluding Annabella's comedy maid, the subtly named Putana (Sharon Lockwood). Poisoning, stabbing and blinding are a woman's lot here, while the luckiest is unwillingly shipped off to a nunnery.

Candice Donnelly's costumes are in period, but Walt Spangler's set is an abstract tangle of metal stairways and platforms, with curtains of prismatic beads hanging and muted faux candlelight scattered about. When beads, silver mylar strips, and Robert Wierzel's vivid lighting hit critical mass, the effect is a bit disco but striking nonetheless.

Atop the highest platform sits "hardcore cellist" Bonfire Madigan Shive, whose caterwauling vocals and part live/part taped score comprise a sort of wordless Greek Chorus whose hipness feels a bit strained.

Edginess, however, is what Perloff's staging needs, as this production stimulates and entertains without ever feeling truly threatening.

It's good that the elderly-skewing audience at the matinee reviewed didn't bolt at intermission -- but shouldn't this play risk leaving audiences shocked and upset? That gravity isn't quite there, though the cast is solid, with Augesen and Hayden convincingly (even sympathetically) out-of-their-heads in love. If Wallace can't make Bergetto funny, blame the labored comedy material, not the actor. In fact he worked even more resourcefully to amuse in "The Government Inspector," to less reward.

Set, Walter Spangler; costumes, Candice Donnelly; lighting, Robert Wierzel; original music, Bonfire Madigan Shive; sound, Jake Rodriguez; fight director, David Maier; production stage manager, Kimberly Mark Webb. Opened June 11, 2008. Reviewed June 18. Running time: 2 HOURS, 40 MIN.