{"id":10834,"date":"2024-02-15T07:00:00","date_gmt":"2024-02-15T12:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/vweisfeld.com\/?p=10834"},"modified":"2026-01-04T13:26:32","modified_gmt":"2026-01-04T18:26:32","slug":"the-scarlet-letter","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/vweisfeld.com\/?p=10834","title":{"rendered":"The Scarlet Letter"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

Two River Theater<\/a> in Red Bank, New Jersey, brings to thrilling life the world premiere of Kate Hamill\u2019s adaptation of The Scarlet Letter<\/em>, directed by Shelley Butler, from February 9\u2019s opening night through February 25th. In the hands of Hamill, Butler, and a superb cast, Nathaniel Hawthorne\u2019s poignant story moves along with both speed and passion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hamill has made something of a cottage industry out of adapting classic works, becoming one of the country\u2019s most-produced playwrights. While Hester Prynne has numerous feminist fans, and while Hester\u2019s story set almost 400 years ago reverberates loudly today, Hamill has not written a polemic. Instead, her Scarlet Letter<\/em> is a story of love and revenge, almost equally thwarted.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hester Prynne (played by Amelia Pedlow), a member of the Puritan Massachusetts Bay Colony, is a presumed widow, her husband lost at sea for some two years. When she becomes pregnant, she\u2019s accused of adultery, whipped, and must wear a scarlet A, always. Despite efforts to humiliate her, she remains a dignified, affectionate mother.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Resplendent and full of his authority, Governor Hibble (Triney Sandoval) cannot persuade Hester to say who baby Pearl\u2019s father is. Hester\u2019s husband (Kevin Isola) unexpectedly returns in the guise of a doctor and blackmails her to keep his true identity secret. He\u2019s determined to discover the father, not out of love or loyalty, but a desire for control. Meanwhile, the town\u2019s clergyman, Rev. Dimmesdale (Keshav Moodliar) sermonizes about guilt and sin. Addressing the theater audience as his congregation, Moodliar\u2019s delivery is pitch-perfect, and his portrayal of the conscience-stricken Reverend inspires great sympathy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The governor\u2019s prunish wife, Goody Hibbins (Mary Bacon), is not<\/em> sympathetic. She\u2019s embittered by unsuccessful pregnancies, and claims Hester has bewitched her. We know, as Hawthorne did, what a dangerous accusation this is, only a few decades before the Salem witch trials. (One of the presiding judges was Hawthorne\u2019s great-great grandfather, John Hathorne\u2014the only one of the judges who never repented his actions.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Most of the play takes place when Pearl is about four, and special mention must be made of the puppet that plays Pearl, animated and voiced by Nikki Calonge. As Hamill said about the decision to use a puppet, \u201cIn some ways a real child is too real. The magical thing about puppets is that they accomplish the real and the otherworldly.\u201d Feisty, stubborn, uncharming Pearl seems determined to displease the Puritans, chanting, \u201cI love sin! I love sin!\u201d By clever staging, Calonge becomes Pearl\u2019s shadow. You don\u2019t forget she\u2019s there, but it\u2019s Pearl who shocks Goody Hibbins.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The admirable but minimalist sets work hand-in-hand with the sound design to move you quickly from scene to scene, town to country. A memorable production, beautifully presented!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Two River Theater in Red Bank, N.J., is easily reachable from NYC by New Jersey Transit. For tickets, call the box office at 732-345-1400 or visit the Box Office online<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Two River Theater in Red Bank, New Jersey, brings to thrilling life the world premiere of Kate Hamill\u2019s adaptation of The Scarlet Letter, directed by Shelley Butler, from February 9\u2019s opening night through February 25th. In the hands of Hamill, … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"Unexpectedly timely, a heart-wrending, memorable production of The Scarlet Letter. Beautiful job, Two River Theater.","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[366,266,104,147],"tags":[2158,698],"class_list":["post-10834","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-drama","category-history","category-the-morgue","category-theater","tag-the-scarlet-letter","tag-two-river-theater"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p2NkiT-2OK","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/vweisfeld.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10834","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/vweisfeld.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/vweisfeld.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vweisfeld.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vweisfeld.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=10834"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/vweisfeld.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10834\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10836,"href":"https:\/\/vweisfeld.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10834\/revisions\/10836"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/vweisfeld.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=10834"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vweisfeld.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=10834"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vweisfeld.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=10834"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}