Gorgons Take off the Kid Gloves at Yellow Tree Theatre

Gorgons by Don Nigro is clearly a fictional take on the feud between Bette Davis and Joan Crawford and the making of their late-career classic Whatever Happened to Baby Jane? But in this telling, Bette is named Mildred and Joan is named Ruth, and the film they are making is called Gorgons. Why? I don’t know, maybe for legal reasons, though if someone really wanted to sue over this, I don’t think you’d have too hard a time convincing a jury whom the play is based on. But maybe it’s because, for the ending, it decides to veer into Once Upon a Time in Hollywood territory. I’m not implying there is a flamethrower or anything, it’s much more subtle, but it begins with the Academy Awards, a scene that definitely did not happen in real life.

The play is 90 minutes of two strong-willed actors trading brilliantly comic insults back and forth. I don’t know if it matters or not in terms of enjoyment, but I relished all the little Easter eggs that any student of film history, particularly the workings of the studio system and the gossip surrounding these two legends, is likely to catch. In a certain way, this is sheer entertainment, and if that’s all you get out of it, you’ll go home a happy camper. But there is also a message here about the way society encourages women to compete against each other, and I suspect that was one element that attracted director Austene Van to the material. Austene is someone who does not prescribe to the concept that the way to get ahead or succeed is by putting others down. She is of the “raise others up, because we all do better when we all do better” school of thinking, a school I’m happy to be a fellow graduate of.

Nigro, who just passed away last February, is noted as being among the most widely produced and published playwrights in the world, with nearly 500 plays to his credit. I don’t think I’ve ever seen one before tonight. is not that strange? Frankly, if they are all as well written as this is, I’m not sure why I’ve not come across one before now. Of course, as well written, sharp, and witty as it is, this one relies heavily on a cast who can do it justice. Both actors, Christina Baldwin in the Bette Davis (like) role and Jamie White Jachimiec in the Joan Crawfordish role, are up to the task. They know just how to sling an insult through a smile, and exactly when to drop the facade and just tear into the other. Watching them is like watching Benedick and Beatrice trade barbs, but without the underlying sexual tension, or is it about lesbians?

White Jachimiec has the slightly less showy role. If you’ve seen Whatever Happened to Baby Jane?, you’ll know that Crawford plays the sane sister, while Davis is the full on cuckoo for Cocoa Puffs sibling. She tries to capture Crawford, but it mostly comes down to the eyebrows; otherwise, she might as well just be playing an actress named Ruth, which, actually, she is, so it works. The only thing that makes that less effective than really seeing Crawford in her is the fact that Christina Baldwin absolutely nails Bette Davis. Granted, there is makeup and wigs used in aid of the transformation, but it is also the cadence of her voice and the way she moves around the stage. It’s kind of uncanny, but in a way that isn’t distracting but entrancing. The strange thing is, if you’d asked me to cast this show with local actors, I might have hit upon Baldwin for Crawford, but Davis never would have occurred to me. I’d have probably cast Sally Wingert, who I’m sure would be good, but I doubt anyone could surpass Baldwin in this role. To quote Kim Carnes, “She’s got Bette Davis eyes.”

This is a fast-paced, inside Hollywood comedy, with the perfect amount of genuine emotion sprinkled in to remind us that some of their bluster is meant to mask their inner wounds. Fans of old Hollywood, great acting, sharp tongued strong women, and fantasy revisionism of history will find Gorgons a delight.

Gorgons runs through June 21st at Yellow Tree Theatre in Osseo. For more information and to purchase tickets go to https://yellowtreetheatre.com/gorgons-1

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