(L-R) Robert Dennison and John Arthur Lewis in Arthur Miller�s “The Ride Down Mount Morgan.” (Alex Levy)
Miller wrote “Mount Morgan” in the 1990s as an indictment of our country’s greed and selfishness. The play’s anti-hero is Lyman Felt (a powerful portrayal by Robert Dennison) who, as the play opens, is hospitalized in Elmira, New York, after a car accident.
His wife Theo and daughter are in the waiting area, hoping he will recover consciousness soon. But, another wife appears.
Flashbacks take us out of the hospital and show us how Felt, a business giant who controls one of the largest insurance companies in the U.S., arrived to where he is today. We wonder: Does Felt love both these wives with the same intensity? Does each have a special place in his heart and do they fulfill a special need that he cannot get from the other?
While he wants it all and feels that he is entitled to it all, and while he appears to have both of these women convinced that he has only their best interests at heart, we know that in the end, they cannot have it all: despite his claim that all is right with his world, Felt has some guilt. So was the fateful accident that brought us to this place an accident? Or did Felt, knowing the terrain, decide that he needed to bring this to a conclusion?
Theo (deftly handled by Jan Ellen Graves who truly makes us feel that she was the love of his life) is wife number one. Her grown daughter Bessie (Susan Myburgh) loses love for her father after learning of his betrayal.
Leah, the new wife (a strong and energetic portrayal by Jaqueline Grandt), is also in business with Felt. Their 9-year-old son never appears onstage.
The other characters in the story are the family attorney Tom (John Arthur Lewis) and Nurse Logan (Michele Cason).
Director Alex Levy uses the tiny space well with the help of a very simple set by Grant Sabin. The set changes with just a change of a shirt or a curtain being pulled back and forth.
Adding to the solid production is the sound design by Christopher Kriz (with some clever music in the background) and lighting by Christopher Burpee.
Redtwist is one of the adventurous theaters that will tackle a work like this intense piece, written by a brilliant writer who obviously cared about people and relationships.
The Ride Down Mount Morgan
Redtwist Theatre
1044 W. Bryn Mawr
Tickets: 773-728-7529 or www.redtwist.org
Running Time: 2 hours
Closes: July 3
Alan Bresloff writes about theater in and around the Chicago area.