Azuka’s ‘Skin and Bone’

The story is pure stereotypical Southern Gothic: Two eccentric elderly sisters live together in their rundown family home. And they have a secret, a deep, dark family secret. I won’t be spoiling anything by telling you the sisters’ Big Secret: They’re cannibals. They would lure people to their home, which once served as a quaint bed and breakfast, slaughter them, and serve them up for dinner. However, it’s been a while since they indulged, since the B&B business has died, and one of the sisters, Madge, has genuinely repented. But the other sister, Midge, still hankers for a good meal. That growing conflict between the sisters motivates the plot, but is inadequately explored. Had the play been more carefully structured, this rift could have provided more compelling drama underneath the play’s dominant dark comedy approach.

Complicating the sisters’ lives are two separate, unwanted visitors. The first, Ronnie, is the head of a wrecking crew that’s come to demolish the sisters’ house. The second, Emma, is a waifish, wandering orphan looking for information concerning her long-missing mother — or, if all else fails, finding a substitute mother.

Thiis new script needed a few more trips through the typewriter before getting this world premiere. Playwright Goldfinger seemed to have concentrated so hard on making the characters charming, funny, and eccentric that she neglected to give them an adequate story, appropriate atmosphere, and a proper structure. The play’s ending is incredibly forced, and the “surprise twist” finale was neither surprising nor effective, even with the heavy dollop of gore — which I found more amusing in its predictability than shocking, because — no, that would be an unfair spoiler!

One example of poor structuring has to do with the early revelation of the Big Secret. I feel that the playwright erred in revealing the cannibalism so early in the play, when the focus was on establishing the sisters as amusing eccentrics and the tone of the play so altogether funny. If there had been a slow buildup of clues over the course of the play, it could have served as a slowly developing counterpoint to the comedy, so that the shift in tone could have been more organic, intensifying the horror at the realization that these funny old ladies were in fact monsters. Having them discuss their past horrible acts so extensively in the course of being funny trivializes the subject, making it difficult to react with appropriate horror. The proper buildup would have given us a growing suspense, and the change in tone at the end would’ve been more natural, less arbitrary.

However, even with the weakness of the plotting, I’ve got to give Ms. Goldfinger props for writing witty one-liners that kept the audience laughing and distracted from the play’s shortcomings.

The cast was a pleasure to watch. Drucie McDaniel and Maureen Torsney-Weir are two of this city’s acting treasures. Watching the two of them skillfully chew up the scenery as the sisters was sheer delight. Another pleasure was Nathan Holt as Ronnie the wrecker. He exuded good ol’ boy charm and helped light up the stage whenever he was on. Amanda Schoonover as little orphan Emma would have been more effective had she tried less hard to play the sympathetic goofball, a case where less would have been much more.

The design elements (Dirk Durossette, set and Chris Hallenback, lights) were well-done, but sorely pedestrian. That is, we needed more imagination in terms of Southern Gothic atmosphere, and what we got was strictly literal craftsmanship, a phrase that perfectly describes Azuka’s Skin and Bone.