Patti Gardner and Tom Wahl play Agnes and Tobias, the central couple in "A Delicate Balance." (Photo by Matthew Tippins)
The institution of marriage takes center stage in a sumptuous production of Edward Albee's drama, “A Delicate Balance,” now running at Island City Stage in Wilton Manors through Sunday, Feb. 9.
“A Delicate Balance” earned Albee his first of three Pulitzer Prizes for Drama (Eugene O’Neill holds the record with four). The last time the play was produced by a major, regional theater in South Florida was in 2012 at Palm Beach Dramaworks. “A Delicate Balance” is a departure for Island City Stage, a theater that specializes in shows with LGBTQ+ themes. Albee was gay, but “A Delicate Balance” doesn't rely on gay content. Audiences used to gay-themed plays at Island City Stage will see that what matters is a flawless production and this is one. Great theater is great theater, and that’s always worth doing and seeing.
“A Delicate Balance” was first produced in 1966, so it’s set in that era. The drama takes place in the living room of Agnes and Tobias, a middle-aged, upper-crust married couple. Robert F. Wolin’s scenic design of the single set is simply gorgeous rich, wood paneling and a wood floor, with darker, heavier wood and leather furniture, including a tall, fully-stocked liquor cabinet. The room whispers money, but it’s warm and embracing, unlike the cold and distant couple who lives there.
Agnes and Tobias have been married for decades, and while they seem to live an ordered and content life, there's little warmth or physical affection between them, just a touch or a peck on the cheek here and there. Ennui has settled in, without either one of them noticing.
Betty Ann Hunt Strain and Patti Gardner play sisters in "A Delicate Balance." (Photo by Matthew Tippins)
On the other side of the spectrum is Claire, Agnes’s younger sister, who lives with the couple. Claire is an alcoholic, although everyone in this play drinks a lot. Claire is free-wheeling and acerbic, always ready to counter Agnes’s holier-than-thou, Shakespearean-style speeches with a witty remark. Agnes does not attempt to hide her disapproval and contempt for Claire, and there is no love lost between the two sisters.
One Friday night, Agnes and Tobias’s best friends, Edna and Harry, come by unexpectedly. They explain that they were sitting home alone when they both became inexplicably terrified and now seek refuge with Agnes and Tobias. They insist on staying the night, which becomes a real problem when Agnes and Tobias’s daughter, Julia, arrives home, angry and distraught after leaving her fourth husband, and finds her godparents taking shelter in her bedroom, with no plans to leave.
What ensues is a portrait of three marriages, because in Albee’s skilled hands, marriage really is an institution, one in which his characters feel trapped and need to escape, or at least find a way to make their institutional sentence bearable. “A Delicate Balance” is a fascinating play, and while some of its themes are timeless and still resonate, it is also very much a reflection of its time, if only because people suffering from marital malaise now have many society-approved options for personal fulfillment and happiness.
Christopher Dreeson, Margery Lowe, and Patti Gardner in a tense moment from "A Delicate Balance." (Photo by Matthew Tippins)
For the Island City Stage production, director Michael Leeds has assembled a strong cast without a single weak link. Albee’s characters feel like stereotypes, but each of the six performers brings their character to life with riveting portrayals.
Patti Gardner is perfect as the sanctimonious Agnes, a tightly-wound matron oozing with superiority. Agnes has a few moments of poignancy in the third act, and Gardner sinks her teeth into both Agnes’s controlling personality and her few glimmers of humanity with aplomb.
Margery Lowe is excellent as Edna. Agnes is haughty, but Edna doubles down, and Lowe’s performance magnifies that to great effect. Every arched eyebrow Lowe raises and every pointed remark she makes is a weapon that hits its target. Even her casual ponderances about upholstery land like torpedoes. Edna is an ice queen, and Lowe’s portrayal is wickedly chilly.
Christopher Dreeson is terrific as Harry, one of the more interesting characters in the play. Dreeson imbues Harry with a certain messiness that’s appealing, and he’s especially good in a certain one-on-one scene in the third act that is sure to leave the audience reeling.
Sabrina Lynn Gore is wonderful as Julia, only 36 years old with three divorces under her belt and a fourth likely on the horizon. Gore plays Julia as both a spoiled child and impetuous adult, completely lacking in compassion, full of venom toward her parents and her godparents the contemptuous shade Gore throws towards the staircase every time anyone mentions Harry and Edna is delicious to watch. And while Julia is disdainful of everything her mother is, Gore’s portrayal makes it clear that Julia possesses all of Agnes’s worst qualities and will turn out just like her.
Betty Ann Hunt Strain and Sabrina Lynn Gore in a lighter moment from "A Delicate Balance." (Photo by Matthew Tippins)
As Claire, Betty Ann Hunt Strain is delightful, and brings much-needed comic relief to all the family dysfunction. It’s also telling that Claire is the only single character in the bunch, the only one not locked up in that marital institution. Strain brings out Claire’s whimsy, as she recounts a shopping trip, and also Claire’s inherent danger, as she knows certain secrets that could permanently upend both couples. Strain’s gleeful portrayal is a joy to watch.
Tom Wahl delivers a shattering performance as Tobias, whose journey throughout the play is most effective in illustrating Albee’s themes. Wahl is a consummate actor, and his portrayal of Tobias is like a pot of water on the stove, going from the still waters of contentment, easing into a building simmer as events unfold around him, advancing to the boiling point of realization, and finally bubbling over with desperation.
All design elements work together to create the world of the play. David Hart’s sound is crisp and has a sense of foreboding. Ardean Landhuis’s lighting sets the mood and underscores the drama. W. Emil White’s costumes enhance the characters and are period appropriate.
Plays tended to be long back in the 1960s, so don’t be intimidated by the three acts, two intermissions, and nearly three-hour run time, because the minutes fly by. Island City Stage’s production of “A Delicate Balance” is brilliant, blistering, and beguiling, one of the best productions in its 13-season history.
Margery Lowe, Betty Ann Hunt Strain, Patti Gardner and Sabrina Lynn Gore watch an important moment between Christopher Dreeson and Tom Wahl in "A Delicate Balance." (Photo by Matthew Tippins)
If You Go
- What: “A Delicate Balance” by Edward Albee
- When: Through Sunday, Feb. 9.
- Where: Island City Stage, 2304 Dixie Hwy., Wilton Manors.
- Information: For information and tickets, visit IslandCityStage.org.
