Theater Review: ‘Crimes Of The Heart’ Is a Whopper Of A Southern Gothic Tale

Three peculiar sisters, family tragedy in the past. Another humdinger in the present. Two romances that went sideways, one completely off the rails. Stir lightly with downhome spice, lots of sisterly chatter, and oh honey, you’ve got a whopper of a Southern gothic tale called “Crimes of the Heart.”

What you’ve also got is a Pulitzer Prize-winning drama with big fat parts for women, written by a woman, Beth Henley, and in its current production at the Southampton Cultural Center, directed with heart by a woman, Joan M. Lyons.

The three sisters gather at home a few years after the 1969 Hurricane Camille in Hazelhurst, Mississippi, due to the latest tragedy. The youngest and daffiest sister, Babe (Tina Marie Realmuto), has just shot her mean ole’ husband in the stomach (she was aiming for his heart) because she didn’t like his looks, she says. He turns out to be a wife-abusing scoundrel anyway.

Middle-sister Meg (Bonnie Grice) returns from California where her singing career is kaput and she’s fresh out of the loony bin. Her crime is that she deserted a suitor after an ill-advised night during a hurricane, and in the process, he mysteriously ended up lame as she departed for the bright lights of Hollywood.

Lenny (Josephine Wallace), the old maid at 30 (South in the ’70s, remember) tries to celebrate her birthday by herself by sticking candle after candle into a cookie and making a wish. In a few moments, things will get worse—her beloved old horse, left out in the pasture, has been struck by lightning and died. Lenny’s only crime may be that she has a shriveled ovary and can’t have kids (one is actually enough for this feat, but never mind) and consequently, she herself cut off her one chance at romance—though neither of the prettier, sexier sisters have kids either.

Grandad’s in the hospital, soon to be in a coma; their mother hanged herself years before in the basement along with her cat, consequently making national news, and their no-good daddy ran off, good riddance!

What saves this miasma of misery is that a good bit of it comes out as humorous because it’s impossible to accept otherwise—even as each fresh calamity seems probable—as they pile up like a plate of hot biscuits fresh from the oven.

The men here have the ancillary parts: Doc (Mark Strecker) is Meg’s rejected lover who stayed in Mississippi and went on to marry someone else; and a fledgling lawyer, Barnette (Deyo Trowbridge) has a puppy-dog crush on his client, Babe.

In the mix insert a big, brash cousin, Chick (Kristen Whiting), who goes for all laughs in a Southern accent rich as red-eye gravy. Ms. Whiting as the tactless Chick is an absolute gas—even before she wiggles into too small pantyhose right there on the stage. A familiar face at Southampton Cultural Center, she usually manages to steal every scene she’s in. An unusual bit of trivia: Program notes tell us she’s an Emmy-award winning news producer who ran the PBS operation in Baghdad during the height of the Iraq War. How this ties in to her boffo performance I don’t see, but it sure makes her interesting.

Back in Mississippi, all of the action takes place in a comfortable kitchen of Formica and dated white appliances skillfully put together by Ms. Lyons, whose time-capsule set leaves out none of the details.

The entire cast gives a heartfelt rendering of the drama, but perhaps the play itself is over-reaching in design. If the message is that we need not be defined by earlier misfortunes, it doesn’t quite soar by the end—even though things work out—as the sisters sit around the table eating the huge birthday cake for Lenny that comes a day late.

Ms. Grice, well known to local audiences as the smart, gravelly voice on WPPB in the morning, is well cast as the blousy and bourbon-swigging Meg. Ms. Realmuto’s soliloquy at the end of the first act is quite moving. Mr. Trowbridge’s youth serves him well as the baby-faced and earnest young attorney. These two play together extremely well.

“Crimes of the Heart” is a little slow in places, and feels slightly dated for today’s audiences. Originally done in three acts, here they are compressed to two with one intermission. There is a lot of talk but it seems in the end not too much to care about. When the sisters start laughing hilariously over the pileup of grief, it feels forced; the audience doesn’t quite know what to make of the hysterics for it is not obvious why they would burst out in guffaws, even given their eccentricities.

“Crimes of the Heart” will continue at the Southampton Cultural Center, 25 Pond Lane, Southampton Village, through January 28 with performances on Thursdays and Fridays at 7 p.m., Saturdays at 8 p.m. and Sundays at 2:30 p.m. To purchase tickets, $25 for general admission and $15 for students, visit scc-arts.org or call OvationTix at 1-866-811-4111.