Edge
In 1991 Paul Alexander wrote Rough Magic, a biography of the poet Sylvia Plath. Actress Angelica Torn met Alexander after reading his book and asked him to write a theatre piece for her about the poet, which he did in 2002, entitled Edge. Torn premiered in Edge in New York, London and Miami and garnered several awards for her performances. Over the past four years, it has played to audiences around the world. Now she and Alexander, who directs the production, have brought Edge to the Odyssey Theatre in West Los Angeles.
Angelica Torn comes naturally to acting (daughter of Rip Torn and Geraldine Page) and gives a riveting performance as Plath in a one-woman, two hour presentation. However, at times, I found it difficult to catch some of the dialogue. According, I’m sure, to the interpretation by her and/or the director, she sometimes speaks very rapidly and sometimes a bit too softly. But she certainly portrays the angst and emotions of Sylvia with aplomb.
The play opens on the day that Plath commits suicide as she tells her life story and reveals the events that led her to end her life at the early age of thirty years. Sylvia Plath was born in Boston in 1932 to very authoritarian parents, particularly her father, a dark and handsome man, whom she always called Daddy. She and her brother, Warren, had to show perfection and success in everything they did. Losing him to diabetes when she was only eight years old affected her and her relationships throughout her life. She never felt loved by her father, but nevertheless, was extremely affected by his death. At an early age, she began keeping a journal and writing poetry. She later attended Smith College, but during her college years, she suffered a mental breakdown and attempted suicide. She spent time in mental hospitals, underwent electroshock therapy, and eventually graduated. Moving to England
on a Fulbright scholarship, she met the English poet Ted Hughes, also a dark and handsome man, and, shortly thereafter, they were married. They had a daughter and a son, but Hughes, according to Sylvia, always felt inferior to her as a poet. After their son was born, he began having an affair and they soon separated. He asked for a divorce, but Sylvia refused to grant him one. He, therefore, said to her, “Why don’t you just kill yourself?” It seems that both men in her life had failed her, and after their separation, though she continued to write, her depression persisted until she finally succeeded in taking her life in early 1963.
Recommended for high quality performance
Thursday through Saturday, 8 p.m.
Sunday, 2 p.m.
Odyssey Theatre Ensemble
2055 South Sepulveda Blvd.
Los Angeles, CA
Reservations (310) 477-2055
www.odysseytheatre.com