Ensemble Theatre Company (ETC) presents David Cale’s “Lillian!” (1997), starring Nancy Travis, and directed by Jonathan Fox, March 3-13 at the New Vic Theater, 33 W. Victoria St.
ETC: “Lillian is the story of a middle-aged British woman who falls for a man half her age. Though seemingly happily married, Lillian finds her life turned upside down when she meets the wild and cocky Jimmy, who takes her on a whirlwind adventure.”
Live performance in front of a live audience — often called “the legitimate stage” — has ever been, and remains, the prestige venue for actors.
New York writers, anxious to preserve their position as cultural arbiters, began to patronize Hollywood actors as soon as there were such creatures, pretending that the possibility of a second take obviates any notion that they are “real” actors.
Broadway actors, however — not to mention playwrights, costumiers, set designers, and other technicians — despite the near critical unanimity on this point, have always shown themselves quite eager to migrate to the West Coast: the weather is better, and so is the money (though most of that comes from New York, too).
With the advent of television, the critical snobbery turned its focus to the “small screen,” with its blurry images and poor sound: the domain of “soap operas,” “sitcoms” and quiz shows.
As television’s audio-visual quality has improved, the content of motion pictures has declined apace, to the point where most of the movies now in release, which make money, are star-studded action fantasies made to please 11-year-olds (who represent the only demographic who will see a movie multiple times in its first couple of weeks in theaters, and buy the merchandise connected to it); while the opportunities for writers and directors making a personal statement are virtually nil.
Television, on the other hand — especially since the rise of cable and high-end channels like HBO, Showtime, or Cinemax — has reinvented itself as the main venue for quality screen dramas: “The Wire,” “The Sopranos,” “Six Feet Under,” and so on.
Television, in short, is now the place where an accomplished and talented actor like Nancy Travis can build a solid reputation, and a an utterly respectable career. As the ETC publicity informs us:
“Nancy Travis recently wrapped a nine-season run starring opposite Tim Allen in the FOX hit comedy, ‘Last Man Standing.’ Nancy also starred opposite Michael Douglas and Alan Arkin in the Netflix/Chuck Lorre comedy series, ‘The Kominsky Method.’ Travis can also be seen in ‘Mr. Mercedes,’ ‘Three Men and A Baby,’ ‘The Jane Austen Book Club,’ and ‘Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants.’”
Travis has no need to prove herself, except possibly to herself, and it may be that she has taken on the role of Lillian partly as a way of challenging herself, and of experiencing the electricity of an audience reacting in real time. But the play itself seems to speak to her on a personal level.
“Lillian is a woman who is pretty much in the middle of her life, and she hasn’t quite found herself, or her home, as it were,” she says. “And we follow her as she embarks on adventures and has a fling with a younger man. We see where that relationship takes her and what she discovers about herself.
“Even though this play is particular to this woman and her experience, the story and the themes are universal and I found it so relatable.”
Single tickets are available for purchase by calling 805-965-5400, or online at https://store.ensembletheatre.com/events.
Subscribers who have not enacted their ticket exchange, should send an email to boxoffice@etcsb.org, or call 805-965-5400 and leave a voicemail. “Someone will get back to you to arrange your tickets for Lillian.”
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— Gerald Carpenter covers the arts as a Noozhawk contributing writer. He can be reached at gerald.carpenter@gmail.com. The opinions expressed are his own.