Dramaworks finds depths in familiar ‘Golden Pond’
Palm Beach Dramaworks’ production of “On Golden Pond” envelops the audience so immediately in the play’s world that starting a review with kudos to the designers is irresistible. So, hats off to scenic designer Bill Clarke, lighting designer Donald Edmund Thomas and sound designer Brad Pawlak.
A backdrop of tall beams frames a floor-to-ceiling view of pine trees and sky that integrates the outdoors so intimately with the rustic interior that you can almost feel the breezes coming off the lake. You can hear the loons call.
A sense of place is vital to Ernest Thompson’s drama about the mending of a broken relationship between a father and daughter. Norman Thayer and his wife, Ethel, have vacationed on Golden Pond for 48 years, and their daughter, Chelsea, grew up there.
Chelsea hasn’t visited her parents in eight years, so when she decides to do so on the eve of her father’s 80th birthday, it’s a seismic event.
The story, which most people know from the 1981 movie, unfolds in short scenes progressing through a summer in 1988.
Director Paul Stancato deftly balances the play’s tension with its acerbic humor. He also brings out the depth of the family’s underlying affection.
The show revolves around Norman, a retired English professor with a scathing wit who is grappling with a fading memory. John Felix perfectly conveys the char-
acter’s formidable personality as well as his fears and regrets.
He’s also responsible for most of the show’s sparkle. Take the scene in which Bill, Chelsea’s boyfriend, awkwardly broaches the topic of sleeping arrangements with Norman. Felix plays the scene like a cat toying with a mouse until Bill, insightfully played by Jim Ballard, turns the tables on Norman by genially facing him down.
Karen Stephens is appropriately edgy as Chelsea, who’s been carrying a chip on her shoulder for years because she never could live up to her father’s expectations. Casey Butler shines in the pivotal role of Billy, Bill’s teenaged son, who befriends Norman during multiple fish- ing trips.
Pat Bowie captures Ethel’s warmth and the depth of her love for her prickly husband. But she needs to deliver more of a punch in the climactic scene during which Ethel confronts her daughter’s self-defeating resentment.
“On Golden Pond” might wrap things up too neatly for some audience members. But Dramaworks’ production finds ample riches in the familiar story.