Theater review: Belles

by Esther Coughey of John Garcia's The Column

A ringing phone must be answered! Oh wait, that is the tagline for Colin Farrell's movie Phone Booth. Mesquite Community Theatre's ambitious production of Belles (now playing at the Mesquite Arts Center) is no Phone Booth but it does leave your ears ringing after two acts with a bounty of phone calls trilling – forty-five to be precise. The story line is simple but packs a lot of punch. The six Walker sisters shared a painful upbringing in Memphis with an alcoholic father and submissive mother. It is revealed that they would often huddle together praying, "Our Father who art in heaven, don't let him kill us tonight." They now live in six different U.S. cities and communicate solely by phone. The eldest, Peggy, remains as the caregiver with Mama in Tennessee (their father is deceased). Bad tuna lands the matriarch in hospital - nothing serious - but the subsequent phone calls Peggy makes to her sisters lead to often comedic and sometimes brutal confrontations about the past and the present.

An extended phone conversation may make for static lines but Dunn's script manages to keep the concept intriguing with witty and fresh dialogue. Tina Pisanelle's set design is spectacular. The set is divided into six different living areas representative of each woman's abode and is staggered on the stage at various levels. Each room is furnished to create a personal feel for the eccentric characters, which range from a struggling ventriloquist, a new-ager, a home-maker, an alcoholic, and a graduate student; thus providing the audience an effective visual peek into each woman's life and complex personality.

With a script of this caliber and a jaw-dropping set one anticipates so much more from this production than what it actually delivers. Directed by Lois Sheeler, Belles requires experienced female actors who fearlessly attack the multitude of monologues and who understand their characters complexity. Quick pacing and impeccable timing are a must. Sheeler manages to extract brief shining moments from each of her actresses in which their strengths are apparent. Unfortunately, it doesn't carry consistently throughout the entire piece and as a result, produces slow responses and timing issues which are detrimental to the flow.

Let's focus on the fleeting instances of inspiration first. Peggy, the eldest sister played by Jan Summar, delivers her lines with a gorgeous Southern drawl and breaks hearts in the scene where her sister Aneece viciously accuses her of contributing to her husband's death with her overbearing mothering ways. The hurt and pain that seeps into Summar's expression and physical stance can be felt all over the small black box theatre.

Aneece, portrayed by Shannon Souddress, is a bitter alcoholic - not played to a cliché - most likely reflecting the very attributes about her father that she hates. She blames her mother for her over-indulgence of booze and pills and spews venom all over the stage with each verbal tongue lashing she delivers.

Melissa Murr plays the mild mannered preacher's wife Roseanne, whose husband callously phones-it-in that he no longer loves her and desires a divorce, leaving her and their two children. She has an inspired scene where she uses various items around her kitchen to reproduce mock-phone calls with her sisters as she tries to determine which relative she should contact for support. Her hurt was real, but the light delivery was pitch perfect.

Ashly Curts, as Dust, is delightful in nearly every scene. Her new-age character development permeates consistently and her fixation with "Chore-Boy" is a riot. This is one time when a little Dust in the house is a good thing!

Leana McEachern portrays Audrey with vulnerability and sweetness. She has a struggling ventriloquist act and truly believes her dummy named Huckle is a real boy. She too receives the stinging end of Aneece's barbed tongue and in tears, hangs up claiming she has to use the bathroom. It's a really tender moment for an emotionally troubled lady.

Rounding out this sister act is Paige, the baby of the family, who is played by Emily Gibson. Throughout the show she spends her time anguishing over Mike and Lancer and emotes youthful angst with the same success that author Stephenie Meyer captures it in her Twilight series.

Unfortunately, the aforementioned shining moments are not enough to create a superb show. Some of the problems lie in the actors competing against poor music choices. In between scenes, music ranged from instrumental to Charlie Brown, to Cyndi Lauper, to the Beatles, to Chumbawamba. In most cases the proceeding scene ends poignantly and the sudden blurb of music was jolting and mood shattering. The song choices did not contribute to the story telling and felt like someone was punching random songs on their iPod Shuffle.

Another problem lies in the casting itself. Though each actress produced a fine moment, these instances were undermined by the fact that it is entirely inconceivable that these six women are related. There is no physical resemblance between any of them but more importantly the physical age span in this cast is close to forty-plus years. This makes it difficult for an audience member to suspend reality and truly believe that these six women grew up together, shared Christmases, or any other sisterly experiences together. Ideally the sisters should range from mid-twenties to early forties.

Even more issues reside with costume changes, blocking choices, and sound cues. Donning a new outfit over the top of an existing costume, to represent a change, when the current costume is still visible, is sloppy and distracting. For the most part, the blocking is simple. Each woman remains in her staged area. But, there are moments when several of the women come downstage and cross each other, literally bumping shoulders. This ruins the façade that they reside states away from one other. The stage-cross itself seems like a fruitless exercise in adding variety to the blocking, when simply moving to the foot of the apartment would have sufficed and successfully conveyed another level to the blocking. Accolades must be given to the sound tech for always being on time with the telephone rings. However, in a scene where an apparent storm is brewing thunderclaps are heard at random intervals. It would enhance the scene to have included the sound of rain throughout because the initial sound of rolling thunder comes across as a sound-cue error until several lines later when one of the actresses acknowledges the storm.

Ultimately, Ma-Bell and the Belle-Elles fail to capture what it takes to make Belles the ringing success the playwright deserves.