Mary’s Wedding: A Dreamy, Dramatic Love Story

“Mary’s Wedding” plays this weekend, Thurs-Sat

— review by Margie Doyle —

Charlie and Mary (Kelly Toombs and Cali Bagby) create a powerful love story in the midst of war, onstage at the Black Box tonight, and next  weekend.

In the play “Mary’s Wedding,” the Black Box at Orcas Center becomes a foreign landscape, whether recreating a Canadian farm town or a French battlefield.

At its center is a bed, where, from under a white coverlet, with birds gently chirping, a young woman, Mary, awakens and smiles lovingly at a young man, Charlie.

“I have the most loveliest dreams,” Mary says early in the play. The script ebbs and flows between the hesitancy and tenderness of a couple falling in love, to the fear, ferocity and courage of a world at war. Time weaves back and forth, in letters and hands reaching out across a bed and arms embracing on a battlefield.

Cali Bagby as Mary and Kelly Toombs as Charlie never falter; neither rushed nor restrained in delivering the words and emotions of their characters. Their words as they become lovers are both awkward and eloquent — “the best thing you’ve ever done,” “the worst thing you’ve ever done” — from a kiss to a killing.

The actors’ generosity in expressing themselves, whether comforting, falling, shooting, or crying, is boundless and speaks to their artistic talent and courage. Hall spoke of the difficulty of producing love stories for stage, and of his pride in the Orcas actors playing the young lovers. Bagby and Toombs portray vulnerability, idealism and grief right before us in the Black Box– live theater! And the effect is profound and inspiring. With their heart and intelligence added to physical grace and daring, they show us pure, primal emotions — love, courage, loss, and regret, between two people and for the world.

Kudos to all who gifted this drama to us: the poetry of real life, enthralling, completely engaging the audience in the immediacy of Mary and Charlie’s dilemma; and then afterwards, savoring questions such as: are we awake or are we asleep? are we dreaming or dying?

Director Robert Hall says, almost in wonderment, “‘Mary’s Wedding’ is the most beautiful project I’ve ever been involved in.” His setting for “Mary’s Wedding” is masterfully designed, incorporating lattices, barn walls, boundless blue fabric, bales of hay, magnetic tapes of rain, burlap feed sacks.  Added to the ambiance are his lighting expertise, perfectly timed, and Jake Perrine’s music composition and sound management. All combine to show the tenderness of love and the chaos of war right in front of our eyes.

Whether wildly riding horses, fearfully risking an embrace, or leading on the battlefield, Charlie (Kelly) and Mary (Cali) act with unbelievable directness and vulnerability, reducing life to its most elemental. Towards the end of the play, for a brief moment “Winged Victory” is re-created atop barn barrels — just one of innumerable moments to ponder in remembering “Mary’s Wedding.”

Hall thanks John Lange, Seattle ACT’s artistic director, for bringing Canadian playright Steve Masciotte’s “fertile script” to his attention. It is a daring, risky production, though telling the simplest of stories, and Hall and company pull it off beautifully. That all live theater fans could be as lucky as Orcas Islanders.

When I was a child, I wanted to be an actress so that I could experience more lives than my own. Thank you to Cali, Kelly and Robert  and Jake– and to the Orcas Center — for the experience of dreamily falling in love, terrifyingly experiencing war, and gaining wisdom through loss.

Tickets for Mary’s Wedding are $ 17, $13 students, $2 off for Orcas Center members and may be purchased on the website or by calling 376-2281 ext 1 or visiting the Orcas Center box office during box office hours which are Wednesday, Thursday and Friday from 12-2 pm. $5 Subsidized Tickets available at the Box Office. For more information, please visit www.orcascenter.org.