Playwright: Sara Gmitter. At: Lookingglass Theatre, Water Tower Water Works. Tickets: 1-312-337-0665; www.lookingglasstheatre.org; $45-$70. Runs through: June 15
I cleverly could say this world premiere is garden-variety psychological realism. That's not a put-down, but a shout-out to the fact that Lookingglass doesn't present many standard-format plays. In the Garden is an intelligent drama about Charles Darwin ( 1809-1882 ), focusing on 15 years—1836-1851—during which he married, fathered nine children and published On the Origin of Species. His wife, Emma, was a close cousin, his intellectual equal, a passionate spouse and a devout Unitarian. The play opposes her unwavering Christian faith against Darwin's growing agnosticism, which was motivated less by evolutionary theory than by the perpetuation of evil and pain in the world, including the natural world. For both, the great crucible was the lingering illness and death of a beloved daughter in 1851, challenging both to confront their ideologies.
Author Sara Gmitter's meticulous research alters just a few facts to heighten the drama ( for example, she reduces the number of children and changes the order of birth ). She's scrupulous, however, about the free exchange of views between Charles and Emma and their devotion to each other. She makes clear that Darwin's ideas developed over time, and that his work never was anti-God, although neither he nor Emma took the Bible as literal truth. Given the serious intellectual debate of the work, it's pleasantly surprising how quick it is and even downright amusing at moments, a credit to Gmitter's skills as a dramatist and to director Jessica Thebus and her company.
Part of the amusement value comes from the supporting players who double and triple in various roles ( sometimes crossing genders ), especially Austin Tichenor with his deliciously dry delivery. But the play rises on the first-rate acting of Andrew White and Rebecca Spence as Charles and Emma, he so solidly of this earth with just a touch of absent-minded professor and she so radiant and expressive of countenance. They are multi-dimensional and engrossing performances—you can see them thinking and feeling—and they are a handsome couple as well, although White sports a beard that Darwin hadn't grown yet.
The frequent Lookingglass presentational flourishes are reserved for the gorgeous stagecraft. Against a vast shadow-box backdrop of impenetrable lush forest, scenic designer Collette Pollard places a three-quarter round stage with three-dimensional trees and a towering bookcase at the rear. The bookcase becomes a repository for Darwin's scientific samples ( Sarah Burnham, skillful props design ), while flowering plants sprout from the legs of otherwise-realistic ( and beautiful ) 19th-century furniture—a desk, a grand piano, a chaise lounge. Mara Blumenfeld's richly textured costumes prove that Victorian Era clothing did not subscribe to basic black, while JR Lederle's lighting is both bright and supple.
In the Garden amply demonstrates why historical drama remains popular, and should!
