Playwright: Patricia Lin. At: Genesis Theatrical Productions at Raven Theatre, 6157 N. Clark St. Tickets: 1-773-338-2177; www.genesistheatricals.com; $30. Runs through: Aug. 23
By the early 1930s, the celebrated marriage of F. Scott and Zelda Sayre Fitzgerald was beyond repair. He was an alcoholic, she was bipolar. Each accused the other of infidelities. He wrote relentlessly, frequently to her exclusion. She exhausted herself with ballet classes up to eight hours a day ( and at the age of 27 ). She resented passages in his novels taken verbatim from her diary and letters, and apparently without her knowledge. He resented her publishing a novel of her own using shared autobiographical material he wanted reserved for his new novel.
All of this has been extensively documentedperhaps most notably in Zelda, Nancy Milford's ground-breaking 1970 biographyand dramatized at least a dozen times on stage and screen and in popular song. My big question with regard to Zelda at the Oasis is: Why? This one-hour, two-character play breaks no new ground in telling the story of Zelda and/or the Fitzgeralds. It's not that it is bad or unskillfulit just seems unnecessary.
I'm struck with the idea that this brief show, with minimal staging requirements, was written to be trouped to universities or women's clubs or wherever a local audience wants a tale of female empowerment ( or the lack thereof, more particularly ). Certainly, the discovery of Zelda's true natureher own abilities as a writer and creatorand her subjugation to/by her husband have made her something of an iconic feminist figure. Perhaps it's enough to have her perspective dramatized and presented.
Set in the early 1930s in an after-hours club, Zelda at the Oasis finds Zelda ( Amy Gray ) on her own for the night and revealing herself to the lone barmanalso a budding musicianeager to close the place. Going into her headspace, Zelda recalls various conversations with Scott, her ballet master, a doctor, her mother and other characters all played by the barman ( Guy F. Wicke ) literally with a quick change of hat or handkerchief. The play doesn't end so much as wind down as Zelda faces her small number of options, none of them especially pleasant.
Under director Elayne LeTraunik's efficient and unfussy direction, Gray and Wicke do what they can with limited material and a forced premise. The script has few jokes; however, more humor might be extracted to vary pace and mood. The barman isn't credible as a musician because we hear too little of his music ( just a few piano licks that Roy Freeman composed ). It's not enough to be convincing, especially the way Zelda responds to it. Nick Jackson's minimal set provides a bar and outlines of New York skyscrapers, aided by Scott Pillsbury's lighting.
FYI: Zelda accused Scott of having an affair with Ernest Hemingway ( untrue )!