- JASON MANICCIA
It seems perverse to call a play where (almost) everyone dies at the end "fun," but oddly enough, that's exactly what Northwest Classical Theatre Company's The Maids' Tragedy is. That's surprising enough for straight-up tragedy, but it's especially weird in this case: The play is an obscure, rarely performed Jacobean tragedy, written—in 1619!—by two of Shakespeare's lesser contemporaries, Francis Beaumont and John Fletcher. It's theater nerd fare of the highest order that, in theory, shouldn't appeal to anyone but the most diehard of Bardheads.
The story's familiar enough: Melantius (Tom Walton) returns home after a war (as Jacobean heroes so often do!), weary and ill disposed to courtly society, only to find his top bro, Amintor (Steve Vanderzee), has broken an engagement to Aspatia (Melissa Whitney) and is getting married to Melantius' sister, Evadne (Brenan Dwyer), at the king's mysterious urging. If you've ever seen a tragedy, the reason's clear—secret affair!—and the outcome, inevitable—much (bloody) revenge!
Northwest Classical Theatre is known for adaptations of classical works that are good, but also play it straight and frill-free, so I was surprised that this production employed so many contemporary references and surprising visual choices. The playbill contains a nod to Quentin Tarantino, the play's bleak material is soundtracked by Kanye West and Pharrell, there's an entire scene that takes place while Aspatia and her handmaidens do sun salutations, and there's a heavily implied BDSM undercurrent to Evadne and the king's not-so-secret relationship. As the grisly events of the play progress, the actors' makeup becomes increasingly pale, with smudged red lips that at the play's opening suggest revelry, but by the end, seem more bloody than anything else.
