Theater Review: 'Faith Healer' at Sherman Playhouse

Review by Connecticut Critics Circle member and Patch Contributor Nancy Sasso Janis

The Sherman Players have taken on “Faith Healer,” a very different piece by Irish playwright Brian Friel. Performances continue at the Sherman Playhouse through Oct. 5.

The story is brought to life by three strong actors under the direction of E. Kyle Minor in his directorial debut for Sherman Players. Minor’s original plays and adaptations have appeared on stages in NYC and Connecticut. Artistic Director Robin Frome served as the show’s producer.

Minor succinctly describes Friel’s 1979 play in this way: “‘Faith Healer’ is quintessential storytelling. Three closely related characters proffer monologues describing their closely intertwined relationship. They do not interact, but simply speak directly to the audience.”

The three characters do indeed “simply speak” to the audience, but they do not “speak simply.” Minor writes that the playwright “tells this story in rich, beguiling language. Themes include “loyalty, loss, the burden of memory and the inconsistency of a talent–faith healing, in this case.”

Minor aptly points out that “Friel’s work, replete with subtext, dares to actively engage our imagination rather than invite us to sit back passively, awaiting neat, bow-tied resolutions.” For me, this meant paying close attention to every word, trying desperately to put together the three versions of this traumatic tale.

“This play will make you think.” - Sherman Players, Inc. President Missy Alexander in her program note

Matthew Bogen makes his Sherman Playhouse debut in the role of Francis “Frank” Hardy. He is the only actor who appears in both the first and second act, delivering his perspective on the story at the beginning and end of the show. Bogen’s strong stage presence serves him well as he gives life (and death?) to the itinerant faith healer. Bogen is the Head of Information Technology at the Yale Center for British Art, and previously served at the Folger Shakespeare Library.

I would happily watch Priscilla Squiers perform any role, as she never fails to embody her character. Squires portrays Grace, the wife of Frank, who insists on referring to her as his mistress. Her performance is mesmerizing to watch, even more so because of the crushing amount of lines that she had to memorize for this role. Among the actor’s extensive credits are previous outings with Friel that include two regional productions of the beautiful and highly awarded “Dancing at Lughnasa” and the playwright’s “The Mundy Scheme.”

Bruce Tredwell delivers some of the most comedic lines during his monologue as Teddy, the faith healer’s manager. Tredwell brings a certain charm to the beleaguered Teddy who has previously managed a dog. He has appeared in four other shows in Sherman and shines in his return to the stage.

The play is set in villages of Scotland, Wales and Ireland, and Scenic Designer Leif Smith places two of the three characters in a specific spot on the Sherman stage. Francis Hardy holds court in the space between the two chairs. Smith, a Redding resident, designed the set for “Jesus Christ Superstar” at TheatreWorks New Milford and teaches stagecraft at Canterbury School. It includes the faith healer’s banner that hangs at the middle of the stage.

All Chiappetta worked as technical director with Roy Carch in charge of the sound design. The costumes designed by Lesley Neilson-Bowman (“Jesus Christ Superstar” at Downtown Cabaret) help to tell each characters’ story.

Dandy Barrett, the production's dramaturg, gives this direction in her helpful program note: “Let this production serve as both a testament and a provocation–the drama of ‘Faith Healer’ is not merely performed by co-created by each audience member willing to join the search for meaning in the uncertain space between what is remembered and what is true.”

The dark themes of this haunting story are probably not for everyone. The play is presented with an intermission after the second monologue; each of the monologues runs about 30 minutes, making for a run time of two and half hours. All three characters use alcohol to numb their trauma, and Grace smokes a lot onstage. Teddy uses some foul language in his monologue.

The Sherman Players is a nearly 100-year-old community theatre. Its productions are made possible by support from C Connecticut and WSHU Public Radio. Next up at the Sherman Playhouse will be the return of Bradford Blake’s hysterical “Wreck the Halls.”

All photos by David Henningsen courtesy of Sherman Players

Nancy Sasso Janis has been writing theater reviews since 2012 as a way to support local venues, and she posts well over 100 reviews each year. She became a member of the Connecticut Critics Circle in 2016. Her contributions of theatrical reviews, previews, and audition notices are posted in the Naugatuck Patch as well as the Patch sites closest to the venue. She was a feature writer and theater reviewer for the Waterbury Republican-American newspaper.

Follow the reviewer on her Facebook pages Nancy Sasso Janis: Theatre Reviewer and Connecticut Theatre Previews and on Twitter @nancysjanis417 Check out the CCC Facebook page.