‘The Night of the Iguana’ Shines in Boston Court Pasadena’s Emotionally Charged Revival

THEATRE REVIEW

(L-) Julanne Chidi Hill, Dennis Dun, Jully Lee, Riley Shanahan at Boston Court Pasadena (Photo – Brian Hashimoto)

Although this Tennessee Williams play has rarely been staged, it has been read, filmed, and interpreted in various ways over the past 70+ years. Boston Court’s production, under the wonderfully intuitive casting and smoothly paced direction of Jessica Kubzansky, allows the audience to follow the characters as they navigate their emotional and interpersonal dilemmas, connecting with each one as their particular challenges develop.

By Carol Germain

The story unfolds over one emotionally and physically chaotic night at the struggling Costa Verde hotel in Mexico in 1940. Defrocked minister T. Lawrence Shannon (Riley Shanahan), on the verge of a nervous breakdown and now working as a tour bus guide, arrives with a bus full of unmanageable tourists, none of whom ever quite make it up the path to the hotel.

Shannon becomes the primary, albeit unintentional, instigator of emotions at the hotel. He constantly battles with his sobriety, his disconnect from God, and the transgressions that led to his fall from the church, including the statutory rape of a minor.

The hotel owner, Maxine (Julanne Chidi Hill), who has recently buried her husband and is struggling to keep the business afloat, and Hannah (Jully Lee), an unmarried woman traveling with her 97-year-old father, Nonno (Dennis Dun), who is attempting to finish his likely last poem while Hannah works to cover their expenses by selling artwork, offer some distraction and potential romantic interests for Shannon. But romance seems to be the least of his concerns.

Also present are rowdy hotel employees who have captured an iguana, tied it up, and immobilized it off the pier. The iguana becomes a symbol of the chains and roadblocks facing all the characters at the hotel. For comic relief, a group of German tourists arrive in colorful beach attire, symbolic of their happy-go-lucky ignorance of the broader realities around them.

Yes, it seems like a jumble of dangling situations and chaotic emotions, swinging from one extreme to another. But the story is brilliantly presented and paced. The rhythm of the fluctuating emotions of the characters is easy to follow, and it’s easy to connect with their inherent humanity and their need for the various connections and communication that make us human.

A talk-back with Director Kubzansky, also the Artistic Director of Boston Court Pasadena, after the play confirmed that the audience agreed the personal connections and interactions among the actors sustained their ability to experience the myriad emotions flowing throughout the short span of the story.

While the production might run slightly longer than the average play, there is no sense of lag. Deep emotions are on display in every interaction, and I felt each one because the actors portrayed them so perfectly. The set, designed by Tesshi Nakagawa, also echoed the emotional range of the characters. The deck and the hotel, with framed but wall-less rooms, allowed the residents to wander in and out, in sync with their emotions.

Playing through October 19, don’t miss this one. I plan to see it again, as I connected deeply with the emotions, both negative and positive, that unfolded throughout the story.

Ann Noble and Riley Shanahan (Photo – Brian Hashimoto)

The Night of the Iguana
Written by Tennessee Williams
Directed by Jessica Kubzansky
Cast: Pancho – Michael G. Martinez, Maxine Faulk – Julanne Chidi Hill, Pedro/Hank – Juan De La Cruz,
The Reverend T. Lawrence Shannon – Riley Shanahan, Hannah Jelkes – Jully Lee, Wolfgang – George Vagujhelyi, Hilda/Charlotte  Goodall – lsabella Feliciana, Hilda/Charlotte Understudy – Luana Fontes, Herr Fahrenkopf/Jake Latta – Christian Haines, Nonno (Jonathan Coffin) – Dennis Dun, Frau Fahrenkopf/Miss Judith Fellowes – Ann Noble.
Boston Court Pasadena
70 North Mentor Avenue
Pasadena, CA
626-683-6801
Free parking behind the theater or on the street.
Through October 19 – Thursdays, Fridays, Saturdays at 7:30 pm, Sundays at 2:00 pm, and a few Mondays.