A look at the premiere Chicago Dramatists production of Jacqmin's latest folkloric drama, "10 Virgins," reveals a young writer with a strong vision, a powerful sense of metaphor and a great deal of work yet to do when it comes to telling a cohesive theatrical story able to stir an audience's soul.
This is, most assuredly, a distinctive drama. It's set out in the Wabansia swamp—presumably the old 300-acre reed marsh in and around Montgomery, Ill., but also a mythical location in the playwright's mind. The titular sisters have been abandoned in this locale of indistinct period, which is re-created by the fine designer Brian Sidney Bembridge on the stage of Chicago Dramatists with ample amounts of convincing earth and foliage.
The five older sisters are played by humans. The five younger sisters are played by puppets, each with their own female puppeteer.
The play, which is written in the lightly stylized, slightly lyrical prose familiar from fantasy novels, is mostly concerned with how these sisters bring each other up and what they use to determine their roles in society. In essence, the sisters develop cultural rules based on children's stories and fairy tale props, which aren't exactly progressive in their manifestation of gender. And thus the girls are not well armed for what lurks in their swamp—and, by metaphoric extension, the world at large.
Things go very wrong when one of the older sisters (played by Catherine Glynn) decides to seek out the swamp's witch—a sexually ambiguous figure who seems to represent both forbidden desire and the fragility of the young women's self-determined world.
Based on this production, at least, it feels as if Jacqmin starts with a concept and then constructs the story therein. In other words, the drama's milieu is more involving than what actually takes place inside it. Although the writing remains consistently intriguing, there isn't yet enough narrative progression to pull you through the story, and the play gets bogged down in little panels, as if it were a dark comic book.
The witch here is especially problematic; you just can't fully grasp what she means, what she is or what she's doing. Although I recognize she's pivotal to Jacqmin's vision and undermined here by production choices, the less-than-credible witch's extensive involvement in the play seems to break up the potential cohesion of the rest. Thus, one's emotional involvement in this community of young women is diminished.
Russ Tutterow's production features a demonstrably committed cast and a willingness to rush headlong into the play's vision. But relationships seem uncertain, and the play's symbols overwhelm its humanity. One wishes Jacqmin would rescue her virgins.
cjones5@tribune.com
"10 Virgins"
When: Through June 1
Where: Chicago Dramatists, 1105 W. Chicago Ave.
Running time: 2 hours
Tickets: $22-28 at 312-633-0630 or chicago dramatists.org
